GAP 200.027, Expense Reports – General Guidelines and Procedures

I.    Overview

II.   General Guidelines

III.  Travel Expense Reports

IV.  Non-Travel Expense Reports

V.   Roles and Responsibilities

I. Overview

Duke University and Duke University Health System use electronic expense reports created via Concur to execute the following transactions:

• Reimburse employees and student employees for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred on behalf of Duke or in support of Duke-related business.
• Record and post to Duke’s general ledger any corporate card charges incurred on behalf of Duke or in support of Duke-related business.

Users access expense reports via the Duke@Work portal by selecting the Concur tab on the Duke@Work home page and the Concur link available on the Concur main page. Concur expense reports are also accessible by visiting concur.duke.edu and selecting "Concur Login" in the upper right-hand corner of the page. The following expense reports are available for employees and student employees:

• Use travel expense reports to:
  • Record and post any travel-related corporate card expenses to Duke's general ledger and/or reimburse employees and student employees for travel-related expenses paid with personal funds incurred while traveling on official Duke business.
  • Reimburse employees for miscellaneous mileage expenses incurred on Duke business.
• Use non-travel expense reports to:
  • Reimburse employees and student employees for out-of-pocket miscellaneous Duke business expenses paid with personal funds.
  • Record and post to Duke’s general ledger corporate card expenses incurred for miscellaneous Duke business expenses or other expenses unrelated to cardholder travel.

An employee or student employee may initiate and submit their expense reports. Based on business unit preference, an employee may also create expense reports on behalf of other employees or student employees for whom they have “Expense Delegate” access. Expense delegates see employees to access via the Profile drop-down found on the Concur home page.

An employee is granted access as an expense delegate to create expense reports on behalf of others. To grant access, business units submit the Expense Delegate spreadsheet to ET&R which assigns a person to person relationship between an employee and an expense delegate using DUIDs. Business units must submit updated spreadsheets when employees are hired, terminated, transferred or and any other activity that changes the person to person relationship.

The paper Travel Expense Form or Miscellaneous Reimbursement Form (non-travel expense) is the appropriate method to process an out-of-pocket reimbursement in the following situations:

• Duke students who are not employees.
• Terminated Duke employees who are no longer active in Concur and require an out-of-pocket reimbursement for an expense incurred prior to their termination date. Contact ET&R for assitance with processing out-of-pocket reimbursements for terminated employees still in Concur.
• Reconcile and clear Student Travel Advances (GAP 200.023, Travel Advances).
• Duke Temporary employees who require an out-of-pocket reimbursement.
• Other approved programs and/or payment categories.

To process travel expenses and/or out-of-pocket expenses for individuals who are not employees or students, complete an Accounts Payable Check Request in accordance with GAP 200.136, Accounts Payable Check Request.

Please note: Paper expense forms for employees and student employees are not accepted. Employee Travel and Reimbursement (ET&R) will return paper forms if an online expense report is appropriate.

II. General Guidelines

Regardless of the type of expense report, these general guidelines surround the operational and compliance processes associated with all online expense reports.

• All reports should include a clearly defined Duke business purpose supporting the expenses included in the report.
• Users can create multiple expense reports for the same date/time range.
• Regardless of the type of expense report, the following submission guidelines apply for corporate card transactions:
  • Corporate card holders must follow guidelines for purchases and required documentation in accordance with the Duke Cardholder Agreement and Duke’s travel and reimbursement policies.
  • All corporate card transactions should be incorporated into expense reports and submitted for approval following GAP 200.034, Expense Reports - Workflow on a routine basis. Failure to process corporate card transactions in a timely fashion in accordance with the GAP 200.029, Corporate Cards – Untimely Posting of Transactions and the Untimely Posting Schedule will result in posting transactions to the general ledger using G/L account 695685 for Assigned Corporate Card Expenses without Approval and G/L account 695695 for Unassigned Corporate Card Transactions with No Action.
• Concur allows split-funding for all expenses in a report. Additionally, each expense can be charged to different funding sources as needed.
• Receipts must be attached to each expense and adhere to Duke's receipt and documentation guidance or business unit policy, whichever is more restrictive. Receipts can be in any of the following formats:
  • E-receipts for expenses provided by Concur.
  • Receipts scanned through the Concur mobile app.
  • Receipts emailed through Concur’s ExpenseIt functionality.
  • Scanned receipts attached as a PDF to the expense.
• All expense reports use the same workflow routing for departmental (business unit) and funding source approval. While the workflow framework is the same for all Duke University/DUHS departments, business units determine specific routing. If expense reports are split-funded at any level, the workflow will route to all funding source approvers associated with the cost objects included in the report. GAP 200.034, Expense Reports – Workflow provides detailed information on workflow routing and approvals.
• Out-of-pocket expenses greater than one year old require appropriate management center approval before being reimbursed.
• It is best practice for corporate card holders to ensure expense delegates have receipts within ten days of incurring the expense.
• All reimbursement and corporate card transactions should post within 30 days to ensure the accuracy of Duke's general ledger.
• If the expense includes NC sales tax, itemize sales tax for out-of-pocket reimbursements and corporate card transactions according to GAP 200.230, Sales Tax and Use. For corporate card expenses, charge sales tax to G/L account 146100. For out-of-pocket expenses, charge sales tax to G/L account 146000.
• Corporate cards and employee reimbursements are used strictly for Duke business expenses and are not allowed for expenses considered personal or expenses specifically listed as non-allowable. Exceptions require management center approval.
• Users cannot reopen a fully approved and posted expense report. Include additional expenses related to previously posted reports in a new expense report.
• Audit rules display as expense reports are created and routed for approval. Hard stop audit rules (red stop sign symbol) indicate a violation of Duke policy. Warning audit rules (yellow triangle symbol) indicate a situation requiring additional review. Users must correct hard stop errors before submitting the expense report, while warnings require review and may require correction based on the situation.

For specific instructions on how to complete an expense report, please visit the training page of concur.duke.edu to find a comprehensive list of training guides and videos.

III. Travel Expense Reports

Duke University/DUHS will reimburse necessary and reasonable expenses incurred during properly authorized travel for employees and students within budgetary constraints. Duke requires submission of a travel expense report after completing all Duke-related travel. The travel expense report should include all out-of-pocket expenses requiring reimbursement and/or any corporate card expenses associated with a specific travel event. The employee or an expense delegate who has access to the employee can complete a travel expense report.

Please note: Business unit policy may define specific business processes for travel authorization.

In addition to the General Guidelines referenced in Section II, consider the following when completing travel on behalf of Duke and when submitting Travel Expense Reports:

• If the employee has a corporate card with travel privileges, the employee should use the corporate card to pay for travel-related expenses; therefore, minimizing the need for an employee to use their personal funds.
• If an employee's corporate card is not accepted, personal funds should be used with the employee requesting a reimbursement upon completion of the trip.
• Based upon business unit policy, an employee may use their corporate card to purchase travel-related expenses for other employees. When this occurs, the cardholder must process an expense report (travel or non-travel - based on business unit guidance) for themselves using the "Additional Information" and "Comment" fields associated with the expense to identify the traveler. Additionally, the cardholder will need to ensure a receipt is available to support the expense as Concur's e-receipting functionality will not make the receipts electronically available to the cardholder.
• Dates and times entered for the travel expense report should reflect when the employee leaves from or returns to work or home. Generally, this is not the departure date/time of a flight or other ticketed travel.
• Only corporate card expense types related to travel will display in the Travel Expense Report.
• Expenses associated with the trip may fall within or occur outside of the dates for travel. In the event trip-related expenses occur before the trip dates, users can create the travel expense report using the actual travel dates to post to the general ledger any corporate card expenses or reimburse out-of-pocket expenses as appropriate.
• Hotel receipts that include multiple expense types must itemize meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) each day. Other charges (parking, internet, etc.) may be itemized based upon business unit requirements.
• Certain travel-related expenses are non-allowable per Duke Policy. Non-allowable expenses are the responsibility of the employee. If the employee makes non-allowable purchases using a corporate card, the employee must repay Duke.
• Personal expenses are not permissible on the corporate card.
• When combining personal and business travel (including travel-related expenses for a family member accompanying the traveler), the cardholder should charge-all-expenses to a personal card and submit requests for reimbursement for the applicable Duke business expenses.
• In limited circumstances, students and employees may be eligible to request a travel advance for Duke-related business trips. Refer to GAP 200.023, Travel Advance.
• Corporate card transactions that are not processed in a timely fashion per GAP 200.029, Corporate Cards – Untimely Posting of Transactions, and the Untimely Posting Schedule will post to the general ledger using G/L account 695685 for Assigned Corporate Card Expenses without Approval and G/L account 695695 for Unassigned Corporate Card Transactions with No Action.

IV. Non-Travel Expense Report

Complete the non-travel expense report to:

• Reimburse an employee for any non-travel related out-of-pocket expenses;
• Record and post to the general ledger any non-travel related corporate card expenses or travel-related expenses that cannot be included in a travel expense report (example: travel for visitors purchased via a Duke employee's corporate card).

In addition to the General Guidelines referenced in Section II, consider the following when submitting non-travel expense reports:

• A best practice is to bundle expenses requiring reimbursement and corporate cards expenses into a single report.  Non-travel expense reports can be bundled:
  • By date range – all charges in a report as frequently as a week, but at least monthly. This is the method most commonly used.
  • By event – all charges for a given event in one expense report.
• Submit non-travel expense reports at least monthly to ensure expenses post in the appropriate fiscal period. Non-travel expense reports may be submitted more frequently based on business unit policy or if an employee requires a quicker reimbursement. 
• Expenses must fall within the date range of the expense report. 
• All expense types display in the Non-travel Expense Report.  The expense type can be changed once included in the expense report. 
• Duke will not reimburse out-of-pocket expenses if an outside source has or will reimburse the employee.
• Corporate card transactions that are not processed in a timely fashion per GAP 200.029, Corporate Cards – Untimely Posting of Transactions and the Untimely Posting Schedule will post to the general ledger using G/L account 695685 for Assigned Corporate Card Expenses without Approval and G/L account 695695 for Unassigned Corporate Card Transactions with No Action.
• For detailed information regarding Duke's Corporate Card Policy visit the Corporate Card website.

VI. Roles and Responsibilities  

Several roles are critical to ensuring sound business unit business processes surrounding online expenses reports. The more effective a business unit’s business process is, the greater the likelihood that expenses post to the ledger in a timely fashion. Each role is critical in the creation, documentation, workflow approval, and/or communication processes that support the timely posting of expenses to Duke’s general ledger.