FINANCE DEPARTMENT

POLICIES - Reimbursable and Miscellaneous Expenses

It is the policy of the University to pay expenses that are essential to the conduct of its official business and avoid undue financial imposition on the members of the faculty and staff whose duties involve direct payments by them on the University's behalf.

The Finance Department processes all disbursements that are charged to a University account. To ensure prompt payment, the following Finance Department general paperwork guidelines should be met:

Disbursement Explanations

Must explain the business purpose of the expense
Should include details of individuals seen, affiliations, etc.

Expense Breakdowns

Must separate out meal costs which employees should submit on a T&C (F-3) form
Must be supported by appropriate documentation

When requesting reimbursements, proof of payment is required. Acceptable forms of proof of payment include:

Original cancelled check
Original credit card statement showing charge
Original receipt from organization
Copy of check and copy of bank statement showing check cashed

Must explain anything that appears questionable

All Requests

Should be timely - if the request is not made on a timely basis an explanation must be provided to justify the reimbursement/payment
Must use the appropriate University accounts and subcodes
Must be properly approved in writing by a University Official

Approval

University fiscal policy requires "next-level"/supervisor approval signature on all University payment and other expense reimbursement documents submitted by any employee including all Payroll forms, Travel & Conference, Request for Payment, and Petty Cash Vouchers. "Next-level" /supervisors are normally individuals authorized/responsible for the general ledger account to which the reimbursement/payment is being charged to or at least the next level supervisor of the employee requesting payment. Payment documents submitted without the proper level of approval will not be processed. Compliance with this policy will be further monitored by University Audit as part of their audit scope when auditing your department. For more detail, please see Policy Reminder.

For regular office expenses payable to a vendor, the Requestor usually is the Administrative Assistant, Secretary or Administrator responsible for the area or department and the Approver usually is a faculty member in the area involved with the expense.
For payments to reimburse an employee for University business expenses the Requestor usually is the employee being reimbursed and the Approver usually is the supervisor of the Requestor.

Processing Limitations for the University Cashiering Locations

T&Cs must be under $300 and can not contain BTAs (purchases of airline tickets using F-2 forms.)

Petty cash reimbursements must be under $300 and can not include food items (food items must be processed on T&C forms)