Travel and Expense Management: A Comprehensive Dictionary of Key Terms
Your Essential Guide to Travel & Expense Management Terminology
The travel and expense landscape is full of specialized terms, acronyms, and industry jargon that can be tough to keep up with. Mastering Travel and Expense (T&E) Management starts with understanding the language behind it.
This comprehensive dictionary breaks down the key concepts that shape modern corporate travel — helping you communicate clearly, make informed decisions, and get more value out of your T&E program.
A
Accounts Payable (AP): Department that manages invoice payments and expense reimbursements.
Airfare: Cost of air tickets for business travel, often guided by policies restricting class of service.
Allowable Expense: Approved expense category under company policy.
Ancillary Fees: Extraneous airline fees such as baggage or seat upgrades.
API (Application Programming Interface): Technology that allows T&E systems to connect with other enterprise software, enabling data exchange (e.g., between EMS and ERP).
Approval Workflow: Steps required to approve expenses, increasingly automated in EMS.
ARC: Airline reporting corporation. RC is the U.S. clearinghouse that settles airline ticket transactions between airlines and travel agencies (including TMCs). ARC reconciliation
Audit Trail: Sequential log of all T&E actions.
Automated Expense Reporting: Software replacing manual reporting.
Authorized Travel: Travel that meets company approval and booking requirements.
B
Back office: The accounting/finance system used by a TMC or agency to track all financial transactions (sales, commissions, receivables, payables).
Booking Compliance: Extent to which travelers use required channels, systems, or suppliers.
Booking Tool (OBT – Online Booking Tool): The self-service technology employees use to book flights, hotels, rental cars, and rail under policy and negotiated rates.
Business Travel: Travel for work-related purposes.
Business Trip Itinerary: Traveler’s scheduled journey, flights, hotels, and meetings.
BSP: Billing and Settlement Plan. BSP is an IATA-managed system that standardizes and streamlines the selling, reporting, and remittance of airline tickets issued by travel agencies worldwide (outside the U.S.).
C
Card-to-Expense Matching: System reconciliation of charges and receipts.
Carryover Balance: Budget carryover.
Cash Advance: Pre-issued funds for travel.
Chargeback: Reversal of an employee’s expense or a card transaction.
Compliance: Following internal rules and external laws tied to T&E.
Compliance Monitoring: Continuous monitoring of adherence to T&E rules.
Compliance Rate: Metric showing compliance percentage.
Corporate Card: Company-issued payment card for travel and work expenses.
Corporate Payment Platform: Centralized technology for managing and reconciling company travel-related payments (including lodge cards, ghost cards, and VCNs).
Corporate Policy: Rules guiding corporate expenses and travel behavior.
Cost Center: Unit within organization absorbing expenses.
Country-Specific Regulations: National rules for expense rules and reimbursements.
Credit Card Feed Integration: Direct feed of transaction data from card providers into EMS for auto-reconciliation.
D
Data Privacy Compliance: Policies ensuring protection of employee/transaction data (GDPR, CCPA).
Delegated Authority: Allowing others to manage expense functions.
Digital Receipt: Electronic substitute for paper receipts.
Direct Deposit: Automated reimbursement of employee expense claims via electronic funds transfer.
Duty of Care: Responsibility of employer for safety/well-being of travelers, often integrated into booking and tracking platforms.
E
Electronic Invoicing (e-Invoicing): Digital, standardized submission of vendor or travel invoices into AP/ERP systems, enabling automation and compliance.
Employee Expense Report: Representation of all reimbursable claims by employee.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP): The company-wide system managing finance, procurement, HR, and reporting. EMS integrates directly with ERP modules (finance, AP, GL).
Expense Allocation: Assigning spend to correct projects or cost centers.
Expense Audit: Checking expenses for fraud or compliance breaches.
Expense Category: Classification of expense.
Expense Lifecycle: Start to finish process of spend incurrence through to accounting.
Expense Management System (EMS): Dedicated system automating expense reports, policy enforcement, auditing, reimbursement, and integration with ERPs and cards.
Expense Policy Violations: Any entry breaching rules.
F
Foreign Exchange Rate (FX): Conversion of one currency to another.
Fraud Detection: Use of algorithms, analytics, and AI to detect anomalies or false reports.
Frequent Flyer Program: Airline loyalty scheme, often tracked by policy.
G
General Ledger (GL): Core accounting record where T&E transactions are posted.
GL Codes / Mapping: Codes ensuring expenses are mapped correctly within ERP systems.
Global Distribution System (GDS): Centralized reservation and ticketing platform (e.g., Amadeus, Sabre, Travelport) used by TMCs, booking tools, and airlines to source airfare, hotels, and rail schedules.
Global Spend Management: Cross-regional oversight of company-wide spending.
Ground Transportation: Transportation category covering car rentals, ride shares, shuttles, and local transport.
H
HRIS (Human Resources Information System): Core HR database containing employee role, level, cost center, and eligibility. EMS systems often integrate with HRIS to automatically assign policies and approval rules based on employee profile.
Hotel Distribution System: Technology platforms that aggregate hotel content, rates, and availability (sometimes integrated via the GDS or directly into booking tools).
I
Incidentals: Minor spend items incurred while traveling.
Integration: EMS capability to seamlessly connect with ERP, HRIS, card feeds, and booking systems.
Internal Controls: Rules to ensure valid, compliant spending and prevent misuse.
Invoice Automation: Technology that digitizes and automates expense reimbursement and supplier invoice processing.
L
Line Item: Individual expense entry.
Lodging: Accommodation including hotels and short-term rentals.
Lost Receipt Affidavit: Statement submitted in place of missing receipts.
Lodge Card (Central Travel Account, CTA): A centrally billed travel card used by many organizations to pay for travel booked through a TMC/GDS, especially air and hotel.
M
Managed Travel Program: Organizational structure aligning policy, vendors, booking systems, and technology solutions under governance.
Mid office (North America): Workflow automation layer that sits between the booking front-end (OBT/GDS) and the back office.
Mid office (Outside North America): Similar to a back office but with no GL accounting system
Mileage Reimbursement: Repayment for driving personal vehicles.
Mobile Expense Reporting: Capture and submit expenses through mobile devices.
Multi-Policy Support: Flexibility for EMS to handle multiple policies (across regions, business units).
N
NDC (New Distribution Capability): Standard introduced by IATA that allows airlines to deliver rich content and dynamic offers directly to TMCs and booking tools outside the traditional GDS model. Increasingly relevant to travel sourcing.
O
Out-of-Policy Booking: Noncompliant booking outside official providers/channels.
Out-of-Pocket Expense: Business expense personally covered by employees.
Online Payment Gateway: Digital infrastructure enabling secure corporate payments for travel purchases. .
P
Payment and Expense Ecosystem: Technology network covering EMS, OBTs, GDS, ERPs, card issuers, and VAT reclaim tools that make up the T&E value chain.
Per Diem: Flat rates covering meals/incidental spend.
Personal Use: Unauthorized non-business use of company T&E funds.
Policy Engine: EMS-integrated system that automatically applies corporate travel policies to bookings and expenses.
Preferred Vendor: Contracted suppliers.
Program Compliance: Policy adherence across systems.
Public Transportation: Allowable ground transport category.
R
Rail Systems Integration: Business travel systems often link into national and regional rail booking and ticketing platforms (e.g., Deutsche Bahn, Eurostar, Amtrak) through OBTs and GDSs.
Receipt: Proof of payment.
Reimbursement: Payment made to employee for approved out-of-pocket spend.
Rejection Reason: Why approvals are blocked.
Risk Management Platforms: Technology solutions integrated into the travel ecosystem that support duty of care, location tracking, and emergency response.
S
Single-Use Payment / Virtual Credit Number (VCN): Payment method issued uniquely per transaction.
Spend Analysis: Categorization and review of T&E spend.
Submission: Sending reports to approvers.
Supplier Direct Connect: Technology connection where a vendor (e.g., airline or hotel) provides booking content directly to OBT or EMS without intermediaries like GDS.
Sustainability Platforms: Technology in the value chain that calculates carbon footprint, integrates into booking tools, and supports sustainable travel policies.
Suspicious Activity: Spend or booking behavior outside normal patterns.
T
Tax Compliance: Meeting tax-related obligations around T&E.
T&E Analytics Dashboard: Tracking spend, policy adherence. graspANALYTICS is an example of this.
T&E Policy: Combined rules covering both travel and expenses.
T&E System Integration: The connection of different travel and expense components (OBT + GDS + EMS + Payment + ERP). graspDATA pulls these all together.
Travel Advance: Pre-payment provided for trips.
Travel Arranger: Administrator booking on behalf of others.
Travel Management Company (TMC): Provider that manages travel sourcing, policy compliance, and servicing.
Travel Policy: General corporate governance of travel.
Travel Request: Formal pre-approval step.
Traveler Tracking Technology: Technology enabling organizations to locate employees and provide support in emergencies.
U
Unused Ticket Credit: Value retained for cancellations.
User Interface (UI): The visual front end of EMS or booking tools used by corporate travelers.
V
VAT Reclaim Solutions: Specialized providers and systems integrated into EMS to recover eligible VAT/GST expenses.
Vendor: Supplier partner in T&E.
Virtual Card: Secure, temporary credit card number tied to EMS or booking platforms. Available in graspPAY.
W
Workflow: See Approval Workflow.
Workforce Mobility Platforms: Integrated platforms supporting global assignments, relocation, and extended business travel, often overlapping with T&E compliance systems.