Conferences in Exotic Locations

Many businesses forbid their employees to accept gifts from suppliers. Suppliers, of course, attempt to circumvent restrictions by making their gifts seem business related. For example, imagine that Maria negotiates with several suppliers to buy expensive equipment for her company. Maria’s company would probably be smart enough to not let her accept free tickets to Hawaii from a supplier. What if, however, a supplier held a conference in Hawaii and offered to send Maria there for free?

Even if a supplier doesn’t pay for the ticket, companies should still be suspicious of conferences in exotic locations. Firms often pay for travel to conferences. Conference organizers occasionally take advantage of this by holding their events in attractive vacation spots. An employee is far more likely to waste his company’s money attending a conference in Hawaii than, say, Buffalo, N.Y. Consequently, the nicer the conference location, the more scrutiny a travel-funds request should be given.