Answer key — Expense report challenge
Here's the correct sort and the two finished reports. Compare them against what you built. The value isn't a perfect match — it's whether you caught the same judgment calls: a duplicate, a personal charge, a foreign currency, a handwritten tip, a faded receipt, and two files that don't belong in a reimbursement report at all.
Where each file goes
| File | Goes to | Why |
|---|
| Folio-2291 (hotel) | Report A · Lodging | 2-night stay — but the $19.50 minibar is personal and comes out. |
| Restaurant photo | Report A · Meals | The handwritten tip makes the real total $91.00, not the printed $76.00. |
| Taxi photo | Report A · Ground Transport | $41.50. The trip date is partly faded — note it's uncertain rather than guess. |
| Invoice_5540 (Panorama) | Report B · Software | Monthly subscription, $29.00. |
| Kettle Analytics | Report B · Software/Tools | Billed in £120 GBP — convert to USD, don't sum as dollars. |
| receipt (Panorama) | Neither | Duplicate of Invoice_5540 — the same $29 charge. Count it once. |
| Hollis Design Co invoice | Neither | A contractor's bill to the org — goes to accounts payable, not an employee reimbursement. |
| Registration received (.txt) | Neither | A free-webinar confirmation, $0.00. Not a receipt of payment. |
Report A — Chicago trip
| Category | Item | Amount |
|---|
| Lodging | Bellwether Hotel, 2 nights (excl. $19.50 minibar) | $359.60 |
| Meals | Rincón Taquería dinner (incl. $15 tip) | $91.00 |
| Ground Transport | Metro Cab, ORD → downtown | $41.50 |
| Trip total | $492.10 |
Report B — Other reimbursements
| Category | Item | Amount |
|---|
| Software | Panorama Team subscription | $29.00 |
| Software/Tools | Kettle Analytics (£120.00 → converted) | $152.40* |
| Other total | $181.40 |
| GRAND TOTAL — Report A + Report B | $673.50 |
* GBP→USD at ~1.27. Your exact figure will vary with the rate — what matters is that you converted it and noted the rate, rather than summing £120 as $120.
Flagged, not reimbursed: the Hollis contractor bill ($1,850 → accounts payable), the free-webinar confirmation ($0), the duplicate Panorama receipt, and the $19.50 minibar (personal). The most common mistake is dropping the $1,850 contractor bill into a reimbursement report — a real cost, but the wrong process.
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