US based MNC here. For a number of year we had a policy that was more steeped in being reasonable than hard and fast rules, that gave us some discretion. However always an expectation of meeting budget,and usually that also meant trimming x% off travel budget as we moved closer to year end.
Recently introduced more stringent policies, including a $50 USD permeal limit and $80 USD/day limit for all meals. This is excluding taxes/tips, so means places like Australia where there are minimum wages and service charges are therefore built into pricing, it is a little disadvantageous. Of course where I usually travel to in Asia if you eat outside major hotel restaurants you can have a feast for that! There are also a nightly spend limit on accommodation that only applies in the US (except major cities like NYC, SF etc), and US travellers usually try to hit that when travelling outside US. Of course when they visit somewhere like SIN there is no hope (unless you put them up in the sort of hotel that charges by the hour! Broadband is covered in hotels if you don't have stick, but not on planes. Minibar is Ok, is part of daily allowance, although personally, if there is 7-11 next door selling cokes for 45c the hotel minibar costs $6 for same coke, I'd go for the 7-11 even though company is paying.
We have a 6hr minimum for business class, but often feeling is created for those just exceeding the limit you travel in economy. Since rules were tightened, though, I think people are more inclined to "work to rule" so to speak, so are less enamoured and less likely to travel in economy if the flight is >6hrs.
Intercontinental travel require executive team (or delegate) approval, other travel approvals vary depending on which part of the business you are in and who has been delegated what.
The other change made recently - globally - is the requirement to buy air tickets >14 days from travel, otherwise you need to seek another level of approval. Very much a US perspective on the world, as 7, 14 and 21 day advance purchase fares are still part of the system there. Of course here (ie Singapore) I've observed the time of day you travel has a much bigger influence on the fare than booking 14 days in advance. In fact a number of times I've seen the fare move down closer to travel. This can have side effects, for example I spend best part of 2 days trying get the best multi country itinerary to work for a very senior visitor to the region from US and it would have taken me 2 hrs to organise it all if that person had just come a day or two earlier (just because more people were available 2 days earlier), but that would have been inside 14 days.
On the meal limit thing, I can see the point, I am sure some people do take the p#ss, so I that is clearly why it is needed. But it sort of sends a signal to staff "we don't trust you". I'd rather the budget accountability type approach. If you're away for 4 nights and have a $15 meal for three of those nights, who cares if you spend $80 on the fourth night? Now the inclination is more to take the Ryan Bingham approach and spend $50 every night!
