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International business travel is accompanied by a slew of challenges for both travelers and financial managers. Language barriers, jet leg and jam-packed itineraries only scratch the surface for this breed of travel. Luckily, there are corporate travel tips all over the Internet to help guide international jetsetters. Here are a few things you'll want to know before you go.

Studies have shown that employees who cheat on their expense reports may also be defrauding their employers on a grander scale—yet another reason to use a product like Chrome River AUDIT to monitor expenses. A recent blog post by H&S Companies explains the four types of expense-reimbursement fraud and offers a handy list of behavioral red flags to watch for when reviewing expenses.

There are plenty of hurdles for firm owners to jump while running a competitive law practice without tripping over excessive operational costs. It’s a fast-paced industry that requires resourcefulness and refined spending habits. Simplify saving with these tried-and-true tips that help keep budgets on track and goals within reach.

Since Chrome River is a financial software application at its core, it pays for us to stay on top of the latest developments in the accounting world. One entertaining blog that I can recommend is Grumpy Old Accountants.

Recently they had an interesting post on the definition of Net Income and how it is changing. Since all of us are affected by accounting events that are somewhat out of our control (e.g., exchange-rate movements), this article makes some interesting points on how accounting standards allow you to present profits with and without these factors included.

And since you are probably charged with developing and implementing expense report policies that help your employees with Net Income, please read point #2 in our whitepaper, The 10 Essential Expense Management Best Practices.

A finger tap is all that’s needed to take advantage of these top business travel tips. Plan, organize, track and process information anywhere, anytime. And with these savvy smart phone apps, you'll look cool, calm and collected while doing it.

For followers of my keynote speech at Chrome River’s 2011 Customer Seminar, I continue to find interesting cases of expense fraud. The UK Parliament scandal was widespread, but the amounts were small. Here is a fascinating case within the US government. What makes this so interesting is that it apparently involved collusion between the expense approver and the person submitting the expenses.

It is difficult to determine a business budget without first looking at the spending trends that help to create it. Being aware of business travel expenses is imperative to trip planning, and careful tracking is an infallible method of keeping those travel budgets on the right course. A little tracking can go a long way! After all, travel and expenses makes up about 10% of your operating budget.

Two weeks ago, Chrome River announced a new strategic partnership with BMO Spend & Payment Solutions that allows us to offer their Corporate MasterCard, Travel Account Card, P-Card and One Card solutions to our clients. This reminded me of the facts that employing a corporate card program and then integrating it into your expense management software are both excellent expense-management practices.

Are your employees cheating on their corporate travel expense reports? About 80% claim that they are generally honest with their travel expense reports but some admit to skimming a little of company funds for various reasons. Your employees represent your company on the road. And, their occasional unethical practices should be minimized, if not eliminated.

I had the opportunity to deliver a best-practices webinar with Information Builders, a leading provider of Internet-based business intelligence and reporting solutions. They also provide the technology behind Chrome River ANALYTICS, the management reporting module within the Chrome River expense management software suite.