Each case is different so U need to look at each country/part of a country and what your people are doing and what the historic / political nature of the area is along with what your peoples competencies / histories are noting that irrespective of what is politically correct here in the UK a female in many countries is interfaced differently with than here; if interfaced with at all

Providing your staff with plenty of cash [on site not in a bank etc] is a good idea but your finance people may not like that idea e.g. Try bribing a terrorist with a promise note and U will soon see that cash/gold etc is the only way to go

The only place that I know of where gold & dollars were not accepted was *Belize the rest of S-Amercia were very obliging to accept what ever U gave them! ---- *Cause Brit squaddies were on the border!