The responsibility of an Expense Approver in reviewing an expense report is to verify policy compliance and the transaction funding source. Denying an expense report "kills" it and it is no longer available to edit and submit.
When reviewing an expense report, an Expense Approver should ensure:
Expense Approvers should Push Back transactions that do not meet standards or require correction or additional information. They should also monitor status or pending transactions and coordinate efforts to jump-start workflow as needed.
Once an approval notification is received, the expense report should be approved or pushed back within 3 days.
Additional reviewer guidance can be found at the resources below.
Associated Standard Operating Procedures
Taxable Travel Expense Reimbursements: Expense reports submitted 60+ days after the last date of travel are considered taxable by the IRS. The process for taxable travel reimbusements is outlined here.
Tutorial Resources
Quick Start for Approvers
Travel and Expense Approval Basic Workflow: Roles and Responsibilities
Approval Action Matrix
Deny vs Send Back
Financial Review and Analysis Guide
Transaction Signs Quick Reference Guide
Temporary Approvers Quick Start
This article will walk you, as a Reports-To Supervisor/Manager (employees report to you), through the steps to review and take appropriate action on an Expense Report.
Click the Approvals tile.
Note: The number in the bottom right corner of the tile indicates the number of documents awaiting your approval.
The Pending Approvals page is displayed. From this page, you can review and take actions on submitted documents.
To review an expense report, click the appropriate Expense Report link.
Example shown here: Expense Report labeled "Clara Heyes, Conference".
The selected Expense Report summary page is displayed.
To review the associated Travel Authorization, click the View Travel Authority link.
The Travel Authorization that is linked to the expense report is displayed. This travel authorization is inaccurate and purely for training purposes.
You would check to see if the location corresponds to the location on the expense report.
Also check the estimates provided to see if they are similar to the expenses reported.
To review the estimates provided and check the accounting information, click the Accounting Detail button.
The Chartstring for the selected TA line is displayed. Review the amount at the top, as well as the ChartField values.
Click the Close [X] button.
To close the window, click the Close [X] button.
As an approver, it is your responsibility to review the reported expense lines before taking appropriate action.
Check the location of travel.
If the destination is within the United States, all the lines displayed should start with " D- ".
If the destination is international, all the lines displayed should start with " I- ".
If that is not the case, pushback the expense report and provide further instruction.
To review the expense line details, click the appropriate expense line.
Example shown here: the D-Lodging expense line.
The Approval Line Detail page is displayed. From this page, you can review the reported information, accounting details, and attached receipts (if applicable).
To review attached receipts, click the View Attachments link.
The View Attachments window is displayed. Click the attachment link to view the attachment.
Example shown here: the Marriott_Hotel_APA.jpg link.
Click the View Accounting link to review the accounting details.
The Accounting window is displayed showing the ChartField combination for the selected expense report. Review the information and make sure that all fields are accurate.
Click the Back to Header button.
You will repeat the review process for all expense lines in the report.
If you want to see the approval path of the document, click the Approval Chain link.
The Approval Chain window is displayed. From the list, you can scroll to see comments from previous approvers.
You can select individual expense lines to approve by clicking the checkbox in the appropriate expense line.
Example shown here: the D-Lodging checkbox.
You can approve line by line if you desire.
Alternatively, click the Select All checkbox to quickly mark all the expense lines.
Reports-To Supervisors have four functions available to them: Approve, Deny, Hold, and Sendback. We will go through each function to show the differences. On this page you can see the Approve and Deny options.
Click the More button to see additional approver options.
If you need to follow up with the initiator regarding details and wish to halt the document's progress, you can put the request on hold by clicking the Hold button.
The Sendback and Hold options are displayed.
If you decide to return the document to the initiator for edits, you would click the Sendback button.
Note: Sendback allows the employee to edit and resubmit.
Click the Sendback button.
It is required to enter comments for any action other than APPROVE. Comments should tell the employee why the document is not being approved.
Note: A window similar to this, asking for comments, will appear no matter what action you decide to take.
Click the Cancel [X] button.
When you deny an expense report or expense line(s), you send it back to the traveler. Deny "kills' the report and does not allow the initiator to resubmit.
Click the Approve button.
To leave comment regarding the approval of the document, enter appropriate information into the Approver Comments field.
Example shown here: " Approved ".
Click the Submit button.
The Pending Approvals page is displayed once again. A green bar will appear across the top of the page, notifying you the report was successfully approved.
Note: If the travel was funded by a Project, the expense report will go to Sponsored Projects Administration (SPA) for approval. Otherwise, the document will go to Accounts Payable for the final approval.
The initiator is notified via email of the approval. The document moves on to the next level of approvals.