This form is used to request policy exception approval to allow for reimbursement of noncompliant transactions. Once submitted, the form is automatically routed to Divisional Business Office contacts for approval. This form is intended to be used only by Divisions participating in the Division of Business Services centralized audit of expenses.
This form is used to request policy exception approval to allow for reimbursement of noncompliant transactions. Once submitted, the form is automatically routed to Divisional Business Office contacts for approval. This form is intended to be used only by Divisions participating in the Division of Business Services centralized audit of expenses.
Instructions for a claimant/submitter on how to obtain a policy exception for a noncompliant expense report. Applies to UW–Madison expense reports.
Access the Policy Exception Approval Request web form. You will be prompted for a NetID login to access the form. Note: If this is a request on behalf of a non-employee, the form must be filled out by a current UW–Madison employee with a NetID on behalf of the non-employee.
Fill out the required fields:
Claimant Name – This is the individual requesting reimbursement of policy noncompliant expenses.
Claimant Email
Submitter’s Name (if different than the claimant, e.g., an administrative assistant)
Submitter’s Email (if different than the claimant)
Select Division & Division Name from list. This field is required for form approval routing purposes.
Department UDDS: Enter your six-digit Department ID.
Department Name: Enter the name of your Department.
Total Exception Request Amount: Enter the total dollar amount of your exception request.
Expense Report Number: : Policy exception requests will be for a transaction or transactions on an expense report. Please include the expense report number in this field, if available when submitting the exception approval request form. The expense report number is a ten-digit identification number, e.g., 0001234567.
Select which policy was violated.
Select additional policy violation (if applicable to the situation).
Select additional policy violation (if applicable to the situation).
Reason for Policy Exception Request: Please provide a thorough explanation of the circumstances surrounding the policy violation. Include a description of what happened and a justification for why the exception should be granted.
Actions taken by the claimant and/or department to prevent need for future exceptions of this nature: Please outline how future exceptions of this nature will be avoided, whether there are new procedures in place or if there is now a better understanding of policy requirements.
Please add any supporting documentation: Up to 10 files may be added for the exception approvers to review/consider. Files may include receipts, agenda, relevant emails/communications, etc.
Click Submit. A message will pop up confirming “Your response was submitted.” The claimant (and submitter, if applicable) will receive an email confirmation of submission of the exception request. The submitted form will be automatically routed to the Divisional exception approvers for review.
Approval or denial of the request: Divisional exception approvers will either approve or deny the request.
Approved: The claimant (and submitter, if applicable) will receive an email notifying them of the approval of the policy exception request. The email should be converted to a PDF and attached to the expense report. The expense report may then be resubmitted into workflow.
Denial: The claimant (and submitter, if applicable) will receive an email noting that the request has been rejected.
Expense report: Remove the expense line(s) from the expense report containing noncompliant transactions. Resubmit the report.
Instructions for Divisional Business Office employees on how to review a policy exception for a noncompliant expense report. Applies to UW–Madison expense reports.
When a new Policy Exception Approval Request form has been submitted by a claimant, both the primary and backup exception approvers for a Division will receive an email from Microsoft Power Automate (flow-noreply@microsoft.com) and a Microsoft Teams Activity notification that the request is pending withing the Microsoft Teams Approvals application. The exception request may be reviewed and acted upon in either Microsoft Outlook or in Microsoft Teams Approvals. Directions for each process follow below.
Reviewing a Policy Exception Approval Request Form in Microsoft Outlook
Click on image to enlarge – How a Policy Exemption Approval Request appears in Microsoft Outlook
Every Policy Exception Approval Request form will show at the top of the request as “Created by DEXTER FIERRO.” This only indicates that Dexter Fierro, Division of Business Services Business Analyst, created the Power Automate workflow as a whole. He did not create the specific request that is being submitted.
The second line, “Requested for Rebecca Lin” indicates that this Policy Exception Approval Request has been submitted by claimant Rebecca Lin (or on behalf of claimant Rebecca Lin), followed by a date and time stamp for unique identifiers of the request.
In the following section, a summary of form field answers is displayed. Here is where exception approvers will find the Department ID and Department Name logged, as well as the dollar amount and relevant expense report number. The exception request notes exactly which policies were violated and contains claimant responses regarding the circumstances of the exception request and the steps taken to prevent future exception requests of a similar nature.
The hyperlinked text Here is a link to the item you are approving contains a link to the Microsoft SharePoint item record for the specific policy exception approval request form being reviewed. This link is utilized to access attachments added to the Policy Exception Approval Request form, which can be found at the bottom of the SharePoint item page. This link should be used to access attachments, to request additional information from the claimant or submitter via the Comments functionality in SharePoint, or to grant access to another ad-hoc reviewer of the form via the Comments functionality in SharePoint. A comment may be directed to any individual with an Outlook account via @mentions. This functionality may be leveraged to ask the claimant or submitter for more information or to ask other individuals to review the request and comment on it, such as a Department Administrator. It is envisioned that this @mention functionality would be used most often to request more information from the claimant or submitter. The @mention functionality triggers an email to the mentioned individual, which grants them access to the SharePoint item to provide further information via comments. See below for an example of where to find attachments and to see a comment added triggering the claimant to provide more information.
Click on image to enlarge – How to access request attachments and add comments to a request (including tagging a claimant)
When an approver is ready to Approve or Reject the request, the approver should return to the email in their inbox and click their desired action button. Exception approvers have the opportunity to add a comment, but it is not required. Click “Submit” to complete the action step (this is the same regardless of whether Approve or Reject is selected). An email will be sent to the claimant and submitter notifying them of the decision.
For the approver who completed the action step, the Microsoft Power Automate email for the request will dynamically update reflecting the status to Approved or Rejected (Figure A below). For the other approver who did not complete the action step, their Microsoft Outlook email regarding the request will be updated to note “Others have already completed this request” (Figure B below).
Figure A. What the approving individual sees they complete the approval process: “Approved” status in the email
Figure B. What an approving individual sees when a different approver has completed the approval process: “Others have already completed this request” status in the email
Reviewing a Policy Exception Approval Request Form in Microsoft Teams Approvals
Click on image to enlarge – How to find requests in Teams under the “Approvals” section
Microsoft Teams has an application called Approvals. All Power Automate Policy Exception Approval Request Forms are visible within and actionable within Microsoft Teams Approvals. This application can be added to Microsoft Teams by clicking on the sidebar View More Apps “…”, searching for Approvals, and then pinning to your taskbar by right-clicking on the icon and selecting Pin. An exception approver will receive an Activity notification every time a Power Automate Policy Exception is submitted for their approval.
Navigate to a requested policy exception form in the Approvals Any items with Status “Requested” are still pending action from approvers. Click anywhere on the Request title to view the details of the submitted form.
Click on image to enlarge – You can see request details when a Policy Exception Approval Request is selected in the Teams workflow, including why the request was completed
A summary of form field answers is displayed. Here is where exception approvers will find the Department ID and Department Name logged, as well as the dollar amount and relevant expense report number. The exception request notes exactly which policies were violated and contains claimant responses regarding the circumstances of the exception request and the steps taken to prevent future exception requests of a similar nature.
Click on image to enlarge – The details of a Policy Exception Approval Request, including where you can find attachments, the approval workflow, where to add comments, a reassign option, and the ability to reject or approve the request
Continue scrolling on the form to view the SharePoint item link Here is a link to the item you are approving. This link is utilized to access attachments added to the Policy Exception Approval Request form, which can be found at the bottom of the SharePoint item page. This link should be used to access attachments, to request additional information from the claimant or submitter via the Comments functionality in SharePoint, or to grant access to another ad-hoc reviewer of the form via the Comments functionality in SharePoint. A comment may be directed to any individual with an Outlook account via @mentions. This functionality may be leveraged to ask the claimant or submitter for more information or to ask other individuals to review the request and comment on it, such as a Department Administrator, for instance. It is envisioned that this @mention functionality would be used most often to request more information from the claimant or submitter. The @mention functionality triggers an email to the mentioned individual, which grants them access to the SharePoint item to provide further information via comments.
A diagram of the approval workflow is provided with both the primary approver and backup approver listed.
If an approver would like to add comments, they may do so in the Comments section.
The form approval may be reassigned to another Teams user with a Microsoft account. Note: This is not recommended as a best practice. The primary and backup approvers should be approving all requests. The SharePoint @mention functionality can be used to gain additional feedback from individuals, but the requests themselves should always be approved by the Divisional CFO or delegate (the primary or secondary approver).
When an approver is ready to take action on the form, click Reject to deny the request or Approve to approve of the exception request. An email will be sent to the claimant and submitter notifying them of the decision. The Microsoft Teams Approvals log will dynamically update the status of the form once this is completed.
As of October 1, 2024, several changes were made affecting travel policy and expense reimbursement/payment approval guidance. The information is summarized below.
Travel Policy Updates
Effective October 1, 2024, the following travel policy updates have been made as a result of the August 1, 2024 update to UW-5087 – Remote Work:
UW-3016 – Air Travel: This policy was updated to reduce the number of situations in which a cost comparison is required for air travel. Specifically, “travel prior to or after the required business travel dates” (e.g., adding personal time to business travel) no longer requires a cost comparison. In addition, travelers may now depart from or return to any airport within the state of Wisconsin or within 100 miles from the Wisconsin border without a cost comparison. The policy was further updated to clarify that when a cost comparison is required, the cost comparison flight will generally depart from or return to the Dane County Regional Airport (MSN). The “no exceptions” clause has been removed from the 80% reimbursement statement when a valid cost comparison is not provided with a payment/reimbursement request.
UW-3026 – Non-Payable/Non-Reimbursable Expenses: This policy was updated to include a prohibition of payment/reimbursement of travel expenses to an employee’s assigned headquarters location.
UW-3015 – University Travel: This policy was updated to provide allowable departure and return times for UW business travel. Arrival on the day prior to a business event and departure on the day after business concludes is allowable. For international travel, arrival up to two days prior to the business event is allowable.
UW-3019 – Vehicle Use/Rental: This policy was updated to clarify the situations when mileage is a reimbursable expense. To summarize – commute mileage is never reimbursable and must be accounted for when reconciling business travel expenses.
Remote Work Audit Timeline
Travel and expense payment approvers should use the following timeline when auditing expenses:
For travel occurring on or before October 1, 2024: Expense reimbursement claims or payments will be processed under the remote work policy in place prior to August 2, 2024.
For travel occurring between October 1 and December 31, 2024: Exceptions may be granted via the Exception Request for Business Travel Form to allow for travel to headquarters location or additional mileage due to change in headquarters location if the travel was planned or scheduled prior to August 1, 2024.
All travel on or after January 1, 2025 for remote employees must conform to UW-Madison travel policies and application of UW-5087 – Remote Work.
Audit Resources
Information will be forthcoming for all e-Reimbursement approvers/auditors and purchasing card site managers who will need access to HR Remote Work Agreement data to audit travel expenses for remote employees.
Remote Work Agreements
All UW–Madison employees working remotely were required to complete a FY25 Remote Work Agreement (RWA) by October 1, 2024. If employees completed their FY25 RWA prior to July 31, 2024, they did so with the previous version of the RWA. It is recommended a new RWA be submitted – especially for those employees who are assigned fully remote (as a condition of their employment) – to streamline the expense reimbursement process going forward.
The Travel and Card team is pleased to announce several modifications to existing policies. See below for a summary of changes and impacts.
Policy UW-3016, Air Travel: Section I. Booking Methods has been updated to reflect four distinct exceptions. Previously, exceptions A. and B. were combined, which led to confusion, as the exceptions are truly separate and unrelated cases. The updated language reflects two separate exception categories: flights that can not be booked with designated travel management company and international flights purchased abroad (outside the United States).
Policy UW-3019, Vehicle Use/Rental: Previously, vehicle use/rental policy did not mention the allowability of parking expenses. A section has been added outlining payable and reimbursable parking expenses.
Policy UW-3024, Expense Reimbursement: There are two updates to expense reimbursement policy. The first update brings UW-Madison into alignment with the Universities of Wisconsin on accountable plan standards for Universities of Wisconsin students. The second update allows for expanded payment of expenses on behalf of any UW-Madison students, regardless of student type (e.g. undergraduate, graduate or doctoral students).
UW-Madison’s accountable plan needed to be updated to match Universities of Wisconsin policy to reflect that UW students who are not employed by the University are exempt from accountable plan requirements. Note that if a UW student is employed by UW-Madison or Universities of Wisconsin, they are considered an employee under the accountable plan and must comply with the 90-day deadlines.
Section IV., Claiming Own Expenses, has been updated to state employees may claim travel-related expenses for other travelers who are current UW-Madison students. Previously, this policy restricted the exception to undergraduate student travel only. Efforts should still be made to direct pay for student expenses utilizing Purchasing Cards or other direct methods of payment.
Policy UW-3026, Non-Payable/Non-Reimbursable Expenses: Edited to specify that parking costs at the headquarter worksite (office, etc.) are not payable/reimbursable. Previously, the term used was: assigned workplace. This change updates the language to reflect that used by Universities of Wisconsin. Added “early check-in” as a non-payable/non-reimbursable item on lodging folios; however, please be advised early check-in/late checkout may be paid or reimbursed if justified by business need/circumstances.
As always, please let us know if you have any questions.
The Travel and Card team is happy to announce the following policy updates and changes:
UW-3022, International Travel: To align with Universities of Wisconsin foreign/international travel policy, two new allowable expenses associated with international travel will be added: international calling/data plans when accompanied by a business justification and required inoculations/vaccinations.
UW-3024, Expense Reimbursement: Universities of Wisconsin require receipts regardless of cost for international calling/data plans as well as required inoculations/vaccinations. These have been added to the section “Receipts are always required…”
UW-3018, Meals and Incidentals: A note has been added to clarify that individual phone calls are included in the incidental per diem rate, but international calling/data plans are reimbursable for foreign travel if supported by a UW business purpose.
UW-3075, Official Functions and Expenses: Several Divisions on campus have reached out regarding whether children/dependent travel expenses may be included as part of an Official Function pre-approval for a UW-Madison job interview trip. Policy language currently limits this to “a spouse/significant other/companion.” The “a” will be removed to allow for more flexibility in arranging job interview travel, where the number of accompanying individuals is not limited to one. The policy will now read: “Travel expenses for spouse/significant other/companions to accompany an applicant on a UW-Madison job interview trip.” The approved Official Function must outline each additional traveler for the job interview trip, the approved travel expenses for additional travelers, and the business benefit for including the additional traveler(s) on the job interview trip.
UW-3026, Non-Payable/Non-Reimbursable Expenses: This policy needed to be updated to reflect that dependent travel expenses may be payable/reimbursable if associated with a preapproved Official Function for job applicant travel. Additionally, a provision for rental of graduation regalia was added. Purchase of regalia is neither payable nor reimbursable. Finally, we clarified a point of confusion around manuscript expenses; both article submission fees and article publication fees are payable/reimbursable when purchased using a card product (e.g., debit, credit).
All of these changes are reflected in the UW-Madison Policy Library.
This procedure explains how to review and approval expense reports in e-Reimbursement, the Expense module of the Shared Financial System (SFS), from the perspective of an Approver or Auditor.
All payments made to employees and non-employees for reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses are initiated in e-Reimbursement, the Expenses module of the Shared Financial System (SFS). Expense reports are reviewed by an approver and an auditor prior to payment. Approval routing is based on the Department ID referenced in the funding allocation for each expense line. When an expense report is ready for approval, approvers and auditors will receive an email notification prompting them to take action. Approvers and auditors must review expense reports for policy compliance, appropriateness of expenses, accuracy of accounting, and necessary supporting documentation.
This document details the required procedures for reviewing and approving an expense report in the Shared Financial System.
To get started, sign into the Shared Financial System (SFS), click the Expense WorkCenter tile, then click the link for Approve Transactions in the Approve Transactions and Reassign menu along the left side of the window. This will populate a list of expense reports, cash advances, and travel authorizations requiring your approval.
Overview Screen: After clicking Approve Transactions, the Overview screen of the approval queue will appear. In Overview format, the queue may contain expense reports as well as cash advances, and less commonly, travel authorizations. The tabs along the top of the page allow you to narrow your queue visibility to see only Expense Reports, Travel Authorizations, or Cash Advances. You may search for pending transactions by clicking the arrow next to Search Pending Transactions near the top of the page; searching by Transaction ID (10-digit expense report number) often proves helpful, but other columns may be selected for search terms as well, such as Name (employee/non-employee claimant name). You may also change the sort order of reports in your queue by clicking the arrow next to Change Sort Order. You may then sort your queue by any selected field (e.g. Total, Date Submitted) in ascending or descending order.
Review columns in the Transactions to Approve table (click image below to enlarge):
Select: The checkboxes in this column can be used to Send Back or Hold multiple transactions as long as they do not contain an alert icon in the Alert column.
Send Back: If sending back multiple reports at this screen, the same comments will be included with each transaction that is sent back to the Traveler for modification and resubmission. Note: Expand the Comments section at the bottom of the list of expense reports to enter a comment.
Hold: Placing a transaction on hold will make it inaccessible to other approvers/auditors and System Administrators. The only way to remove the hold status is to approve or deny the report or send it back to the Traveler. Be aware of these limitations should you choose to put a report on hold.
Urgency: The Urgency column provides a visual guideline to help you prioritize your approval queue based on the number of days from submission. The categories are defined as follows: green circle (low priority): 0 – 7 Days; yellow triangle (medium priority): 8 – 29 Days; red square (high priority): 30 – 999 Days.
Alert: The Expenses module is programmed to highlight certain alerts to approvers and auditors, e.g. accountable plan violation, lodging limit exceeded, Foundation billing utilization. A yellow triangle with an exclamation point in this column indicates that this report is flagged for having at least one alert.
Transaction Type: Approvers/auditors will see expense reports, travel authorizations and cash advances in their approval queues.
Total: This amount represents the total dollar amount of the report, regardless of the payment mechanism used for each expense line.
Unit: This column displays the form of currency used to enter the expenses.
Name: This column displays the name of the individual claiming reimbursement/payment. Verify that this is the appropriate individual to be reimbursed for the expenses claimed.
Employee ID: This column displays the employee or non-employee ID of the individual claiming reimbursement/payment.
Bus Unit: Business Unit/Institution of the claimant
Description: This column displays the report name entered by the claimant/alternate.
Transaction ID: This column displays a unique 10-digit number that identifies the transaction.
Date Submitted: This column displays the date the claimant/alternate submitted the report.
Status: This column displays the status of the report, which will be Approvals in Process in most cases.
Role: If an approver/auditor is assigned to multiple approval roles, it is important to verify which level of approval the transaction is pending.
Navigate to an individual transaction and review the report:
Click on the Description or Transaction ID link of the report you would like to review.
The content within the displayed Expense Summary section should provide details necessary to determine the appropriateness of the expense lines in an expense report. Review the Business Purpose (See Appendix), Description, Reference, and Dates for accuracy; field should be checked in reference to attachments and supporting documentation at the header level of the expense report. Next, verify that the Justification and Supporting Details section contains a valid and complete UW-Madison business purpose. The UW Summary Report link is available near the top of the expense report and can be used to quickly review the accounting distribution for the expense report.
To review individual expense lines in full detail and to be able to make changes to expense lines, select the Expense Details link in the upper right corner of the expense report. This will take you to the Expense Details page, where each expense line should be reviewed for:
Policy Compliance: It is helpful to refer to the specific policy that pertains to the expense line being reviewed.
Expense Type and Reference/Billing Type: In the Expense Module, account codes are automatically determined by selecting the appropriate Expense Type and Billing Type. The Expense Type selected also drives the required field completion in the Expense Details panel.
If the Expense Type is incorrect, approvers and auditors can click on the Expense Type field and select the correct Expense Type from the list.
Note Billing Type is coded based on the Reference selection in the header section of the expense report and cannot be changed at the line-item level. Approvers and auditors can correct the Billing Type for the expense report as a whole by returning to the Expense Summary page and selecting the correct Reference for the expense report.
Payment Type: The payment type determines who will receive payment for the expenses claimed.
US Bank Corporate Card: The My Corporate Card is an individual-liability VISA credit card issued by U.S. Bank to UW-Madison employees for University business use only. For employees who have an open My Corporate Card account, reimbursable expenses are paid directly to US Bank by the University, on behalf of the cardholder when an expense report is submitted and approved.
Personal Funds: When this option is selected, the employee will be reimbursed via the payment mechanism on file. If direct deposit has been set up by the employee, the payment will be delivered via ACH. If not, a paper check will be mailed to the employee. Non-employee payments are issued via a mailed check or via a wire payment (for nonemployees with addresses outside of the U.S. and Canada).
Prepaid Purchasing Card: Expenses paid on the Purchasing Card. The traveler will not be reimbursed for these expenses. It is not required to include expense lines for prepaid items.
Funding: Verify that the funding string has budget and funds available for the expenses listed. Confirm expenses are allocable to and allowable on the funding string.
To change the funding on an individual expense line, click on the Accounting Details to expand the funding string for the expense line. Change the funding as appropriate. To use multiple funding sources, click the Plus (+) sign button at the far right of the funding string, enter the additional funding string, and modify the distribution of the expense across the lines.
Additional Required Details (varies by Expense Type): Individual expense types may require verification of additional information, such as Number of Nights, Number of Attendees, Attendees Lists, Currency Exchange Rate, etc.
Tax Compliance: Each expense line should be reviewed for tax compliance. The University of Wisconsin–Madison is exempt from payment of Wisconsin sales and use tax on items purchased within Wisconsin. Additionally, Universities of Wisconsin has tax exempt reciprocity agreements with some other states. if an e-Reimbursement approver or auditor notes an expense line with sales and use tax paid in error, the following steps should be taken, depending on the dollar amount paid in error:
$25.00 or less: If the amount of sales tax paid in error is $25 or less, the approver or auditor may note the non-compliant amount, but approve the amount for reimbursement, citing the following immateriality clause: “Sales tax paid in error for this transaction does not meet the materiality threshold of $25 for the University of Wisconsin-Madison; as such, immaterial sales tax will be reimbursed.”
Greater than $25:
Includes a documented attempt to obtain exemption: If the amount of sales tax paid in error is greater than $25 and the claimant has documented an attempt to either obtain exemption or obtain a refund (without success), the approver/auditor may approve the amount for reimbursement.
Does not include a documented attempt to obtain exemption: If the amount of sales tax paid in error is greater than $25, but the claimant did not document an attempt to either obtain exemption or obtain a refund, the approver/auditor must reduce the reimbursable amount to the pre-tax total.
Marking an expense line non-reimbursable: Generally, expenses that do not comply with UW–Madison policies will not be reimbursed. Additionally, Policy UW-3026, Non-Payable/Non-Reimbursable Expenses, outlines expenses that are not payable or reimbursable by the University. Expense lines in e-Reimbursement may be marked non-reimbursable by unchecking the box underneath Approve in the upper-right section of an expense line on the Expense Details page. After unchecking the box, a drop-down selection menu will appear, and a reason for not approving the expense for reimbursement must be selected. Reasons in the drop-down list include: Already Paid/Duplicate, No Receipt, Out of Policy, and Personal Expense.
Once line-item review is completed, you must switch back to the Summary and Approve screen to review final summary items and to take action on the expense report. Select the Summary and Approve link in the upper right corner of the expense report.
Note the Expense Report Totals section. The amounts listed indicate the payments to be made to the following:
Employee Expenses: Total of all expense lines, regardless of payment type
Non-Reimbursable Expenses: Total of all expenses marked as non-reimbursable
Prepaid Expenses: Total of all expenses with a payment type of University Prepaid
Amount Due to Employee: Total of all reimbursable expenses with a payment type of Personal Funds
Amount Due to Supplier: Total of all reimbursable expenses with payment type of Corporate Card
Note the Approval History (timeline): This graphic displays the names and roles of all approvers/auditors required to review the report prior to payment/reimbursement. A green check mark indicates that an approval step is complete. If the approver is listed as “Pooled”, multiple individuals are able to approve at this level, but only one is required. If auditor is listed as “Multiple”, all auditors must approve for the report to advance to payment.
Note the Approval History (table): This table shows the history of the report after it was submitted, including a date/time stamp and comment bubbles containing approver/auditor remarks. Be sure to review any comment bubbles listed.
If ready to approve the report, click Approve. On the confirmation pop-up page, click “OK”. If approving as Prepay Auditor, note the report cannot be changed, modified, or returned once this final approval step is complete. If a report has been approved at final audit in error and the report should not be paid, email expensereimbursement@bussvc.wisc.edu to close the report.
If you are not ready to approve the expense report, other actions that may be taken include:
Send Back: Click the Send Back button to save changes and send it back to the submitter. This button sends the report back to the submitter for edits, revisions, and additions. A comment must be entered in the Comments box prior to sending back the report; this comment should outline the reasons for the send-back and the steps the submitter needs to take prior to resubmitting the report.
Hold: Click Hold to put an expense report on hold; this prevents any other individual from acting on the report other than the approver/auditor who placed the report on hold.
Deny: To eliminate an expense report that will not be paid, click the Deny button. Once an expense report is denied, the expense report cannot be resubmitted.
Save Changes: Click the Save Changes button. This saves any changes made to the expense report and routes you back to your approval queue.
After clicking on one of the action buttons above, you will be routed back to your approval queue to select a new report to work on.
Traveler/Claimant/Recipient: the person receiving reimbursement. Note: Employees are responsible for submitting their own expense report and following all applicable UW travel policies. An employee may assign an alternate to create and modify an expense report on their behalf, but the employee is ultimately responsible for submitting their own expense reports.
Alternate: responsible for creating and submitting expense reports on behalf of others. Employees who seek reimbursement can assign an alternate to create and modify expense reports for them, but the employee must submit their own. Expense reports for non-employees or recently terminated employees are created and submitted by alternates.
Approver: Upon submission, expense reports are first reviewed by an approver. Approvers are responsible for reviewing supporting documentation, reviewing expense reports for policy compliance, and reviewing funding being charged.
Auditor: Expense reports are reviewed by an auditor after the approver and prior to final payment. Auditors are responsible for reviewing expense reports for policy compliance.
e-Reimbursement: the Expenses module of the Shared Financial System (SFS), used to create, submit, and approve expense report/reimbursement claims.
Purchasing Card: University-liability credit card that can be used for travel and non-travel expenses.
Corporate Card: individual-liability credit card that can be used for travel and non-travel expenses.
Expense report: contains a categorized and itemized list of expenses that were made on behalf of University of Wisconsin–Madison. This report helps the employer or finance team determine what money was spent, what was purchased, and how much of the expenditure is approved for reimbursement.
Business Purpose: When using University funds or requesting a reimbursement from University funds, documentation of a clear business purpose is required so an approver, auditor, site manager, and/or post-payment auditor may reasonably conclude and agree the expenditure is an appropriate business expense. The business purpose, which is defined as one that supports or advances the goals, objectives and mission of the University, adequately describes the expense as a necessary, reasonable, and appropriate business expense for the University. All expenses must support a University business purpose.
Non-employee: an individual who does not have an active appointment at the University. Non-employees can be reimbursed for business-related expenses through e-Reimbursement. Generally, non-employees are subject to the same policy requirements as employees.
Business – Expenses for routine business travel not better classified in another category.
Conference – Expenses incurred to attend or host a conference.
Fundraising – Expenses incurred for University fundraising.
Job candidate hosting – Expenses incurred for hosting job candidates.
Local travel – Expenses incurred when traveling within the headquarter city or surrounding area. Expenses can be accumulated and filed weekly, bi-weekly or monthly.
Non-Travel – Expenses incurred for low-dollar purchases made in compliance with UW purchasing policies.
Professional development – Expenses incurred by employees for education or job/professional training.
Recruiting – Expenses incurred for recruiting employees and students to the University.
Relocation – Relocation stipends for employee relocation.
Research – Expenses incurred for research or research-related activities including fieldwork or faculty presentation of papers.
Student travel – Expenses incurred by students for business or educational travel. Does not include study abroad or International Education programs. Employee expenses to accompany students on student travel.
Study abroad – Expenses incurred by travelers (faculty or students) for study abroad or other international education programs.
Team travel – Expenses incurred for sport team travel.
Various elements of UW–Madison travel policies and web content needed changing to match UW System policy and other important changes (i.e., vehicle contract changes). The following changes are effective immediately:
Updated Travel Status definition to 365 days (from 30) to align UW-Madison policy with UWSA policy and IRS regulations.
Updated Ethics section to remove “Benefits or services from supplier rewards programs (e.g., airline frequent flier miles, hotel stay programs) earned from University paid travel must be applied toward future University business travel.” This change brings UW-Madison travel policy in alignment with UWSA travel policy and was implemented because there is no way to audit the former requirement.
Updated Airline Promotions section to allow personal use of vouchers, certificates, or frequent flier miles received as a result of University business travel. This change brings UW-Madison travel policy in alignment with UWSA travel policy and was implemented because there is no way to audit the former requirement.
Updated Booking Methods section to remove “Foreign, intra country flights” terminology. This change brings UW-Madison travel policy in alignment with UWSA travel policy. Exception allowed for direct airline purchase when traveler is abroad, origin and destination are international, and flights are a lower cost or not available through the travel management company.
Policy and webpage updates required – New Big 10 Alliance contract with EHI (Enterprise/National).
Removed mandate to book Enterprise/National as most preferred – Hertz will now be equally preferred and is often less expensive than Enterprise/National.
Updates to personal use of car rental contracts – Enterprise and National will no longer offer fixed discounted rates for personal travel. A percentage discount will be offered.
Added Manuscript Submission Fees: Manuscript submission fees are payable on the purchasing card or reimbursable only if paid with a card product (e.g., credit, debit). Proof of card payment must be submitted with reimbursement claim.
As always, please let us know if you have any questions.
The cost comparison section of policy has been updated to include the new 80% rule and more detailed requirements regarding when cost comparisons are required. Note: the 80% rule is effective 7/1/23, and applies to airfare purchased 7/1/23 or later.
Cost comparison language for mileage has been updated to reflect 1000 miles as the distance at which a cost comparison is required. Please note the mileage limit applies to mileage incurred on 7/1/23 or later. Claims for mileage dated prior to 7/1/23 would still require a cost comparison at 800 miles, since that was the policy in effect at the time.
The house-hunting provision has been removed from Official Functions and Expenses policy. House-hunting expenses are no longer payable or reimbursable.
If a Department or Division wishes to support a house hunting trip, the only way they may do so is to offer it as part of the relocation stipend (include an amount for house hunting) at/after job acceptance. The stipend is taxable, and as such it will meet tax reporting requirements for house hunting.
Job applicant interview travel may include a spouse/significant other/companion with a preapproved Official Function form.
For questions on travel policy, please reach out to UW-Madison Travel Manager Terry Wilson at uwtravel@bussvc.wisc.edu.
Expense reimbursement updates
The new student lodging account codes and expense type are now in production and available in Shared Financial Services (SFS).
Code
Type
Short description
Long description
Purpose
2853
Expense
Student Lodging in State
Student Lodging in State
To track any student lodging expenses for compliance with the Clery Act. This new account code should make Clery Act reporting much more efficient.
2854
Expense
Student Lodging Out of State
Student Lodging Out of State
2855
Expense
Student Lodging Foreign
Student Lodging Foreign
There is only one expense type for student lodging, “Lodging-Student”, and SFS will automatically select the proper account code (in-state, out-of-state, foreign) based on the REFERENCE selection in the header of the expense report (in-state, out-of-state, foreign). As a reminder, be sure to enter the address in the “Description” field.
Click screenshot above to enlarge.
