Transcript Accounts Payable

CWM Travel Policies, Forms & Processes
Policy Effective January 1, 2015
Agenda

Travel Authorizations

Business Meals

TERV – Transportation

TERV – Lodging

TERV – Meals

TERV – Overtime Meals

TERV – Miscellaneous

Travel – SPCC

General Information
Travel Requirements – Travel Authorization
TRAVEL AUTHORIZATION (TA) is Required when :


Employees are travel overnight or taking a one-day trip
expected to be $500 or more
Guests or Students travel under the following circumstances:
 Travel will be grant-funded (even if one day travel of less
than $500 in expenditures)
 Hotel room rate will exceed the allowance
 Requires approval of Lodging Exception Request on TA
 A Cash Advance is needed
 International

Travel (outside 48 contiguous states)
Requires approval of Department Dean
Travel Requirements – TA (cont’d)
Travel Requirements – TA (cont’d)
Business Meals
 Updated Form:
effective January 2015
 Business Meals must be submitted to the Travel
Office
 Two meals on one form
 Important Points:
 Must
be 2 meals/attendees or more
A single meal is not a business meal.
Grants may limit business meal reimbursement to
guests, no employees.
 Individual and Authorization signatures.
Business Meals (cont’d)
Specific
business meal purpose.
Number of attendees & Names (10 or less).
Must follow College Per Diem Guidelines
Maximum tip 20%.
Meals up to 50% over Per Diem.
Preparer’s Name & Extension.
Authorization for meals charged to Grant
Funds
Business Meal Form
Business Meal Form
Travel Expense Reimbursement Voucher (TERV)

Use of Personally Owned Vehicle (POV)
 MapQuest
print-outs for mileage claims are helpful
 For
mileage to airports, a copy of your flight itinerary should
also be included
 100 miles per day or less – full IRS rate .575 (Effective Jan 2015)
 Greater than 100 miles per day – fleet rate .235 (Effective Jan
2015)
 All Miles driven must be reported
 Average Miles per Day option

Use for 3 travel days or more

Must show daily breakdown of mileage on TERV
 Cost

Benefit option
Enterprise Rental Cost Calculator – On Procurement’s Website
TERV Documentation - Mileage
Mileage – Average Miles Option (continuous travel 3 days or more)
Wrong way!
Right way! Must be shown on TERV broken down by day!
TERV Documentation – Mileage
Rental Cost-Benefit
Option
Enterprise Cost Calculator
can be located on
Procurement’s website at:
http://www.wm.edu/offices/pr
ocurement/procurement_proce
sses/required_preferred_purch
ases/enterpriserentalcars/inde
x.php
Enter Location, round trip miles
and number of days you would need
the rental.
TERV Documentation – Airfare & Rental Cars
 Airfare
Receipt-Itinerary
 Must
show flight information, Coach/Economy, Amount, and proof of
Payment
 Boarding
pass not necessary unless it includes criteria above that is not on
the receipt
 Rental
 Must
Car Receipt
show proof of Payment
 Upgrades,
GPS, Insurance & Fuel Service Plan disallowed
 When
claiming fuel reimbursement, the rental receipt must be included
(even if the rental was direct-billed)
 If
an Upgrade is chosen, justification must be provided
TERV Documentation - Lodging

Lodging – Receipts
 Lodging Folio
– Must have zero balance or show form of
payment.
 When
per diem is claimed, a hotel folio or internet
receipt showing the hotel location, arrival/departure
dates, room rate and taxes must be included (even if the
hotel is direct-billed)

In-Room Internet – a justification statement must be
included for purchase of in-room internet service. The
statement must provide the specific business reason for
needing in-room service (checking email is not sufficient)

Meals, movies, gym/spa, in-room safe charges disallowed
TERV Documentation - Lodging

Standard Lodging Exception up to 200%

Department may approve up to 200% of allowance
 TA Lodging
Exception Request must be completed and approved. May
be approved prior to or after travel depending on department
requirements.

Excess Lodging Exception above 200%

Exceeds 200% of allowance (rare occurrence)

Requires approval from the College’s Fiscal Officer.

Request through the Travel Office PRIOR TO TRAVEL
 Comparison
 See
of 3 hotels within a 5 mile radius from chosen/event hotel
example: Hotel Comparison Spreadsheet
TERV Documentation - Lodging
Excess Lodging Exception
Over 200% Hotel Cost Comparison
TERV Documentation - Lodging

Room Sharing
 Lodging Allowance
is a per night rate, NOT a per person
rate
 Regardless
of how many are sharing a room, if the room rate
exceeds the allowance, additional approvals are required.
 Alternate
Method
 Each
person pays half the room rate and claims half the rate
for reimbursement.
 Person
#2 (who’s name is not on the lodging invoice) must
have a statement from person #1 confirming Person #2 paid
for half the room
TERV Documentation - Meals

Conference or Training Seminar
 Agenda
Required
 Conferences
 Meals
 No

and Training Seminars offer free meals
included with registration must be deducted from Per Diem
deductions for Reception or Continental Breakfast provided.
Per Diem

State Per Diem Calculator http://www.perdiemcalc.net/va-restructured/

Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico http://http://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/site/perdiemCalc.cfm

International Per Diem http://aoprals.state.gov/web920/per_diem.asp

Int’l Meal & Incidentals Breakdown http://aoprals.state.gov/content.asp?content_id=114&menu_id=78
TERV Documentation – State Allowance Rates

To find Lodging and Meal Per Diem allowances:
Exp: Feb 10, 2015 is entered as “021015”

Enter 6-digit departure date

Tab to Return Date block

Enter 6-digit Return date using format above

Tab to “Where” block

Start entering the city name. A drop-down will appear. Select the appropriate city.

OR enter the 2-digit State abbreviation to get a drop down of all cities listed for the state.
TERV Documentation – State Allowance Rates

First and Last travel
days automatically
calculated for 75% of
meals
 Each day’s per diem is
dated
 Lodging Allowance
also includes the
200% allowance
amount
 Individual Meal
allowance amounts
provided
 No rounding on per
diem.
TERV Documentation – International Allowance
Rates

To find Lodging and Meal Per Diem allowances:
 Click
on drop-down menu
 Select Country
 Click
“Go”
TERV Documentation – International Allowance Rates

Lodging allowance is MAX amount
that can be reimbursed

Locate M&IE for the City

Use M&IE Meal Breakdown link to
find individual meal and incidental
amounts.
TERV Documentation - Meals

Meals - Receipts vs. Per Diem
 Receipts for Individual meals are NOT required
 Meal receipts must be within College per diem
 Snacks are not allowed
 Alcohol is not allowed

guidelines for each meal
Maximum 20% tip
 Business


Meal receipts during travel MUST be submitted with the TERV
Business Meal receipts must include the specific business purpose, # of
attendees & names (if less than 10), and must follow State meal
guidelines
Business Meal receipt amounts must be removed from Per Diem and put
into the “Other” column on the TERV

Business Lunch? Only breakfast & dinner should be included in the “Per Diem”
column for that day.
TERV Documentation - Meals
 Per
Diem for Departure and Return Days
 75%
of meals plus incidentals
 Only
one Departure and Return day allowed unless
there are extenuating circumstances
 Did
you require overnight stay in a hotel because flight
was cancelled or extremely delayed?
flights – an additional day’s per diem is not
allowed when arriving after midnight
 Red-eye
TERV Documentation – Overtime Meals
Based
on actual expenses
Meals must fall within per diem
guidelines
Original
Without
Itemized Receipts are required
original itemized receipts:
Limit
$5 local meals
Limit $10 outside home base
Per
Diem allowance cannot be used in place of
actual expenses
TERV Documentation – Overtime Meals

MUST include additional documentation outlining normal work schedule & overtime
start/end times
Example for a 1-day trip

Generally, an employee would not be eligible for an overtime meal until they had out of
necessity been on duty for 10 hours

Meal is not reimbursable if taken at the end of the overtime period

Meals taken at the home base after the traveler arrives cannot be reimbursed.

Lunch meal expenses are not reimbursable under the provisions of the overtime meal
reimbursement policy

Overtime Meals are Taxable as income to the employee

Must be coded to Accounting Code 712870
TERV Documentation – “Miscellaneous”
What belongs in the “Other” column on the TERV?
 Everything except mileage, airfare, per diem and
lodging
 Business
meals
 Train or bus tickets, metro tickets, taxi and tolls
 Airline baggage charges
 Car Rentals, Gas & Parking
o
Rentals & Airport Parking should be broken down on the TERV
by day
 Miscellaneous
business purchases during travel (books,
postage, supplies, etc.)
TERV Documentation – Miscellaneous

All receipts provided should be itemized originals.
 International
receipts must be translated and converted to USD
 For
lost receipts, the traveler must complete a Misplaced Receipt
Certificate (MRC) which must be approved by the supervisor and
include what was done to retrieve a duplicate receipt

Expense Coding
 The
TERV must be properly coded with funding indexes and
expense type account codes
 When
Conferences or formal Training Seminars are
attended, all expenses should be coded to 712270 except
Registration which should be coded to 712240
 Membership
to 712210
fees paid with Registration must be coded
TERV Documentation - Examples
What should be put into the Date Description?

Description of items that make up the “Other” column total

Special circumstances that require explanation

Explanation of transport items with no receipt
TERV Documentation – Examples

The TERV should include the Preparer’s Name and
contact phone number in case we have any questions

The total of the separately-coded amounts must equal
the total reimbursement to be paid.

Description Field should contain all business events and specific
business purposes for travel and City/State or City/Country.
Finally . . .
The TERV must include original signatures of the
traveler and the supervisor or department designee
Unable to obtain Traveler Original Signature
College departments may have a guest (i.e. speaker/lecturer/ presenter) visit for the
purpose of conducting a lecture or presentation. The visitor may actually be on the
premises for one day only and therefore not available to sign the TERV once prepared.
To accommodate the business of the College for guest travel payments, an exception to
policy has been approved and it reads as follows: The Travel Accounts Payable department
will accept written authorization from guest, email or fax, authorizing office managers to
prepare the travel voucher on their behalf.
The proper way to sign for others is:
YOUR SIGNATURE for THE TRAVELER’S NAME
Questions
TRAVEL - Small Purchase Charge Card (SPCC)
 Travel
restrictions lifted?
 TA required for all employees.

Lodging

Pre-pay First night only to hold room

Hotel Folio must show details (arrival/departure dates, room rate, taxes) and
cannot include disallowed items.
 Airline and

Rail Tickets
Travel Agency Invoice or Internet Receipt – must show flight details &
economy class.
 Rental
Car – final detailed receipt required.
 Upgrades
 SPCC
require justification
cannot be used for Moving & Relocation
Charges.
SPCC (cont’d)

Disallowed items cannot be charged to SPCC







Snacks, Gifts, Party Decor & Cards, Charitable Contributions.
Meals that exceed 150%.
Meal tips that exceed 20%.
Lodging that exceeds 200%.
Transport tips that exceed 15%.
VA sales taxes allowed for prepared food ONLY.
SPCC Audited by Travel Office.





Same documentation required for SPCC as required for TERVs.
Purchases with Policy violations will be flagged.
Procurement Office receives report of cardholder violations.
Procurement may suspend or terminate card for multiple Policy
violations.
Payments of disallowed items may be required to be paid back to the
College.
SPCC (cont’d)
NEW Form!
SPCC Business Meal Upload Form
• Contains all required components of the
business meal plus justification for up to
50% over and approver’s signature.
• Found on Procurement website under
Forms.
http://www.wm.edu/offices/procurement/fo
rms/index.php
Questions
Travel - General
 Travel Website

sole source of Travel Policies
Forms can be located at
http://www.wm.edu/offices/financialoperations/travel/forms/index.php
 Travel Authorization (TA)
may be approved prior to
OR after travel.
Departments
will determine when the TA should be
approved.
TA must
TERV.
be approved prior to submitting with the
Travel - General

Travel vouchers should be submitted to Authorized
Approver within 30 days, must be submitted within 60
days.

If the employee has an advance, the advance must be
paid back within the 60-day period.

Receipts for Travel Expenses.
 Transport,
 No
Tolls & Parking Expenses $25 or less.
receipt necessary.
 Must
Indicate “no receipt” on TERV.
 Purchase must
be explained.

What was purchased (bus, taxi, parking, etc.).

Business purpose (example: taxi from/to).
Travel - Improper Expenditures

All purchases must be considered essential to the operation of the
college and in support of its mission to justify the use of state funds.
 Examples of improper expenditures are:

Snacks or refreshments

Flight Insurance

Car Rental Upgrades & all rental Options (including GPS)

Laundry charges

In-Room Safes

Valet Parking (unless there is no self-parking option)

Retirement or other employee parties

Holiday decorations

Gifts and flowers

Charitable contributions
Our Commitment to you . . .

To provide reimbursement of travel vouchers in a
timely manner.
 Reduce
the number of processing days for travel vouchers.
 Ensure
expenses comply with the College’s Travel Policy so as
not to jeopardize future Federal and State funding.

We’re here for you – call or email us anytime you have
a question.
Travel Office Contacts
Sharon Harrington
Travel Manager
[email protected]
(757) 221-3445
LaDonna Jarvis
Travel Accounts Specialist
[email protected]
(757) 221-2836
Questions