Policy Development & What's Changed
Policy:
Revised Business and Travel Expense Policy
Policy Development:
The process to formally review and revise the Non-travel Business Expense Reimbursement and the Travel Expense Reimbursement policies began approximately two years ago following a comprehensive IRS audit and Internal Audit over the university's Accountable Plan and expense reimbursement practices. The Accountable Plan is essentially the processes that the university follows that permits the reimbursement of business and university travel expenses on a tax free basis. Without a compliant Accountable Plan, these reimbursements must be treated as taxable income to the individual incurring the expense.The audits identified several areas where we needed to become compliant with current rules and regulations, strengthen our controls, or in some instances, simply revise the policy to correctly reflect operating procedures that had already been implemented to keep the university compliant.
Policy Development - continued reading
Since we needed to formally amend the policies for these reasons, we also took the opportunity to conduct a comprehensive review of our existing policies to identify areas where we could make enhancements in the process, including provisions for more decentralized decision making. In order to fully engage everyone affected by the policy, we made significant effort to reach out and gather feedback and suggestions from a variety of campus groups. Specifically our outreach efforts included:
- Formation of a committee with representation from all campus divisions, including faculty and staff, who worked to develop and refine the revised policy as well as guide it through the approval process;
- Guidance and support from the Council on Administration, Regulation, and Finance (ARF) throughout the process, specifically from the ARF communications subcommittee on outreach to the campus community;
- Reviewed the proposed changes with the president's management team;
- Presentation and review of the revised policy with the Administrative Leadership Group on a monthly basis;
- Presentation and feedback from Staff Council;
- Presentation and feedback from the Undergraduate and Graduate Student Senate;
- Presentation, feedback and approval from the Budget and Finance Committee of the Faculty Senate;
- Presentation, feedback, and approval from President's Council;
- Pilot of the revised policy and new Oracle Financials functionality in the Robotics Department.
Summary of What Has Changed in Revised Policy
- Immediate payment of expense report after Department approval;
- Final approval at Department level of exceptions (e.g., upgrades) with documentation maintained locally;
- Central audit of expense reports by sampling, similar to p-card audits;
- Receipt requirement for travel, business and purchasing card transactions increased to IRS max limit of $75;
- Scanning of all receipts for employees, ER and PCard (>= $75);
- Clarification on sales tax reimbursement;
- One policy - combines old Travel Policy and Non Travel Policy;
- Expense reports expected to be submitted within 30 days of incurring expense;
- Expense reports submitted after 90 days that are approved will be paid as taxable income;
- Clarification on Companion/Spousal travel.
Business and Travel Expense Policy Committee
Alison Campbell, Financial Systems Team
Sharon Carver, Children’s School
Joshua Centor, Athletics & Physical Education
Jennifer Cox-Siegel, Student Affairs
Theodore Curran, Tepper School, Co-Chair of Committee
Amanda Froelich, Accounting Services
Aaron Mark Gross, Student Representative
Gretchen Hunter, Heinz School
Edna Jackson, Provost’s Office
Bernadette Ledwich, SEI
Cheryl Leon, SEI
Elizabeth Milavec, Controller’s Office
Christine Lynn Murray, International Finance
Stacie McAllister, University Advancement
Angela Pecora, Taxation
Barbara Price, Tepper School
Kathy Proch, Controller’s Office, Co-Chair of Committee
Denise Rousseau, Heinz School
Mary Beth Shaw, General Counsel
Joel Smith, Computing Services
Patricia Steranchak, Engineering & Public Policy
Justin D. Sullivan, Procurement Services
Cheryl Wehrer, Robotics, Co-Chair of Committee
Sharon Carver, Children’s School
Joshua Centor, Athletics & Physical Education
Jennifer Cox-Siegel, Student Affairs
Theodore Curran, Tepper School, Co-Chair of Committee
Amanda Froelich, Accounting Services
Aaron Mark Gross, Student Representative
Gretchen Hunter, Heinz School
Edna Jackson, Provost’s Office
Bernadette Ledwich, SEI
Cheryl Leon, SEI
Elizabeth Milavec, Controller’s Office
Christine Lynn Murray, International Finance
Stacie McAllister, University Advancement
Angela Pecora, Taxation
Barbara Price, Tepper School
Kathy Proch, Controller’s Office, Co-Chair of Committee
Denise Rousseau, Heinz School
Mary Beth Shaw, General Counsel
Joel Smith, Computing Services
Patricia Steranchak, Engineering & Public Policy
Justin D. Sullivan, Procurement Services
Cheryl Wehrer, Robotics, Co-Chair of Committee