Often such travel and corporate expenses are buried deep within financial statements and hard for shareholders to quantify.

ECONOMIST: Bush fire

That prompts a question: Is this trend really due to the increased importance of information technology, or can it be traced to the increasing pressure in these tough times to justify all corporate expenses?

FORBES: Magazine Article

Politicians, the press and traders betting on a sinking share price all seized on Mr Kozlowski's seemingly monstrous abuses of corporate expenses and Tyco's executive-loan scheme as proof of a wider accounting fraud at the firm.

ECONOMIST: Tyco: Not guilty, your honour | The

LONDON, England -- When it comes to claiming corporate travel expenses there is still a gap between the sexes.

CNN: Expenses gap still yawns

You need to set up a corporate structure, hire a book keeper, separate the business money from your personal expenses (corporate bank account, business credit card etc.) You should be on top of the financials from day one.

FORBES: David Bach on How to Build a Career Without Going Broke

Investors are aware that corporate managers have cut expenses to the bone, and they remain haunted by a lack of topline revenue growth.

FORBES: Austerity Does A Lizzie Borden Number On The Recovery

To that extent, some personal expenses on a corporate account are permitted.

FORBES: Goldman Sachs Employee Fired, Fined, and Suspended For Personal Credit Card Expenses

Crony capitalism and corporate welfare aren't just expenses we cannot afford.

WSJ: Canada, Druckenmiller and Warsh: Generational Theft Needs to Be Arrested

Similarly, employees (sometimes limited by corporate title or function) may be permitted to charge personal expenses (limited to certain types of charges or dollar amounts) on a corporate credit card with the similar expectation that the charges will be highlighted on the next statement and promptly reimbursed.

FORBES: Goldman Sachs Employee Fired, Fined, and Suspended For Personal Credit Card Expenses

Expenses common in the West, such as corporate hospitality, are regarded by many Russians as perks, so they are more resented at a time of layoffs.

ECONOMIST: Hard labour

Because it's a separate entity, the corporation pays taxes at the corporate rate on all income that's left after business expenses (including salaries) are paid.

WSJ: Forming a C Corporation

Among them, the corporate tax with increases and the proposed total elimination of the deductibility of interest expenses, the income tax with its proposed 75% top marginal rate, and the undoing of parts of the pension reform.

CNN: Economy: Unspoken issue in French election

The nuance of these corporate charge cases is that many firms permit personal charges by employees provided that the expenses are timely listed as such and promptly reimbursed.

FORBES: Goldman Sachs Employee Fired, Fined, and Suspended For Personal Credit Card Expenses

The SPDR Barclays Capital Short Term Corporate Bond ETF ( SCPB) seeks to provide investment results that, before fees and expenses, correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Barclays Capital U.S. 1-3 Year Corporate Bond Index.

FORBES: Uncertainty Leads Bond ETFs Higher

While Prime Minister Stephen Harper has promised to slash expenses to balance the budget, he has also pushed through a number of big corporate tax cuts and a series of smaller tax-relief measures.

WSJ: Canadians Push to Make Golf Tax Deductible

So for each dollar of corporate welfare that is cut, we save more than one dollar, either through less inflation, reduced interest expenses, increased future private sector spending (due to lower taxation), reduced government costs, or all of the above.

FORBES: The Wolf and The Lamb Deficit Plan