Telephone Reimbursement Confusion: Should We Accept November Bills or Start from December?

Happy Pongal to everyone.

I have a doubt regarding Telephone expenditure. For example, we introduced the Reimbursement Scheme on December 1st. Actually, my doubt is whether we have to start accepting the telephone bills incurred in the month of November or if we have to accept the bills incurred in the month of December only.

Please help me in this regard.

Thanks and Regards,
Hari

Hi Hari,

Happy Pongal to you as well. If you have introduced the Telephone reimbursement scheme from Dec onwards, then you should start accepting the bills for the month of Dec instead of Nov.

Regards,
Neha

Hi dear, happy ponga!

Whenever we implement any policy, it should have a W.E.F. date. If you have implemented it from December, you should accept bill reimbursements from the December month onward, even if they are paid in January.

This is a standard followed by any company. You should convince the employees and explain to them that when we implement from December onward, how can they accept bills from November.

Bye, Take Care,
Rameshwar

Hi Anil Mulye,

I agree with previous posts. I would like to add that while designing any policy, we should take into account all possible scenarios and provide answers in the policy. It should be based on industry standards, past experience, and possible issues/impact in the near foreseeable future. Some of the issues are as follows:

a) Ceiling, if any, for reimbursement.
b) Any records required to be kept for STD/ISD calls.
c) If the telephone at the residence is in the name of the spouse or another family member, whether reimbursement is admissible.
d) Calls made while on duty outside headquarters.

I hope you have addressed these issues. If not, you may think about them and decide.

Thank you.

Hi,

I have some more doubts regarding the Telephone Expenditure scheme. Actually, we started the scheme in the month of December and informed the employees to submit the expenditure for only that month. However, they are stating that they receive the bills between the 10th and 15th of the month. The actual reimbursement amount is $500.

For example, if the December bill is $780, it should be submitted by the 5th of January. The remaining $280 is carried forward to January, and if in January the bill is $780 again, the employee will only be reimbursed $500, with the remaining $280 being forwarded to February. The February bills will be paid in March, and the March bill will be paid in April.

However, we won't benefit from one month of Telephone Expenditure. Is this correct?

Regards,
Hari

Dear Harinath,

When a ceiling is set for monthly bills, it should be adhered to. If the bill exceeds the set amount, the excess should be reimbursed up to the ceiling. However, if the bill amount is lower than the ceiling in a particular month, the difference should not be carried over. This practice is neither correct in principle nor expedient.

Regards,
Anil Mulye

Dear Anil Mulye,

When a ceiling is set for monthly bills, it should be adhered to. If the bill exceeds this ceiling amount, the excess should be reimbursed. Conversely, if the bill amount is less than the ceiling in a particular month, the difference should not be carried over. This practice is neither correct in principle nor expedient.

Regards,
Anil Mulye

Hi Anil,

I have a doubt regarding pro-rata basis. Could you please explain how it can be calculated for medical expenditures? For example, I submitted the details to the accounts department for the months of December and January, which amounted to Rs. 368 and Rs. 1925 respectively. However, the individual resigned on the 23rd of January.

Regards,