Finance playbook · AI Employee: Fin

T&E Policy Q&A

Fewer policy escalations to finance

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The problem

Every employee sooner or later asks the same T&E policy questions: "can I book premium economy on a 10-hour flight," "what's the per-diem for Berlin," "can I expense my hotel gym," "is Uber to the airport reimbursable if my flight is at 5am." Finance answers the same 40 questions on repeat, employees stall bookings waiting for answers, and the policy PDF nobody reads sits in the intranet.

At a glance
Trigger
Chat
Approvals
None
What it does
Read-only
Systems
Policy KB
How it feels in production

An hour-by-hour walkthrough.

Priya asks in Slack: "Fin, can I book premium economy for the Berlin trip? It's 10 hours from SFO." Fin reads Priya's role (Senior Engineer, non-VIP tier) and trip context (10-hour flight, business travel), consults the T&E policy: "Premium economy is approved for flights over 6 hours for all employees per T&E section 4.2. Cabin class within grade limits — non-VIP is up to Premium Economy. Book through Concur / TravelPerk with reason 'flight duration >6h' — pre-approved, no additional signoff needed." Priya asks a follow-up: "and what about the hotel — I want to stay at the Nobelhart which is €280/night, above the €220 Berlin limit?" Fin: "€280 is above the Berlin per-diem of €220. Options: (1) book at policy limit and expense the difference personally (some employees do this for preferred hotels), (2) request an exception from your manager for the €60/night difference over 3 nights = €180 total. If the customer meeting is at the Nobelhart, exception is usually granted for co-location. Which path?" Priya picks the exception path. Fin drafts the exception request with the co-location justification, routes to manager Sarah for one-click approval. Approved in 4 minutes. Priya books. Every question grounded in the actual T&E policy. Every answer specific to the asker's role and situation. Zero delay, zero finance-team routing.
How it works

Step by step.

  1. 01

    Recognize the T&E question + resolve context

    Question intent classification (booking approval, per-diem, category eligibility, exception request). Employee context (role, location, current trip, previous exceptions).

    Reasoning · HRIS · Trip history
  2. 02

    Consult T&E policy with grounded lookup

    Policy document sections retrieved and answered from. Never paraphrases policy — quotes verbatim + cites the section. Handles per-diem tables by city, cabin class by grade, category eligibility by role.

    T&E policy document · Per-diem tables · Category matrix
  3. 03

    Present answer + options

    Direct answer with policy citation. If policy allows with conditions, conditions surfaced. If policy denies but exception path exists, exception path drafted. If policy is silent, escalates to finance.

    Slack · Teams · Policy citations
  4. 04

    Draft exception request when needed

    For exception paths: draft the exception request with justification, cost impact, precedent (similar prior exceptions), routing to correct approver per approval matrix.

    Approval flow · Concur exceptions · CFO discretion
  5. 05

    Learn common questions + refine policy

    Frequently asked questions surface policy ambiguities. Monthly digest to finance: top-asked questions, common exception requests, policy gaps needing update.

    Analytics · Policy iteration
Systems and wiring

What you connect to make this run.

T&E policy · Per-diem tables · SPD-equivalent

read

Source of truth for policy answers. Every answer cites the section number so employees can verify. Policy updates flow through — old policy answers become old, new answers cite the current version.

Concur · TravelPerk · Egencia

read+write

Travel booking system. Fin can read pre-trip approvals + write exception approvals so the booking flow doesn't stall on additional signoff.

HRIS · Employee grade tables

read

Grade determines cabin class eligibility, per-diem multipliers, executive-only categories. Answer specific to the asker's grade.

Slack · Teams

read+write

Primary Q&A surface. Confidential — one employee's exception request doesn't leak to peers. Manager approvals via same channel.

What changes

Before and after, honestly.

Time from T&E question to answer
Before
2-24 hours
After
Under 30 seconds
Finance hours per week on T&E questions
Before
10-20 hours
After
1-3 hours (only genuine policy gaps)
Bookings delayed by policy uncertainty
Before
20-40%
After
Under 5%
Exception-request cycle time
Before
1-5 business days
After
Under 4 hours
Related

Playbooks that pair with this one.

Finance

Expense Submission & Approval

Policy Q&A upstream prevents policy-violating expenses downstream.

Finance

Reimbursement Intake

Same policy engine consulted at both booking-time and expense-submission-time.

HR

HR Policy & Benefits Q&A

Same pattern for benefits policy Q&A; different policy source.

Frequently asked

Answers about this playbook.

What if the policy is silent on my exact situation?

Fin identifies the closest analogous policy provision + notes the ambiguity. Escalates to finance for clarification. Common gaps surface in the monthly digest for policy update.

How does it handle multi-country per-diems?

Per-diem tables per country + city (GSA rates for US, per-country tables elsewhere). Employee's trip destination determines the applicable rate; multi-city trips use per-day rates.

Can I ask about hypotheticals before booking?

Yes — pre-booking questions preferred. "Before I book: is X allowed?" gets the answer before the reservation, avoiding cancellation costs on rejected exceptions.

What about executive travel exceptions?

Executive grade unlocks different cabin class + per-diem tiers. Fin knows the caller's grade + applies the correct tier. Exception requests within tier limits are usually rubber-stamped.

How does it handle policy updates?

Policy update = new answers from update date. Historical questions still cite the version in effect at the time. Employees on active trips under old policy grandfathered per finance discretion.

See it run on your data.

Free plan, no credit card. Connect the systems this playbook needs and run it against a past event first.

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