UNIVERSITY TRAVEL EXPENSE REPORT STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS - - - - - - - - - Updated October 2012
Table of Contents CONTACTS..3 WHEN TO USE TRAVEL EXPENSE REPORT.3 COMMON CAUSES FOR DELAYS IN PROCESSING TRAVEL EXPENSE REIMBURSEMENTS...3 SIGN UP FOR ACCOUNTS PAYABLE DIRECT DEPOSIT... 3 STEP 1: CREATING A NEW TRAVEL EXPENSE REPORT 4 STEP 2: ENTER BUSINESS PURPOSE... 6 STEP 3: ENTER TRAVEL EXPENSES PAID WITH PERSONAL FUNDS.7 STEP 4: ENTER ACCOUNTING NUMBERS.17 STEP 5: DEPARTMENT MAX REIMBURSEMENT AMOUNT FIELD....19 STEP 6: ENTER TRAVEL EXPENSES PAID DIRECTLY WITH UNIVERSITY FUNDS.21 COMMON ERROR MESSAGES AND MEANINGS 23 ACCESSING EXPENSE REPORT AFTER IT IS STARTED BUT BEFORE IT IS FINALIZED..24 STEP 7: REVIEW THE TRAVEL EXPENSE REPORT...25 STEP 8: PRINT THE TRAVEL EXPENSE REPORT 27 STEP 9: FINALIZE THE TRAVEL EXPENSE REPORT..28 STEP 10: SIGN/SUBMIT THE TRAVEL EXPENSE REPORT...29 HOW THE TRAVEL EXPENSE ENCUMBRANCE WILL APPEAR IN BUDGETS...30 2
CONTACTS Angela Carron, Supervisor of Accounts Payable x4157 or acarron@truman.edu Laura Thrasher, Accounts Payable Specialist x4458 or lthrasher@truman.edu WHEN TO USE TRAVEL EXPENSE REPORT The travel expense reimbursement report is used by employees (including student employees) to request reimbursement for travel expenses related to University business. For non-employees only, the non-employee expense report is required. These forms are available from the Accounts Payable office. COMMON CAUSES FOR DELAYS IN PROCESSING TRAVEL EXPENSE REIMBURSEMENTS Please keep these in mind when preparing your travel expense report to help minimize a delay in processing your travel expense reimbursement: Insufficient documentation for travel expenses (ex. Missing conference or meeting agenda, missing receipts, inadequate receipts, not providing original receipts, documentation of exchange rate used to convert expenses to US dollars, etc.) Exceeding daily meal reimbursement limits Missing departure/arrival locations and times for days in travel status Missing signatures on travel expense report Insufficient funds in budget or incorrect budget information listed on report SIGN UP FOR ACCOUNTS PAYABLE DIRECT DEPOSIT FOR FASTER RECEIPT OF PAYMENT Log onto TruView, click on the Employee tab and click on Provide Direct Deposit Info for AP Reimbursement. Enter your banking information. The banking information can be different from your payroll direct deposit information. Direct deposit sign up for payroll checks is a separate process from direct deposit sign up for Accounts Payable reimbursements. STEP 1: CREATING A NEW TRAVEL EXPENSE REPORT 3
Launch Internet Explorer or other web browser; Internet Explorer is recommended because the report may have problems printing in other web browsers. Go to http://www.truman.edu/ In the TruView portal, enter your Truman Network User Name and password (This will be the same as your network logon for your campus computer.) To access the Travel Expense Reimbursement report, click the employee tab. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and look for Expense Reports. Click on the Travel Expense Reimbursement link. Leave the Banner ID and the Expense Nbr fields blank. Click the Display button. Your Banner ID number, Name and a unique expense report number will be generated once you click Display. 4
Note: If you are completing an expense report on behalf of someone else, you need to enter their Banner ID number before clicking the Display button. The top of the Travel Expense Reimbursement webpage contains links to the Travel Expense Reimbursement Report Directions and a link to the University s Travel Reimbursement Policy. The Travel Reimbursement Policy explains items such as what types of travel expenses are reimbursable, meal limits, and required backup documentation for travel expenses. Make sure that the traveler s banner ID number and name appear at the top of the page with an expense report number. You should make a note of the report number in case you need to exit and get back into the report prior to finalizing it. The travel expense report automatically saves the information in enter in it. You can reenter the report at any time prior to finalizing the report. STEP 2: ENTER BUSINESS PURPOSE 5
What is a Business Purpose? The business purpose is a brief and concise explanation of why the travel is necessary to conduct University business. In general, the business purpose should be clear enough that any person outside the University, such as our annual external auditors and state auditors, could read it and have no question about the validity of the business expense. The business purpose should provide answers to: WHO, WHAT, WHY, WHEN, WHERE Example of adequate business purpose: Travel Expenses for Professor John Doe, 5-2-11 to 5-4-11, to attend National Academic Writing Conference in Chicago, IL for professional development in teaching Communication courses To enter the business purpose click on Purpose which is highlighted in blue. Type your business purpose in the text box which is required for all expense reports. If you attended a conference please enter the entire name of the conference/organization rather than using acronyms or abbreviations. You can enter up to 480 characters. When you are done entering the business purpose click Submit to return to the main page of your travel expense report. STEP 3: ENTER TRAVEL EXPENSES PAID WITH PERSONAL FUNDS (ENTER EXPENSES SEPARATELY AND BY DAY) 6
In this section enter all expenses for your trip which were paid with personal funds and that you are submitting for reimbursement. It should be a day by day walk-thru of your trip. Travel expenses paid directly by the University may not be entered here. There is a separate section to enter those expenses which is discussed in STEP 6. Begin entering your travel expenses paid with personal funds by clicking on New Personal. Your screen should look like this: 7
You will need to enter the following information: 8
1. Date This is where you will enter the dates of your time away from Truman. You will need to fill in your expense report on a day by day basis. The date defaults to the current date; just change the date to reflect what date the expense(s) occurred. 2. Departure*** City & State or Country where your trip starts such as Kirksville, MO. 3. Arrival Location*** City & State or Country where your trip ends/destination. 4. Departure Time*** The time that you left the departure location. 5. Arrival Time*** The time that you arrived at your destination. 6. Air, Bus, Train, Rental Car Cost This is where you would indicate any cost for renting a car or riding in a train/bus/airplane. 7. Transportation Vendor s Name This is where you would indicate the name of the company used (i.e. American Airlines, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, etc.). 8. Mileage The number of miles driven in your personal car. 9. Breakfast Amount The amount spent on breakfast. 10. Lunch Amount The amount spent on lunch. 11. Dinner Amount The amount spent on dinner. 12. Lodging Amount The amount spent on lodging. 13. Misc Amount This is where you will indicate conference registration fees, cab fare, bus fare, or any other miscellaneous fees. All miscellaneous expense descriptions will appear on the final printed report. 14. Misc Desc Identify/describe the miscellaneous expense in this field. 15. Click Submit - This will bring you back to the main expense report page. ***Note: Departure and arrival location and times are required for any days that you are in travel status. If you are in the same location for multiple days at a conference, the departure and arrival locations and times would be left blank. 9
Below is an example travel expense report based on three days of expenses related to a conference. Day 1: Expenses associated with traveling to the conference (first leg of trip, Kirksville, MO to Kansas City, MO). Departure and arrival locations and times are required on day 1 since employee is in travel status. 10
Be sure to click New Personal if you want to add new expenses. If you click on the 5/10/2011 link, you will change the information you already entered for that day. If you do need to change the information you already entered for a particular day, simply click on the date, make any necessary changes and click on Submit. If you need to remove a row of expenses, simply click on the date, click on the Remove Record box and click on Submit. An example of editing expenses already entered will be shown later in this example. Day 1 Continued: (second leg of trip, Kansas City, MO to San Antonio, TX): 11
Day 2: Expenses incurred while at the conference in San Antonio, TX. A complimentary breakfast was provided at the conference so only lunch and dinner meal expenses were incurred and reported. 12
Day 3: Expenses associated with traveling back from the conference (first leg of return trip, San Antonio, TX to Kansas City, MO): Departure and arrival locations and times are required on day 3 since employee is in travel status. 13
Day 3 Continued: (second leg of return trip, Kansas City, MO to Kirksville, MO): 14
You will need to repeat this process for every day that you have an expense you are claiming until the end of your trip. When you are done it should look similar to the picture below. 15
To summarize, be sure to click New Personal if you need to add new expenses. If you need to modify the information you ve already entered for a certain day, simply click on the date, make any necessary changes and click on Submit. If you need to remove a row of expenses, simply click on the date, click on the Remove Record box and click on Submit. For example, if you entered the wrong amount for parking under miscellaneous expenses you would click on the applicable 05/12/2011 in the date column. If the amount should have been $15.85 instead of $15.75, simply type over the $15.75 with the correct amount and click Submit. If you needed to remove a row of expenses, click the box next to Remove Record and click Submit. 16
The report is updated with the changes made, in this case, increasing parking by $.10. STEP 4: ENTER ACCOUNTING NUMBERS (these numbers represent where the expenses will appear in the University s financial system) The accounting numbers need to be provided to you by the department office that is funding/paying for your travel. Before entering the accounting screen, you should write down the total amount to be reimbursed which will be located at the bottom right corner of the Travel Expense Paid with Personal Funds section: 17
Click on New Accounting. In this section you will enter the Fund, Organization, Account, and Program code in which the reimbursement will be charged to. Then click Submit. Fund 4 to 6 digit code representing funding source- most common fund number is 1110 (Unrestricted Educational and General Expenditures) for all academic departments; the fund number could also begin with a 2 or a 3. Organization 6-digit department code (budget code) Account 5-digit code depicting nature of the transaction (type of expense; 77101 In-State Travel, 77103-Out of State Travel, etc.) Program 2-digit code representing functional area where the funds are being spent-a common program number is 11 (instruction) for academic departments 18
You will need to enter the fund, organization, account, and program code. You can also split the amount between two or more budgets or accounts. Simply click on New Accounting to add another accounting string. Be sure to click New Accounting if you need to add additional accounting numbers because your reimbursement is being paid out of multiple budgets/accounts. If you need to modify the accounting information you ve already, simply click on Accounting, make any necessary changes and click on Submit. If you need to remove the accounting information, simply click on Accounting, click on the Remove Record box and click on Submit. STEP 5 (IF APPLICABLE): DEPARTMENT MAXIMUM REIMBURSEMENT AMOUNT FIELD The Dept Max Reimburse Amt is meant to be used if your travel expenses exceed the allowable reimbursement amount. This section is not required in order to complete your expense report. Many departments pre-approve a certain reimbursement amount for travel expenses, even though the total expenses might exceed that amount. This is where you would input the amount to indicate the maximum amount you are approved for reimbursement. You simply have to click on Dept Max Reimburse Amt and input your maximum allowable reimbursement amount. If the Dept Max Reimburse Amt is filled in, then the lesser of the Total Expenses Paid with Personal Funds or the Dept Max Reimburse Amt field will be reimbursed. 19
The total accounting amount must match the total travel expenses paid with personal funds 20
STEP 6 (IF APPLICABLE, OPTIONAL): ENTER TRAVEL EXPENSES PAID DIRECTLY WITH UNIVERSITY FUNDS In this section, you can list any other costs associated with the trip so your supervisor can see the total trip cost and not just the amount paid with personal funds. Any amounts listed in this section will not be reimbursed to the traveler and should not be included in the accounting section. It has the same format for input as the Travel Expenses Paid with Personal Funds section. Simply click on the New University link to add any expenditure paid with University funds thru a p-card or requisition. Example: Airline travel to conference paid with p-card. 21
After you have finished reviewing your expense report click the link at the bottom of the webpage Click Here to Review, Print, and Finalize Travel Expense Report. 22
COMMON ERROR MESSAGES AND MEANINGS Need to correct the amount in the accounting string by clicking on Accounting or need to edit an amount in the travel expenses paid with personal funds; edit whichever field is incorrect. The error message above means that either the accounting numbers are incorrect or that there is not enough money remaining in the budget to pay this reimbursement request. You ll need to contact the department office funding your travel as indicated in the error message. The accounting information is incomplete. The business purpose is missing. 23
ACCESSING TRAVEL EXPENSE REPORT AFTER IT IS STARTED BUT BEFORE IT IS FINALIZED If you created a travel expense report and had to exit out or you were logged out automatically prior to finalizing the report, you can retrieve the report by going into TruView under the Employee tab and clicking on Travel Expense Reimbursement-Open List. Click on the Expense # of the report that you want to reenter. 24
STEPS 7-10 ARE INDICATED AT THE TOP OF THE FINAL TRAVEL EXPENSE REPORT PAGE. WE LL GO THROUGH EACH ITEM SEPARATELY BELOW. STEP 7: REVIEW THE TRAVEL EXPENSE REPORT REVIEW: check the travel expense report for accuracy. If corrections are needed, return to the previous page to make the corrections using the back button at the top of the web browser. 25
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STEP 8: PRINT THE TRAVEL EXPENSE REPORT PRINT: print the travel expense report. In most web browsers you may change your page setup by going to File and Page Setup. Typically, for best results choose landscape for the page orientation. Also for the content selection, the option Only the selected frame should be chosen. For the print size, Shrink to Fit is usually a good choice. You may also decrease the Print Size percentage, but be mindful that the text must be legible. Be sure to review and print your travel expense report prior to clicking the word FINALIZE. It is recommended that you print out two copies of the expense report, one to submit and one to keep for your records. The travel expense report cannot be retrieved after clicking FINALIZE, so the report must be reviewed and printed prior to clicking FINALIZE. Print Landscape Content Selection Print Size 27
STEP 9: FINALIZE THE TRAVEL EXPENSE REPORT FINALIZE: after the travel expense report has been printed, click the word FINALIZE directly below to set aside your requested reimbursement amount within the department budget, to help prevent a budget overage. Clicking on FINALIZE does not route the document for electronic approvals; handwritten signatures are still required. After clicking FINALIZE, you will receive a message: Travel expense report Txxxx has been finalized and can no longer be modified or viewed. The requested reimbursement amount has been set aside within the department budget. At this point, you may log out of TruView. 28
STEP 10: SIGN/SUBMIT THE TRAVEL EXPENSE REPORT SIGN AND SUBMIT: finally, submit the printed and signed travel expense report, along with all necessary backup documentation (ex. receipts, agendas, etc.) to Accounts Payable, McClain Hall 106, in order for the reimbursement payment to be processed. The traveler (person being reimbursed) needs to sign as the requestor. Then, an additional signature(s) is required as indicated on the travel expense report. Your expense report will often times print on two pages to be legible. You will need to attach all your receipts and other supporting documentation to your expense report and submit it to your department chair/supervisor for approval. 29
NOTE TO BUDGET OVERSEERS REGARDING HOW THE TRAVEL EXPENSE ENCUMBRANCE WILL APPEAR IN BUDGETS Once the FINALIZE button is clicked, the requested reimbursement amount will be set aside within the department budget immediately without any need for electronic approvals. The amount will appear as a reservation, just like a completed and approved online requisition. If the Dept Max Reimburse Amt field is blank, the requested reimbursement amount equals the Total Expenses Paid with Personal Funds. If the Dept Max Reimburse Amt is filled in, then the requested reimbursement amount is the lesser of the Total Expenses Paid with Personal Funds or the Dept Max Reimburse Amt field. The encumbrance will be liquidated once the travel expense payment has been processed. 30