Usage of “as per”

Question

Could you show me how to use the word as per in a sentence? Can I make sentences something like the following:

I changed the image as per the suggestion of my boss.

Or could you give me an alternative to the phrase?

Answer 1

As per means "in accordance with", so "following something that has been decided".

Such as your example:

I changed the image as per/in accordance with/following the suggestion of my boss.

Answer 2

I have a "pet peeve" about "as per" and prefer my staff not to use it, because it raises a flag with me that someone is saying "not my fault, don't blame me!" Your sample sentence would do better, in my opinion, as one of these:

• I changed the image at the suggestion of my boss.
• I changed the image as my boss suggested.
• I changed the image because my boss suggested I should.
• I changed the image.

These all have slightly different meanings and emphasis. (For example, the second one is more likely to be an answer to "what did you do this morning?" than "why has this image changed?", which the first and third could be answers to.) Your sentence uses "as per" correctly as far as grammar and syntax goes, but it's not a phrase you should go out of your way to use.

Answer 3

If you’re set on using per, then you should say simply:

• I changed the image per my boss’s suggestion.

Other possibilities include:

• I changed the image at my boss’s suggestion.
• I changed the image due to my boss’s suggestion.
• I changed the image according to my boss’s suggestion.
• I changed the image after my boss’s suggestion.
• I changed the image as my boss suggested.

There is a mistaken assumption here that as per has a valid usage. It doesn’t; it’s just one in common use, and is valid only by that sole metric alone.

As per is always redundant; you don’t ever need the superflous as portion of the phrase. Indeed, the OED says that as per usual is “humorous slang”.