Firms in both Europe and America are checking employees' expenses claims more thoroughly than a year ago, according to a new survey by American Express.
But the employees admit they tend to spend more freely when they know their company is picking up the bill.
Amex questioned 840 people who used either their own credit card or a corporate card to pay company expenses in the UK, Germany, France and the US for its 2006 Card Check-up Surveys.
It found that 48% of companies in Europe and 65% in the US had stepped up scrutiny of employees' expenses claims.
In Europe, 73% said it was "very" or "fairly" common for employees to spend "more freely" on business expenses, like travel, telephone, meals, tips, and office supplies when the company was paying.
Mr Paul Abbott, American Express's head of corporate card UK, said: "Firms around the world have stepped up their vigilance over wasteful and maverick spending, but there is still a tug of war going on with employees who are making buying decisions.
"In response, we've seen clients significantly expand use of the corporate cards to manage expense and drive compliance."
AEA and IATA call for European airport policy
Two leading association representing airlines called for the EC to introduce a European wide airport policy.
The Association of European Airlines (AEA) said the policy was needed to tackle airport capacity and "current practices in airport charging."
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) called for an EC directive on "robust national economic regulation of Europe's airports" which tackled airport monopolies.
The calls came at a meeting last week with the EC transport commissioner Jacques Barrot.
Mr Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus, AEA's secretary general, said that airport charges had increased "way above national inflation rates in Europe over the past years."
He said making airports more expensive did not make them more competitive and called on the EC to find ways of encouraging airports and airlines to work together.
Giovanni Bisignani, ceo of IATA, said 15 of the world's 25 most expensive airports were in Europe while four had put up their charges by more than 25% in the last four years.
"We want profitable airports providing safe infrastructure with investment to meet growth," he said.
"Airports must achieve all of this with greater cost efficiency in the same way as airlines have delivered on efficiency. We are not asking anything that we have not done ourselves.
"The Directive must require robust independent national regulation of airport monopolies over 5,000,000 passengers - Europe's top 50."