That’s what you claim…

Marketers are a creative bunch, so it shouldn’t really come as much of a surprise that plenty of them fiddle their expense claims.

Bosses, by definition, are wily old coots with an innate understanding of the business world and the actions of their staff – this however does not explain why all of them, yes all of them, fail to spot a false expenses claim.

That bastion of fair play Barclaycard Business conducted research among 1,500 employees recently that discovered 18% of marketing and PR types had padded their paperwork. Of those who submitted a false claim, none were ever caught.

But marketers are also a forgetful crowd. A quarter missed out on a legitimate claim because they lost a receipt – and a few (who are still probably ruing the day) admitted to losing receipts worth more than &£500. And there’s good news for networkers/ schmoozing is getting more important and 39% of marketers, advertisers and PR people say they are putting in bigger claims than a year ago.

The Diary is always available for lunches, weekend team-building sessions at posh hotels and overseas fact finding missions.