How to Create, Modify and Resubmit an Expense Reimbursement in e-Reimbursement

How UW–Madison travelers and Alternates create and submit Expense Reimbursements using e-Reimbursement.


See Procedure 3024.1 – Creating and Submitting an Expense Report in e-Reimbursement for:

  • Definitions of Business Purposes and Expense Types
  • Date, location, attachment and justification requirements
  • Additional requirements for submitting expense reimbursements

Sign into e-Reimbursement

Creating a new expense reimbursement

Click the Expenses tile. To create a new Expense Reimbursement, click Create Expense Report. To view pending, returned, or in-process Expense Reimbursements, click My Expense Reports.

Expense Reimbursements are broken down into three sections:

  • General Information – also referred to as “header information”, enter high-level information which applies to the full Expense Reimbursement.
  • Expense Entry – enter details of individual expenses.
  • Expense Summary – assign Cash Advances and Travel Authorizations and review the details of the trip prior to submission.

This is an accordion element with a series of buttons that open and close related content panels.

General information

Screenshot of the Expense Report system, with each field labeled with a number (used in page content to to further describe the fields).

View General Information video

  1. Back Button
  2. For Alternates – click the blue arrow, then “Change Employee” to create the Expense Reimbursement for someone else. This must be done first.
  3. Business Purpose – Choose the one that best describes the reimbursement.
  4. Description – Brief description that will show in emails and your e-Reimbursement queue.
  5. Default Location – Primary location of your trip. Choose your headquarter city for non-travel Expense Reimbursements.
  6. Reference – Select in-state, out-of-state, or foreign, based on where the destination is in relation to your headquarter city. For non-travel Expense Reimbursements, select Not a Travel Related report.
  7. Date of departure/return – Dates of your business travel. Do not include personal days.
  8. Attachments – it is required to attach receipts and other supporting documentation to Expense Reimbursements.
  9. Accounting Defaults – funding changes made here will apply to all expense lines on the Expense Reimbursement. To change the accounting defaults:
    1. Click Accounting Defaults.
    2. Add or remove funding lines using the plus and minus buttons to the left of the funding string. Split the report between multiple funding strings using the percentage field (first column).
    3. To enter project funding, click the Project ChartFields tab.
  10. Justification – Notes can be added by travelers, alternates, approvers, and auditors.
  11. Expense Report Action drop-down menu
    1. Add Expense Lines – add a single expense line
    2. Add from My Wallet – add a Coporate Card charge or Quick Expense from My Wallet. See Procedure 3024.5 for more information on working with My Wallet.
    3. Add from Quick-Fill – add multiple expense lines.
      1. Update the dates to match the dates of the trip.
      2. For the needed Expense Types, select either “one Day” to enter a single expense line or “All Days” to add one expense line for every day. Click “Done.”
    4. Copy Expense Report – Copy a previous expense report into a new expense report.
  12. Custom Funding – displays your default funding. You can add funding strings for future use while on this screen by clicking “Use Custom Values”. If submitting an Expense Reimbursement for a different UW college, the business unit and funding must be modified using Custom Funding. Begin entering expenses using one of the three buttons at the bottom.  If these buttons are not present, click Update Details to advance to Expense Entry.

Note: Once you begin entering expenses, SFS auto-saves every time a change is made.

Expense entry

Enter the details of your expenses.

Expense Entry Screen shot

View Expense Entry video

  1. The pencil/notepad icon returns you to the General Information screen.
  2. Expenses can be added, deleted, or filtered using the buttons above the left panel.
  3. Navigate between expense lines using the panel on the left. Expenses are displayed in chronological order.
  4. Expense line errors display above the expense details. Expense Reimbursements cannot be submitted until these errors have been addressed.
  5. Enter the date of the expense.
  6. Enter the Expense Type. Additional information may be required based on the Expense Type chosen.
  7. Enter a description of the expense. This is required for certain Expense Types.
  8. Enter the payment type:
    1. Personal funds – Out-of-pocket expenses to be reimbursed to the traveler.
    2. Prepaid Purchasing Card – Expenses paid on the Purchasing Card.
    3. US Bank Corporate Card – Expenses paid on your Corporate Card. These expenses will be paid directly to US Bank.
  9. Enter the amount. There is a currency converter available in e-Reimbursement. It is recommended travelers manually convert the amounts and enter only US Dollars in this field.
  10. If necessary, modify the Accounting for this expense line. The account code is determined by the Expense Type. Funding changes made here apply only to the expense line being modified.
  11. Use the Non-Reimbursable button to mark an expense non-reimbursable. This may be used for personal expenses or for expenses paid by an outside source (e.g. the conference host paid for the traveler’s lodging). It is not required to enter expense lines for non-reimbursable expenses; travelers may simply note them in a Justification Note. This button only works with Personal Funds and US Bank Corporate Card payment types.

Expense summary

Click Review and Submit once all expenses have been entered to go to the Expense Summary page.

Review and Submit Screenshot

View Expense Summary video

  1. Fix any errors to clear the red flags prior to submission.
  2. Review the Expense Report Summary to ensure the proper payment types were chosen.
    1. Total – total amount of the Expense Reimbursement.
    2. Non-Reimburse – expenses marked as Non-Reimbursable.
    3. Prepaid Expenses – expenses paid on the Purchasing Card.
    4. Due to Employee – amount to be reimbursed to employee.
    5. Due to Supplier – amount to be paid to US Bank (Corporate Card expenses)
  3. If applicable, assign related Cash Advances or Travel Authorizations to the Expense Reimbursement. For more information on working with Cash Advances, see Cash Advance Policy (UW 3025).
  4. Users can enter Justification Notes on the Expense Summary page. This takes you to the same screen as the Justification box on the General Information page.
  5. Click View Printable Report for a pdf report summary. Disable your pop-up blocker to view this report.
  6. If necessary, click the Update Details button to return to the Expense Entry page.
    1. When the Expense Reimbursement is complete, click Submit.
    2. Review the Submission Confirmation, and click Submit.

Modify and submit in-process expense reimbursements

Employees may need to access in-process expense reimbursements to:

  • Submit a previously created Expense Reimbursement
  • Modify and resubmit an Expense Reimbursement that has been sent back
  • View pending approvals for a submitted Expense Reimbursement
  • Withdraw a submitted Expense Reimbursement
  • Delete an Expense Reimbursement

Sign into e-Reimbursement    View Expense Report video

Click the Expenses tile, then My Expense Reports.

If working as an Alternate, change employees using the blue arrow in the top-left corner next to your name.

Use the panel on the left to navigate between Expense Reimbursements in different statuses:

  • Returned – Expense Reimbursements returned to the traveler. Delete or modify and resubmit these reports according to the Approver/Auditor’s instructions.
  • Not Submitted – Expense Reimbursements which have been created but not yet submitted.
  • Awaiting Approval – Submitted Expense Reimbursements awaiting Approver or Auditor review.
  • Pending Payment – fully approved Expense Reimbursements which will be paid in the next payment cycle.

Use the green arrow next to the report description to:

  • Copy to New Report – copy details of Expense Reimbursement to a new report. New report must be updated (e.g. dates) prior to submission.
  • Delete Report – permanently delete an Expense Reimbursement. This option is only available for Returned or Not Submitted Expense Reimbursements.
  • Send Notification – send an email notification to those you’ve specified.

Click the Report ID to view details of a specific Expense Reimbursement.

  • See instructions above on how to navigate and submit Expense Reimbursements.
  • View pending approvals and workflow history on the Expense Summary page.
  • Withdraw submitted Expense Reimbursements which have not yet been accessed by an Approver. The Withdraw button is on the Expense Summary page.

How-To guides

This is an accordion element with a series of buttons that open and close related content panels.

Assign an Alternate

Employees are responsible for assigning and removing their own alternates. See instructions in Procedure 3024.2 – How to Assign an Alternate.

To request to be someone’s alternate, contact them with the request and provide them with these instructions. There are no system-generated requests; requests must be done manually (e.g., by email).

For more information on working as an Alternate, see Working as an Alternate in e-Reimbursement.

Withdraw an expense report

Travelers and alternates may withdraw an expense report after it has been submitted but before the Approver has accessed it. The withdrawn report returns to the traveler’s pending queue.

  1. In e-Reimbursement, select the Expenses Tile, then My Expense Reports.
  2. Click the report you wish to withdraw. It will be in the Awaiting Approval list.
  3. Click the Withdraw button in the top right corner. You may have to navigate to the Expense Summary page by clicking the navigation buttons at the top of the screen.

Delete an expense report

Travelers and alternates may delete expense reports. This action truly deletes an expense report; it cannot be recovered. Travelers and alternates cannot delete submitted expense reports unless they are first sent back.

  1. In e-reimbursement, select the Expenses Tile, then My Expense Reports.
  2. Click the blue arrow next to the desired expense report. Choose “Delete Report”.

Contact

Travelers and departmental staff should contact their Divisional Business Office for policy or procedural questions.

Divisional Business Offices may e-mail expensereimbursement@bussvc.wisc.edu with questions.