CL /The Club under scrutiny

[Forg]

Things may not always be what they seem. One possible feature of corporate deals is rebates paid directly to procurement, head office, finance dept etc. Each fare appears to be RRP and those booking get charged it (so their budget takes the hit), then later on, depending on the total spent across the whole companny, Department etc., a percentage rebate is paid - often a large percentage.

This approach makes comparing price on a flight by flight basis meaningless, as it is often the total spend which dictates the rebate amount, which won’t be known until much later.

I guess I wouldn't put it past a penny-pusher in Canberra to be quietly moving that money between sections to make the books look better; but my better-half has to manage her own books, and she doesn't get any of those rebates back. Plus the calculations regarding whether something is even allowed are based on the without-rebate amounts (spend more than $X and you have to get approval from the minister, and that $X is based on what staff are entitled to & without any rebates - so the minister has to spend time on it even if your actual spend for some vital travel to Europe for 3 staff for a week is $4k).

 

[equus]

Yep, that’s the games they like to pay. Round robin the money and make it look like there is more than there is.