Travelling, Vehicle Hire & Hotels: Codes 7400, 7401 & 7402

Travel away from base is a different kind of cost from running the business's own vehicles day to day — public transport, hired vehicles, and overnight stays all belong in their own dedicated codes.

The codes, and what each one holds

Code 7400 — Travelling covers general business travel costs such as train, air or taxi fares.

Code 7401 — Vehicle Hire records the cost of short-term hired vehicles for business trips, separate from the business's own owned or leased fleet.

Code 7402 — Hotels covers overnight accommodation costs while travelling on business. All three are Overheads codes and normally carry a debit balance.

A worked example

Say an employee travels to a client site by train for £85, hires a car for two days at £70 once they arrive, and stays overnight in a hotel for £110.

Travelling (code 7400): £85 debited for the train fare.

Vehicle Hire (code 7401): £70 debited for the hire car.

Hotels (code 7402): £110 debited for the overnight stay.

Why this matters day to day

Tracking travel, hire and hotel costs separately makes it easy to see whether business trips are becoming more expensive because of transport, accommodation, or both — useful when setting a travel policy or comparing the cost of remote versus in-person client work. It's also straightforward expense-claim material, so keeping these codes clean makes reviewing employee expense claims much faster.