In article ,
(Tim Bray) wrote:

Colin Rosenstiel wrote:
It looks like I need to get an Oyster card for pre-pay but I
regularly need to produce receipts for travel. That is easy with
paper tickets but how do I do that with Oyster pre-pay? Ask Oyster
doesn't have anything.

If I'm on a work trip to London, I just guess how much prepay I'm
likely to burn, and top up that amount.

So I go to the ticket machine, put a tenner in, press the receipt
button and give the receipt for a tenner to the accountant.

Since my London journeys tend to start as far as the Underground is
concerned at King's Cross I certainly wouldn't want to top up every time
I go there until they get a sensible ticket office.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In article ,
(Tim Bray) wrote:

Colin Rosenstiel wrote:
That will only be a receipt for money put on the Oyster card, not
for journeys made.

If they won't accept that, then sounds like the problem is your
accounts people, and not the ticketing system.

But there is likely to be very poor concordance between putting cash on
an Oyster Card and making journeys for which one is claiming expenses
from the same source. I claim from three on different occasions. One is
a local authority whose auditors expect receipts. They would probably
prefer me to use rail warrants even though that would cost them a lot
more (you can't use a railcard with them).

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In message , at 22:08:44 on
Wed, 1 Mar 2006, Tim Bray remarked:
If I'm on a work trip to London, I just guess how much prepay I'm
likely to burn, and top up that amount.

So I go to the ticket machine, put a tenner in, press the receipt
button and give the receipt for a tenner to the accountant.

One size does not fit all. Some accountants (and/or auditors) are more
picky than that. And no, that isn't "their problem", it's the claimant's
problem.
--
Roland Perry

Colin Rosenstiel wrote:
In article ,
(Tim Bray) wrote:

Colin Rosenstiel wrote:
That will only be a receipt for money put on the Oyster card, not
for journeys made.

If they won't accept that, then sounds like the problem is your
accounts people, and not the ticketing system.

But there is likely to be very poor concordance between putting
cash on an Oyster Card and making journeys for which one is
claiming expenses from the same source. I claim from three on
different occasions. One is a local authority whose auditors expect
receipts.

You need to limit their expectations. They need to face the fact that
you cannot get recipts for everything that it is reasonable to claim
for. How do they cope with claims for money paid into a kerbside
parking meter for example? Don't let the auditors/accountants dictate
your terms.
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

"Colin Rosenstiel" wrote in message
...
In article ,
(Tim Bray) wrote:

Colin Rosenstiel wrote:
That will only be a receipt for money put on the Oyster card, not
for journeys made.

If they won't accept that, then sounds like the problem is your
accounts people, and not the ticketing system.

But there is likely to be very poor concordance between putting cash on
an Oyster Card and making journeys for which one is claiming expenses
from the same source. I claim from three on different occasions. One is
a local authority whose auditors expect receipts. They would probably
prefer me to use rail warrants even though that would cost them a lot
more (you can't use a railcard with them).

What happens if you use a car for the journey? Presumably they don't expect
you to provide a receipt for the exact amount of petrol you have used.

Peter Smyth

In message , at 18:38:12 on Fri,
3 Mar 2006, Peter Smyth remarked:
What happens if you use a car for the journey? Presumably they don't expect
you to provide a receipt for the exact amount of petrol you have used.

No, because the whole "car expenses" thing has been well documented by
the Inland Revenue. There are specific pence-per-mile that you are
allowed to claim (irrespective of what your actual costs were).

Years ago, many companies would cap travel expenses at the BR railway
fare for the same journey. Today, with so many different fares, even
that is difficult.
--
Roland Perry

In message , Peter Smyth
writes

What happens if you use a car for the journey? Presumably they don't expect
you to provide a receipt for the exact amount of petrol you have used.

Every organisation I have ever worked for requires a mileage for car
journeys - they are then paid at an agreed rate (many keep it down to
around 40p per a mile, irrespective of Inland Revenue rules, in order to
be seen to encourage the use of public transport).

But you are quite right on the general principle - expenses are often
verified by reference to the distance involved, without need for
receipts for small items such as bus journeys or London travelcards.
--
Paul Terry

Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 18:38:12 on
Fri, 3 Mar 2006, Peter Smyth remarked:
What happens if you use a car for the journey? Presumably they
don't expect you to provide a receipt for the exact amount of
petrol you have used.

No, because the whole "car expenses" thing has been well documented
by the Inland Revenue. There are specific pence-per-mile that you
are allowed to claim (irrespective of what your actual costs were).

But how do the auditors audit the miles that you claim, which may of
course be inflated by diversions to avoid jams or accidents? Ultimately
they ought to recognise that some claims have to be judged by
reasonableness rather than scruffy bits of paper.
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

Richard J.:
But how do the auditors audit the miles that you claim, which may of
course be inflated by diversions to avoid jams or accidents? Ultimately
they ought to recognise that some claims have to be judged by
reasonableness rather than scruffy bits of paper.

At this point I am reminded of one of the stories Richard Feynman told
in his book "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman". He was asked to speak
at a university and promised an honorarium. Being no fan of university
bureaucracies, he said "All right, but not I have to sign my name more
more than 12 times -- and that includes endorsing the check."

He was up to 11 signatures when they handed him the cheque and asked him
to sign a receipt. He said, "No, you agreed I wouldn't have to sign
anything else." And they said he had to take it because, now that he
had earned the fee, they had no procedure for him *not* to be paid it!
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | Any company large enough to have a research lab
| is large enough not to listen to it. --Alan Kay

My text in this article is in the public domain.

In message , at
21:26:10 on Fri, 3 Mar 2006, Richard J.
remarked:
What happens if you use a car for the journey? Presumably they
don't expect you to provide a receipt for the exact amount of
petrol you have used.

No, because the whole "car expenses" thing has been well documented
by the Inland Revenue. There are specific pence-per-mile that you
are allowed to claim (irrespective of what your actual costs were).

But how do the auditors audit the miles that you claim, which may of
course be inflated by diversions to avoid jams or accidents?

When I've had such claims examined, they look at the start and finish
point, and work out the miles by the most sensible direct route. If you
make a detour that's at your own expense.

Ultimately they ought to recognise that some claims have to be judged
by reasonableness rather than scruffy bits of paper.

There are too many people "on the fiddle" for that to be a realistic
goal.
--
Roland Perry