Travel and Expense Management for Professional Services Firms

What should a professional services firm look for in T&E software?

Five things decide whether a firm's travel and expenses can be billed, and whether the firm keeps the money it spends on the road.

What you need	Why	In ExpenseOS
Each client's rules on billable travel	Firm travel policies commonly say the client's limits win on a billable trip, and clients' supplier and outside counsel guidelines cap hotels and meals and rule out first class and billed alcohol.	The pack starts a travel policy for each client you bill travel to, stricter than your own (hotels at the market rate plus 10%, meals $60 a day), kept beside it.
A receipt for every billed item	The IRS wants a receipt for every hotel stay and for any other expense of $75 or more, and many clients want one for every item they're billed.	Receipts are snapped, uploaded or emailed, read as they arrive and kept with the expense. Approvers see the receipt and what was checked.
Expenses billed at actual cost	ABA Formal Opinion 93-379: disbursements for third-party services such as airfare and hotels pass through at actual cost unless the client agrees otherwise.	Every expense carries its receipt amount and is coded to the GL account and cost center you bill from.
An answer before the money moves	Out-of-policy spend found at month end is spend a client can refuse to pay.	People ask “Will this be approved?” in the chat. Out-of-policy travel goes to a manager first, with the reason.
Expenses in on time for the client's bill	Expenses that come in weeks late miss the bill, and clients' guidelines set submission deadlines.	Nobody files an expense report: expenses are captured as they happen, and people are paid back the minute one clears.

The rules that apply to professional services

What each rule requires, and what it means for a travel and expense policy.

Rule	What it requires	What it means for your policy
IRS substantiation, Treas. Reg. §1.274-5	A receipt for every lodging expense, whatever it costs, and for any other travel expense of $75 or more, with the amount, date, place and business purpose.	Keep the hotel bill for every night, and receipts for anything else at $75 and up.
Accountable plans, Treas. Reg. §1.62-2	Reimbursements are tax-free when expenses are accounted for within a reasonable period (60 days is the safe harbor) and excess advances come back (120 days). Otherwise they are wages.	Set a submission deadline inside 60 days.
Meals, entertainment and gifts, IRC §274	Business meals are 50% deductible when they aren't lavish and an employee is there; entertainment isn't deductible; business gifts are deductible up to $25 a recipient a year.	Log who was at a business meal and why, and keep entertainment and gifts apart from meals.
ABA Formal Opinion 93-379 (1993)	Lawyers pass disbursements for third-party services, such as airfare, hotels and travel agents, through at actual cost unless the client agrees otherwise; in-house services may carry a reasonable share of overhead.	Bill travel at the receipt amount; any markup belongs in the engagement letter.
State Bar of California, Arbitration Advisory 2021-01	A markup on top of actual cost is barred unless the client gives informed written consent to it.	Get written consent before marking up any cost.
UTBMS expense codes (LEDES e-billing)	Legal clients on e-billing can require expense codes on every invoice line: E109 local travel, E110 out-of-town travel, E111 meals.	Map your expense categories to the codes your legal clients require.
FAR 31.205-46, travel costs	On federal contracts, lodging, meals and incidentals are allowable only up to the federal per diem for the place and date, and airfare only up to the lowest priced fare available, unless a documented exception applies.	Give a federal client a travel policy at the per diem and the lowest fare.
FAR 31.205-51 and 31.205-14	Alcohol, and entertainment with its associated costs, are unallowable on federal contracts.	Keep alcohol and entertainment off anything billed to a federal client.

2026 market benchmarks for professional services

Published figures to measure a travel and expense policy against.

Benchmark	Figure	Source
US hotel average daily rate, 2025	$160.54 a night	CoStar
New York hotel average daily rate, 2025	$333.71 a night	CoStar
US hotel rates, 2026 forecast	Up 3.1%	CoStar and Tourism Economics, Aug 2026
Domestic round trip sold through travel agencies, first half of 2026	$614 on average, up 13%	ARC
Fare premium for booking 13 to 7 days out	About 26% over the cheapest window, 74 to 21 days out	CheapAir airfare study, 2024
Federal per diem, FY2027 standard	$113 lodging, $68 meals and incidentals	GSA
IRS high-low per diem, from 1 Oct 2026	$329 high-cost, $230 elsewhere	IRS Notice 2026-60

The professional services policy pack

On day one, a company starts from the pack for its industry. This one is for consulting, legal, accounting and agency firms whose people travel to client sites, much of it billed back to the client. Each category starts with a limit and a rule.

Professional services pack

Airfare$1,200 a round tripEconomy at the lowest logical fare, 14 days ahead when you can (21 for international). Never first class on a billable trip.
LodgingMarket rate + 15%Each city's market rate this week plus 15%, for client sites in city centers, or $350 a night where there's no market data. The itemized hotel bill for every stay.
Ground transport$120 a tripRideshare or transit before a rental car, and rental cars mid-size or smaller. A receipt over $75.
Meals$75 a dayWhat you spend on nights away, $100 where the federal meals rate is $86 or $92, with the itemized receipt for every meal. Alcohol inside the limit, never billed to a client.
Client meals$150 a personEach guest, their company and the business reason, with the itemized receipt.
Events and ticketsNo limitA manager approves it first. Shows and games with clients are coded apart from meals, because entertainment isn't deductible.
Gifts$25 a person a yearThe most that's tax-deductible. Name who gets it.
Software$200 a monthCheck the company doesn't already pay for it. A manager approves any charge over $500, a year's plan included, and IT approves tools that hold client data.
Equipment$2,000 an itemCompany property: IT approves computers, phones and tablets first and tags them.
Client travelPer clientA starting policy for each client you bill travel to: Economy up to $1,200, hotels at the market rate plus 10%, meals $60 a day. The client's stricter policy wins, billed at actual cost with no alcohol.

Every line is a starting point. Admins change limits on screen or in a sentence, and ExpenseOS shows every change it would make before anything applies. From then on, every request is answered against the policy before the money moves, with the rule named, and anything out of policy goes to a person with the reason.

Questions professional services firms ask

What should a professional services firm look for in travel and expense software?

Software that checks billable travel against each client's travel rules before anyone books, keeps a receipt for every billed item, codes each expense to the account it is billed from, and bills it at actual cost. ExpenseOS starts consulting, legal, accounting and agency firms from a policy pack built for that work and answers every request before the money moves, with the rule named.

Whose travel policy applies on a billable trip, the firm's or the client's?

Usually the stricter one. Firm travel policies commonly say the client's limits win on billable travel, and clients' supplier and outside counsel guidelines often cap hotels and meals and rule out first class and billed alcohol. ExpenseOS keeps a travel policy for each client you bill travel to, starting from the pack, beside your own.

Can a law firm mark up travel expenses billed to a client?

Not without the client's agreement. ABA Formal Opinion 93-379 says disbursements for third-party services such as airfare and hotels pass through at actual cost, and the State Bar of California's Arbitration Advisory 2021-01 bars a markup unless the client gives informed written consent.

What receipts does the IRS require for business travel?

A receipt for every hotel stay, whatever it costs, and for any other expense of $75 or more, along with the amount, date, place and business purpose (Treas. Reg. §1.274-5 and IRS Publication 463). Many clients ask for a receipt for every item they are billed.

What travel costs can a firm bill to a federal client?

Under FAR 31.205-46, lodging, meals and incidentals are allowable only up to the federal per diem for the place and date, and airfare only up to the lowest priced fare available, unless a documented exception applies. From 1 October 2026 the standard federal rate is $113 a night for lodging and $68 a day for meals and incidentals, with higher rates in 295 areas. Alcohol and entertainment are unallowable.

How does ExpenseOS set up a professional services firm's travel policy?

From the professional services pack on day one: Economy airfare up to $1,200 a round trip, hotels at each city's market rate plus 15%, meals up to $75 a day ($100 where the federal meals rate is $86 or $92), client meals up to $150 a person with every guest named, gifts up to $25 a person a year, and a starting travel policy for each client you bill travel to, where the client's stricter policy wins. Admins change any of it on screen or in a sentence and see every change before it applies.

Start from the professional services pack.

A short walkthrough mapped to your policy: what the pack sets up, what you would change, and how every request is answered before the money moves.

Book a demo →See pricing

Sources

Rules and figures as published on 1 November 2026. This page summarizes public rules and published figures for general information; it is not legal or tax advice.

Travel and expense management for professional services firms