I have fucked up

[Royallyscrewed]

NC for this post- not an aibu more a wwyd.

I have a corporate card for work travel expenses and a few weeks back I linked it to my phone to use tap in and out tickets On a trip to London. I’ve just gone to pay my bill (we pay the balance of the card each month and then claim expenses back via our work online finance system) and literally everything I’ve paid by Apple Pay or online through my phone has gone onto my corporate card. It’s gross misconduct to use it inappropriately and immediate suspension. This was a genuine mistake and I cleared the card straight away but I don’t know how to confess to my manager. For context she’s always on at me about my expenses because I quite often miss the cut off date and am pretty disorganised with them. I’m absolutely shitting myself. Any advice on how to come clean?

In my last two jobs I have had a corporate Amex that I paid myself then claimed back, it’s really not unusual.

'Sorry off topic but it's so weird to me you'd have a corporate card that you have to pay off? Surely the whole point is they pay it? '

Different systems. My company we were responsible for paying the card off - but as long as we claimed the expenses in time from the company we wouldn't be out of pocket then it changed to they pay the card but we have to have the expenses in and signed off in time.

I’ve had this happen with Amazon, Ocado and M&S where I ordered for work and then their system defaulted to my corporate card. Each time I didn’t realise until the statement came through.
It’s not ideal but as long as you pay it before your company has settled the card there can be no suggestion you were trying to do something fraudulent.
Clearly explain to your manger what happened, what you have done to correct it and what steps you have taken to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Apologise for any inconvenience and be extra vigilant.
Also make sure you take this lesson and be more organised in future about reconciling your card. If you were someone who was good and organised about doing this it would give your manager less room to be annoyed.

I still don’t understand what the point of having a corporate card that you have to pay yourself is?? A a PP said surely the point of a company credit card is that they pay it off so that you aren’t out of pocket??
DH has a company credit card that work pay directly and at my work (and previous work) I reconcile the credit cards that the company pays directly.

Just email your boss (so you have a record of the communication)and explain what has happened.

For context she’s always on at me about my expenses because I quite often miss the cut off date and am pretty disorganised with them

Use this as an opportunity to get organised.

What you need to do here is to make it abundantly clear you’ve tried to rectify the mistake and have alerted everyone who needs to know immediately. A paper trail here is your friend. Call the advice line. Send an email with the facts. As others have said, make it clear 1. How it happened 2. What you did to solve the matter 3. How you will prevent this from happening again.

Ask for a meeting with your manager ASAP (as in as email now and request - note that it’s urgent). When you speak to your manager be very calm and factual. Eg ‘I discovered the error at 7. I paid the amount off immediately and called the advice line when it opened at 8am’ etc.

Normally I wouldn’t be this OTT. At my work I would simply pop my head around the door and say ‘oops this happened. Sorted it. So sorry!’and that would be enough. However, while I can’t see it being an issue you said your boss has been hot on this before it’s best to dot every i you can possibly find. You also said they have a strict policy so it’s best to perhaps be OTT than it ever possibly being construed that you were dishonest or blasé.

It’ll be fine.

Say what happened, explain that you've paid it off immediately, and put forward a plan so it doesn't happen again. Similar happened where I worked, their card was taken away and they had to claim back expenses, but didn't get in trouble. If you try to conceal it you will be.

You need to tell them as they will spot it. However in my company also you'd be fired for this, it's gross misconduct. There is no way to tell what's an error or what's deliberate misuse.

I accidentally bought porn (I genuinely was trying to buy/download software and any IT help was lacking) on the company credit card once. Had to explain that to my boss who was a dick and made me explain to the company head over in America! Luckily all fine. It happens.

I still don’t understand what the point of having a corporate card that you have to pay yourself is??

Because some people don't have access to credit and need a card, and you can claim back before the bill is due, as such youre never out of pocket.

They could be right dicks over it tbh.

When you double click to use Apple Pay the card comes up on the screen, so to make the same error multiple times could be seen as deliberate.

Just tell her. You haven’t done it to intentionally deceive so don’t start now.

It could be gross misconduct if you even delay telling her one week. Please tell her immediately, in person and by email.

The only way to sort this on the most favourable terms for you will be for you to initiate a meeting with your manager about it without any delay. If you sit on it, sweat it and do nothing.....they will come to you for sure and your inertia will not look good. Don't delay, call her, say what's happened and sort it asap.

Here's a point you might want to throw in (if relevant to your situation).....Amex or corporate cards are not always that widely accepted. We've had many a time when we've had to use our own debit/credit cards to cover a company expense because AMEX wasn't accepted.....company doesn't call that a gross misconduct do they? V happy to allow the employee to use their own personal credit to get out of a hole? ......has this ever applied to you OP?

Strange that this is gross misconduct in so many companies. We have a company credit card and if you mistakenly use it for a personal expense you just file it as such in our reporting tool when you do your expenses. This alerts our Finance team that you will be paying the credit card company for that particular transaction.

OP has paid the money and it's clearly a genuine mistake.

The team I work in at my company manages the corporate card program. It's a charge card, not a credit card so the card has to be paid off each month. We also have individual liability, so the employee is responsible for paying it off, but if they claim their expenses on time each month then the money is back in their bank account before the card has to be settled, so no need to be out of pocket. When you are a large company, and people take the piss using the cards (not you OP), then it can cost the company dearly to have company liability. You'd be surprised some of the things people put on their cards. We've had someone paying for a funeral. Another employee tried to pay the deposit on purchasing an apartment!

OP if I was you I'd confess promptly with all the facts of how it happened and what measures you've taken to prevent it happening again. Far better to be up front than be found out later and look as though you're hiding what happened.

Tell her immediately. You didn't do anything wrong, these things just happen.

Not telling her will look as if you're trying to conceal something.

Honesty is the best policy here. Even for a worst case scenario. Lying and then discovering it weeks down the line will be much worse than you approaching to say
“ I’m really sorry I messed up, here’s what I’ve done to fix it, and here’s what I’ve done to ensure it’ll never happen again”

Honestly though, I hope this has given you a massive kick up the arse to organise yourself better.

It’s simple, you admit they mistake immediately. You deal with consequences if there are any. You work out feasible ways to not be disorganised with your work. And stick to them.

Best to come clean and do that right away! its much much better coming from you then them finding out!

Then sort your self out!!!

Mind you it dosent seem that good a system anyway;(

And then stop worrying !!

Just tell her!

Explain, and then suggest (respectfully) that as it's such a simple situation to arise, there might be a case for the company proactively warning or advising staff so as to avoid incidents in the future ? Depending on your corporate culture, that would stand out as initiative and responsible thinking. Especially if your boss turns round and says "Alright, you do it."

After all, corporations are always banging on about this sort of thing ?

I'm a finance manager and one of our employees accidentally purchased a load of amazon stuff on her work card. I completely understood, she paid it back straight away and it didn't happen again.

Go in there and own up to it straight away. It was a genuine mistake and it is easily done especially with contactless and automatic billing etc.