> If a company approves taking customers to strip clubs then there's no reason not to itemize it as such.

Who says it wasn't itemized as such? We know nothing about how the expenses system in question works, and a hierarchical submission that looks like

------

# Steakhouse business dinner

* Client taxi fare to steakhouse - $xxx

* Steakhouse bill - $xxx

* Strip club bill - $xxx

* Client taxi fare to hotel - $xxx

------

with a receipt for each seems perfectly reasonable (to me; apparently you think that it's dishonest for 3 out of 4 of those items to be there) and is consistent with the nonspecific description of events in the article. Evidently, the employee provided enough information for it to be clear that this was a strip club bill, because the auditing system could tell that it was a strip club bill. In order to create a narrative of dishonesty, you're having to add in details that aren't specified in the article and seem to fly in the face of the fact that an audit looking purely at the information submitted identified that it was a strip club bill.

The story is about how AI helped discover fraud, so presumably it was not expensed correctly, but the all seeing AI went on the internet and discovered that even though the receipt is titled "Sams Fine Steak House", the address on the receipt from the limo company was a strip club. Or something like that.

Maybe I'm more cynical, but I presume that the AI just looked at the strip club receipt, identified as a strip club because the submitter had made no attempt to hide that fact, then determined that according to some official company expenses policy it was impermissible to bill for strip clubs, and then the AI's masters triumphantly declared it to be "fraud" - without worrying about niggly little questions like whether the employee had read the policy, knew the policy existed, or even had access to the policy, nor whether the employee had been authorised by their manager to submit the expense claim despite it violating the written policy.

Do you really need a formal company policy to know that you shouldn't expense a strip club?

Why shouldn't I, if the strip club bill was racked up for business purposes? My employer doesn't expect me to take clients to strip clubs, but if they did, I'd damn well expect to be allowed to expense them.

I'm not totally sure you aren't trolling me.

Somehow I just assumed it was universally agreed upon that strip clubs are not something that you go to for business reason.

And if a sales person invites a client to a strip club, they would do so understanding that it's a questionable thing to do, and that they would be smart enough not to file it in their expense report.

Even if their manager said it's okay. I mean, that would just be a perfect reason for the company to fire both the employee and the manager for colluding to defraud a totally ethical company.

> And if a sales person invites a client to a strip club, they would do so understanding that it's a questionable thing to do,

Don't presume the sales person is inviting the client.

I do consulting now, and periodically have to go to client sites for presentations and training sessions. There's almost always a big client dinner one of the days we're there. Where we go out to eat, and what we do afterward, is usually driven by client suggestions. In my case, the "after dinner" activities almost always entailed some form of bar hopping, and has never included strip clubs. But that doesn't mean it wouldn't include strip clubs if that's what the client wanted, just that the specific clients I've serviced haven't ever had that particular inclination.

Note that I've only ever been the most senior person present from my company once, and therefore responsible for expensing the client-servicing night. The only direction I was given that time was to keep the client happy and to not blow past the budget for that trip (which had about $5k worth of cushion, after anticipated employee travel expenses). Most of the expenses are passed through to the client however (which is what dictates the budget), and some client agreements do have very strict stipulations on allowable pass-through expenses.

You are clearly not in sales.

> I just assumed it was universally agreed upon that strip clubs are not something that you go to for business reason.

Not for personal benefit, but in the interest of winning over a client, coke-fueled stripper parties are fair game.

Do you recommend putting the receipt from the coke dealer in your expense report as well? (As long as there's no company policy against narcotics in expense reports, obviously)

Strip clubs are legal, and many people don't have any ethical issues with them.

Presumably a coke dealer is dealing in illegal drugs.

Unfortunately, I don't think coke dealers are in the practice of providing itemized receipts.

Up until 5-8 years ago, it was still standard business practices at most major accounting firms to take clients to strip clubs.

It's still SOP for many investment firms...

So, no, he's not trolling you. Since the article didn't provide details, it's very possible that the expense was submitted during the transition time when there was no firm policy banning taking clients to strip clubs.

Are you in sales?

Uh, no. Happens all the time on wall st. Have you been living under a rock?

Actually yes. I would consider it in any case dishonest to cram an expense item into something different. Expenses are itemized for a reason.

As an analog I would also consider it dishonest if a company fibs its accounts by booking items into different categories.

There is usually no other reason then to hide an expense, which should not be there.

If a company approves taking customers to strip clubs then there's no reason not to itemize it as such.

Inconvenience/can't be bothered? Seems highly plausible to me and not that difficult to relate to. I hate filling my expense reports, I'd rather not have to pay stuff out of pocket in the first place.