Travel Expenses Policy

Travel Expenses

Policy

Strategic Gears

1. SCOPE

This policy applies to all fulltime employees (“Gears”) of Strategic Gears. The policy outlines the guidelines for business travel expenses for both domestic and overseas travel. For the purposes of this Policy, “Gears” refers to all full-time employees of Strategic Gears, regardless of level, title, or department. The term is used interchangeably with “employee” throughout this Policy.

2. PURPOSE

This policy aims to provide clear guidelines for the reimbursement of business travel expenses, ensuring that all costs are necessary, reasonable, and approved, while supporting Gears in fulfilling their job responsibilities effectively.

3. ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Travel expense compliance is a shared accountability across employees, managers, and the Finance team.

4. GENERAL TERMS

The following rules apply to determine the extent to which the firm will regard trips as business travel:

• Traveling is considered an integral part of the job. The firm will reimburse travel costs incurred in fulfilling duties if the costs comply with this Policy and the trip is approved in writing by the relevant project Partner for advisory team and the CXO for non-advisory teams. Once approved, the Gear must notify the Finance Department using the HR system.

• A Gear may claim only necessary business travel costs, up to the specified maximum limits.

• The firm will handle hotel and air travel bookings through a preapproved agency. Gears are not permitted to make these bookings under any circumstances. All bookings must go through the preapproved agency without exception. In the event of an emergency or exceptional circumstance, any deviation requires prior written approval from both the Partner and the CHRO before any booking is made. The firm will pay the travel agency directly. Gears are responsible for paying other expenses as specified in this policy and may request reimbursement from the company.

• The Partners and CXOs must first approve all Gear’s requests for air travel for business purposes. A Gear’s arrangements for air travel must be made through the HR system, at minimum, within one week before the approved trip and not directly with the travel agents.

• In case of any short-notice air travel request or any changes to a booked ticket resulting in additional charges/fees, these must be explained in detail in the invoice. Reimbursements of such charges/fees are discretionary and subject to approval by the CXO or Partner as per “policy 4.4”.

• All reimbursement requests must be completed and submitted by the relevant Gear via the HR system, to the Finance Department for validation and subsequent settlement approval.

• To ensure timely reimbursement, a Gear must ensure that expenses are recorded in detail and accompanied with the supporting documents of receipts and invoices.

• Gears must submit expense claims with receipts, where applicable, within two weeks of incurring the expense. The firm reserves the right to refuse reimbursement for claims lacking proper documentation or submitted after a two-week period.

• Expense claims must be submitted by the 20th of each month to be included in that month’s payroll. Claims submitted after the 20th will be processed in the following month’s payroll.

• The firm will not reimburse the cost of items of a personal nature, including but not limited to: Personal Entertainment (movies, video rentals, personal reading materials, sporting events, theater and spa fees); In-room or in-flight extra costs (beverages, etc.); Recreational activities; Babysitters; Animal kennels; Barber/stylist, manicure, etc.; Clothes or toiletries; Luggage, briefcases, traffic tickets, fines, or violations; Negligence expenses (boots, tows, collision/damage repairs); Personal side trips, gifts, flowers, or donations.

• The Gear should note that any expense not pre-approved by this Policy will be deemed extravagant and will not be accounted for by the firm. The guiding principle: seek approval from your Partner or CXO before incurring that expense.

• It is not possible to legislate in detail all areas of expenditure. The firm expects Partners and CXOs to use sound judgment as to what is a reasonable expense, and the firm places trust in each of its Gear not to abuse the Policy.

• Company-sponsored travel is strictly limited to routes where the origin is the employee’s designated base location — the city in which they are formally employed or based. Flights originating from a location other than the employee’s base location will not be reimbursed, unless exceptional work conditions require otherwise and prior written approval is obtained from the Partner (Line Manager) and CHRO.

5. TYPES OF EXPENSES / ALLOWANCES

5.1 Flights

• The firm will provide a return air ticket for eligible Gears for authorized business travel.

• The following schedule outlines the class eligibility as per the level:

• The above applies for both Advisory and Operations Gears.

5.2 Flight Frequency Consideration

• For extended business stays of 4 weeks or more, the company will evaluate the cost-effectiveness of flying employees back every 2 weeks and align with the project director or partner for the business need.

• As per the planning with the employee and the partner, the Gear may get a back-home trip at most once every 2 weeks of stay.

• If the Gear chooses not to return voluntarily, no allowances will be provided for their stay. However, if the Gear stays for business reasons, the company will cover the allowances for all days of their stay according to this policy.

5.3 Hotel Accommodation

• The firm will provide hotel reservations for eligible Gears through a preapproved agency for approved business travel.

• The Gear’s accommodation costs during a business trip should not exceed the standard accommodation cost as per the accommodation pricing index (see Appendix).

• The firm will not reimburse under any circumstance extra and unnecessary consumption from hotel.

• Gears might settle hotel bills themselves and request reimbursement following the expense claim procedures. Gears must ensure that the hotel bill clearly identifies the Gear and is correctly addressed for payment.

• Gears’ travel expenses are limited to the Gears themselves. The company will not cover the costs of any accompanying guests, including spouses and family members.

5.4 Transportation

• The Gear’s transportation costs during a business trip should not exceed the standard transportation cost as per the transportation pricing index (see Appendix).

• When traveling on a firm’s business trip, a Gear should utilize cost-effective measures at the time of renting a vehicle.

• International Taxi Estimate depends on the city, which the firm will estimate on a case-by-case basis.

• In cases where trains are the mode of transport, business class tickets may be considered for all Gears.

• If approved by the firm, and wherever possible, Gears should claim unsettled invoices for car rental within 2 (two) weeks from the date of the invoice, otherwise a Gear is not entitled to reimbursement.

• In countries where the firm’s Uber account is active, Gears are required to use the firm’s corporate Uber account for transportation. In such cases, Gears will not be eligible for a separate transportation allowance.

5.5 Meal Allowance

• The Gear’s meal allowance during a business trip should not exceed the standard meal allowance cost as per the meal allowance pricing index (see Appendix).

• A Gear’s meal doesn’t require receipts.

6. LONG BUSINESS TRIPS

• Long business trips are those lasting more than one month.

• Employees on long business trips qualify for an Extended Business Trip Allowance, designed to cover the costs of long-term accommodation, transportation, and meals (see Appendix).

7. EXPENSE MANAGEMENT

• Employees are expected to manage their expenses responsibly within the predefined allowances.

8. HEALTHCARE

• Healthcare coverage during business travel varies by country. Gears are required to refer to the Pricing Appendix for healthcare terms applicable to their country of travel.

DOCUMENT AUTHORIZATION