Approving an Expense Report as an Expense Manager

Body

Overview

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:

Completeness - required fields are filled out, supporting documentation is attached where appropriate and is legible
Prior approvals were applied correctly
Travel and expense policy compliance
Submitted expenses are allowable
Deadlines are observed (letter of justification is included if not)
Chartstrings and the ChartField combination are correct for each transaction
Expenses adhere to budget constraints

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.

1. Step 1

Click the Approvals tile.

Note: The number in the bottom right corner of the tile indicates the number of documents awaiting your approval.

2. Step 2

The Pending Approvals page is displayed. From this page, you can review and take actions on submitted documents.

3. Step 3

To review an expense report, click the appropriate Expense Report link.

Example shown here: Expense Report labeled "Clara Heyes, Conference".

4. Step 4

The selected Expense Report summary page is displayed.

5. Step 5

To review the associated Travel Authorization, click the View Travel Authority link.

6. Step 6

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.

7. Step 7

To review the estimates provided and check the accounting information, click the Accounting Detail button.

8. Step 8

The Chartstring for the selected TA line is displayed. Review the amount at the top, as well as the ChartField values.

9. Step 9

Click the Close [X] button.

10. Step 10

To close the window, click the Close [X] button.

11. Step 11

As an approver, it is your responsibility to review the reported expense lines before taking appropriate action.

12. Step 12

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.

13. Step 13

To review the expense line details, click the appropriate expense line.

Example shown here: the D-Lodging expense line.

14. Step 14

The Approval Line Detail page is displayed. From this page, you can review the reported information, accounting details, and attached receipts (if applicable).

15. Step 15

To review attached receipts, click the View Attachments link.

16. Step 16

The View Attachments window is displayed. Click the attachment link to view the attachment.

Example shown here: the Marriott_Hotel_APA.jpg link.

17. Step 17

Click the Close [X] button.

18. Step 18

Click the View Accounting link to review the accounting details.

19. Step 19

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.

20. Step 20

Click the Close [X] button.

21. Step 21

Click the Back to Header button.

22. Step 22

You will repeat the review process for all expense lines in the report.

23. Step 23

If you want to see the approval path of the document, click the Approval Chain link.

24. Step 24

The Approval Chain window is displayed. From the list, you can scroll to see comments from previous approvers.

25. Step 25

Click the Close [X] button.

26. Step 26

You can select individual expense lines to approve by clicking the checkbox in the appropriate expense line.

Example shown here: the D-Lodging checkbox.

27. Step 27

You can approve line by line if you desire.

28. Step 28

Alternatively, click the Select All checkbox to quickly mark all the expense lines.

29. Step 29

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.

30. Step 30

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.