H-P Ouster a 'Teachable Moment'

Ethics Advisers Are Seeing Renewed Interest in How to Monitor Expense Reports

Firms that help companies thwart expense-report violations say they're seeing more interest in their services since irregularities prompted the ouster of former Hewlett-Packard Co. chief Mark Hurd earlier this month.

Ethics advisers and hotline sellers say they're getting more inquiries about expense reporting. The Ethics and Compliance Officer Association, a professional group, said traffic to the expense-report advice section of its website is up 30% to 40% in the past week. The renewed interest comes after many companies tightened expense-report requirements in the past two years to cut costs.

"Companies will often use very public cases as a teachable moment to remind employees why certain policies are so important," said Patricia Harned, president of the Ethics Resource Center, a nonprofit ethics-research organization.

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