FIN 420–01: Faculty and Staff Reimbursements

To permit reimbursements to faculty and staff for authorized expenditures

University policy

Where receipts are required for faculty/staff reimbursement of university expenses (that serve a legitimate business need for ASU), the original receipts must be provided.

Faculty and staff are responsible for payment of their own travel expenses; however, the university will reimburse approved travel expenses.

Faculty and staff may obtain travel advances (short-term cash advances) from the university (see FIN 508, “Travel Advances”).

All travel expense reimbursements are claimed on a Travel Claim form; however, reimbursements for parking charges only when no mileage or other travel cost reimbursements are being claimed may, at the discretion of the university department, be claimed through petty cash or by completion of a payment voucher (PV).

Subsequent to the initial reimbursement to claimed expenses, an audit or other review may identify an error that resulted in an over- or underpayment to the employee. In these cases, a repayment to the university by the employee, or an additional payment to the employee by the university, will be made regardless of the timeframe and funding source.

Faculty and staff may be reimbursed for business meals, food, and related expenses (see FIN 420–02, “Business Meals, Food, and Related Expenses”).

New faculty and staff may be reimbursed for moving expenses for moving their household goods and personal effects and for traveling to their new home (see FIN 420–03, “Moving Expenses”).

Faculty and staff may procure goods or services directly from a vendor and request reimbursement if adequate documentation of the purchase is provided, i.e., the original vendor receipt. Purchases prohibited in FIN 401–03, “Prohibited Transactions,” cannot be processed as an employee’s reimbursement. Purchases identified in PUR 401, “Special Goods,” and PUR 402, “Special Services,” require special handling procedures prior to a purchase. Additionally, payments that constitute compensation for services rendered should not be paid for by faculty or staff directly. Compensation includes, but may not be limited to, payments for services performed by employees or independent contractors/consultants, payments for student support, and payment of expenses incurred by an employee or independent contractor/consultant. Reimbursements for purchases of prepaid calling cards require special attention as detailed in FIN 420–07, “Prepaid Calling Cards.”

The Purchasing Card is the preferred method of making off-campus small-dollar purchases for those departments authorized to use the Purchasing Card. Some on-campus service providers also accept the Purchasing Card.

Faculty and staff are eligible for an ASU-sponsored Diners Club university travel card, which may be used to make the purchases described above. Cardholders pay Diners Club directly for their purchases, then request reimbursement from ASU. ASU does not pay Diners Club directly.

Purchasing items from a warehouse club can be cost effective for departments purchasing items in large quantities. In the event that a department deems it in the best interest of the university to purchase a business membership to a warehouse club, the department should only join at the regular business level and not the higher ‘executive level.’ All cards related to the membership must be held by ASU employees and used only to purchase supplies for ASU.

Purchases of warehouse club memberships require vice provost/vice president approval.

For additional approval information, see FIN 401–02, “Provost/Vice Provost/Vice President Approvals.”

Follow the procedures in FIN 500, “Travel.”

Follow the procedures in FIN 420–02, “Business Meals, Food, and Related Expenses.”

Follow the procedures in FIN 420–03, “Moving Expenses.”

For reimbursements of $1,000 or less, submit a payment voucher (PV) document directly to Payables and Reimbursements with proper supporting receipts and documentation. Reimbursements that exceed $1,000 require approvals from (1) the respective dean, nonacademic director, or business manager reporting to one of these positions; (2) the respective provost, vice provost, or vice president; and (3) Purchasing and Business Services. Requests for reimbursement that lack proper approvals will be returned to the requesting department.

The preferred object code to use for employee/student reimbursements, regardless of the transaction type, is 7390 41 since no Federal Form 1099s are produced for any transactions using this object/sub-object. There are two exceptions to the use of 7390 41:

1. all reimbursements for business meals and food purchases need to be coded to 7390 06

   and

2. reimbursements may be coded to an object/sub-object corresponding with the nature of the particular expense if more detailed accounting is essential, e.g., grant reporting requirements. A form 1099 may be issued to the party receiving the reimbursement, notwithstanding a preliminary screening done each year by Financial Services to eliminate such reimbursement transactions for form 1099 reporting.

A PV requesting reimbursement for an employee must be approved by someone other than the payee on the form. If the payee is the only authorized signer on the agency/org, the business operations manager for the college or the provost/vice provost/vice president area may approve the document.

Follow the procedures in the Purchasing and Business Services Policies and Procedures Manual—PUR 304–04, “The Purchasing Card.”

Follow the policy in FIN 515, “University-Sponsored Travel Credit Card.”

For more information on approvals, see FIN 401–02, “Provost/Vice Provost/Vice President Approvals.”

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