- What is the approval process after a request has been submitted?
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After you submit your request you will receive an email with instructions on how to submit your receipts to the Business Office. For your request to be acted on you will need to ensure this submission takes place as quickly as possible.
Once the Business Office receives the supporting documentation, they will proceed with processing your claim. The Business Office will verify the supporting
documentation and the information in the claim. If there are any issues, the report will be returned to you electronically with comments on how to correct your report. You will receive an email in the event that this occurs which will contain information on what needs to be corrected.Once verified by the Business Office, the report will continue through the approval queue to your supervisor, and then to any signing authorities, as determined based on the FOAPAL’s entered on your claim. When the final approval has been obtained, you will receive an email indicating that your document has been processed.
- I am an approver. How can I see the detailed receipts? Do I need to see the detailed receipts?
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The detailed receipts will be sent directly to the Business Office by the claimant. As a supervisor, you are not required to view the receipts. The Business Office will determine if the expenses fall in accordance with University policy, and will contact the supervisor if there are any oddities. If you are a signing authority, the information contained in the report (description and cost) should alert you to any potential issue (i.e. if the claimant exceeded pre-negotiated rates or limits). We realize, however, that this may be of concern to many approvers, and offer the following guidance and information:
- If there isn’t enough detail on the expense report, determine the previous approver in the Business Office from the Status History/Workflow Approvals in the expense report. Contact that individual and he/she will discuss the details with you or send you a copy of any receipt you require, or
- Implement an internal policy whereby the claimant must scan or photocopy the receipts and send them to his/her supervisor after they submit their request. As of September 2014, you may utilize the Document Attachments feature in Travel and Expense and request that the claimant attach images of his/her receipts prior to submitting the request.
- What kinds of issues would trigger a non-approval, either a return for correction or a denial?
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Returns for Correction Business Office - The exchange rates used exceeded the acceptable variance limit
- The amounts input for taxes exceeded the acceptable variance limit or the tax locale/tax types was incorrect
- The receipt amounts were entered incorrectly
- An expense item was ineligible according to University policy or funding agency restrictions. (i.e. a per diem claimed on an operating fund)
- There was insufficient information on an expense item to determine it’s eligibility
- There was missing or incorrect information on the report
Supervisor - The contents of the report were not as discussed
- An expense item(s) was out of scope for the business purpose
- The alcohol claimed was not considered moderate by the supervisor. Note: The Business Office will provide information on the amount of alcohol included in the receipt so that the supervisor may make the determination. If additional information is required, he/she should contact the Business Office approver indicated on the claim.
- The claimant did not attach any electronic images of his/her receipts and you have implemented an internal policy that requires them to do so.
Signing Authority - The funding source of the report or an expense item is incorrect
- The amount being charged exceeds the pre-negotiated amount
Denials Business Office - The funding source being charged is ineligible for electronic submission. You cannot use the Travel and Expense system for Funds in Trust, Scholarship, Endowment or Plant funds
Supervisor - The expenses were not for University business purposes
Signing Authority N/A (unless for exceptional circumstances)
- I am an approver. What happens if I forget to approve a request?
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As an approver, you have three days to approve a request before it becomes overdue. After two days, you will receive a reminder. After three days, and on each subsequent day, you will receive an overdue notice and someone in Financial Services will follow up.
- I am an approver, but will be away from the office. What do I do?
Each approver has a specified role. If you will be away for an extended period of time during which you will not be following up on work related items, you can assign a proxy for each type of role you have.Supervisors: You may assign a proxy for your supervisory role to another individual who:
- Is of in a position equal or higher to you within your department (orgn), and
- Has a Travel and Expense supervisory role.
Executives: Deans, Assistance Vice-Presidents, Vice-Presidents and the President may also assign a proxy to an individual in a position one level lower.
Chairs: A Chair may assign a proxy to another faculty member within the same department (orgn).
Singing Authorities: You may assign a proxy to another individual who has signing authority on all of the same funding sources for which you are the specified Travel and Expense signing authority.
To assign a proxy, log into the Workflow application (For Approvers) and in the User Profile menu, select User Information. In the “My Roles” section, click the “Add Proxy” link next to the role for which you would like to assign a proxy. Select the appropriate proxy from the list of users, choose an effective from and to date, and check off both confidential and non-confidential check boxes, and save.
If the person you wish to assign as a proxy is not in the list, please email financial_systems@carleton.ca.
If your proxy assignment is successful, both you and your proxy will be notified by email of the assignment. If the proxy is not valid, you will receive an email noting the error of the assignment.
- How can I look up the status of my report?
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The general status of your report is located in the Status column in the report listing of the Expense Manager tab, for both Authorization and Expense reports. The status means the following:
In-Process You have just started your report or are still making changes. You have not submitted it yet. Submitted You have submitted your request and it is being routed to the appropriate approvers. To view the current approver, or history of approvers, open the report and view the Status History. The Workflow Approvals tab (second tab) will display the list of approvers, the top most approver being the current or most recent approver. Approved Your request has been approved by all applicable approvers. If a payment is required, it will be processed in the next few days. Ready to Pay Your request has been processed by the Accounts Payable system, and is awaiting the next batch payment (cheques or direct deposit). Paid Your request has been paid. If the method of payment is direct deposit, you will have received an email notification about the pending payment to your bank account. Returned for Correction Your request has been returned to you by one of the approvers, and requires correction before resubmitting it. View the comments in the email notification or view the comments in the Status History/Workflow Approvals area of the report, make the necessary changes, and resubmit the report. Approval Denied Your request has been denied. View the comments in the email notification or view the comments in the Status History/Workflow Approvals area of the report. Your report cannot be resubmitted. *In exceptional circumstances, an individual may copy the report, make changes, and submit the new report. Error There was an error processing your report. Contact financial_systems@carleton.ca to determine what caused the error. Once resolved, you will be contacted by a member of the Financial Systems team with instructions on any actions needed on your part.
- How do I change a report once it has been submitted?
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Once you have submitted a report, it cannot be changed. If you have forgotten and expense item, or made a mistake, consult the Status History/Workflow Approvals page in your report to see who is currently reviewing your report. Contact that individual and request that they return your report for correction. *Note: Once a report is returned, it will have to go to each approver again for re-approval.
- How do I delete a report?
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Only reports with an “In Process” status can be deleted. Once you have submitted a report, you can no longer delete it.
To delete a report, select the report from the Expense Reports or Authorization Reports listing by clicking on it once. Click on the delete button in the Actions icon row (in the row with the +New button). If the report has a status other than “In Process”, the delete icon will be unavailable.
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