This resource provides information to help Expense Requests system users select correct transaction types, choose correct category templates, and complete transaction screens. This content is available on Fingate as well as from help links within the Expense Requests system.
A domestic event consists of an Event Name (which you create and enter), and Start and End Dates that define the duration of the event. Refer to How To: Create New Event for details.
Applying an event is mandatory for non-Easy Pay expense reports for foreign expenses. A foreign event consists of an Event Name (which you create and enter), and Start and End Dates that define the duration of the event. In addition, you must enter event lines that identity the country, types of activities in the country, and number of each type of person involved with each activity. You'll enter one event line for each activity. Refer to How To: Create New Event for details.
Consider the following when deciding what type of new transaction to create.
Cash advances may be requested for out-of-pocket business expenses associated with travel (domestic or foreign) such as airfare or, in some cases, anticipated cash expenditures to be incurred during business travel. Advances can also be requested for incentive payments to human subjects. The advance funds must be paid to an SU Payee.
- Request – select to request advance funds for travel or incentive payment for human subjects.
- Clear – opens an expense report to clear an advance, and to allocate those funds. Enter the SU Payee who received the funds as the payee of the expense report.
See
Create an expense report for business-related expenditures and reimbursement requests, including out-of-pocket business expenditures and travel expenditures purchased with a Stanford Travel Card. Refer to How To: Create Visitor Reimbursement using Stanford Easy Pay for all Visitor Reimbursements.
The Expense Report Type depends on the payee:
- Employee, Student – Stanford University student, faculty, staff, or emeritus. See Guidelines for Use of Expense Report Categories.
- Visitor – any individual or company who is a visitor. See How To: Create Visitor Reimbursement using Stanford Easy Pay.
Visitor Expense Report reimbursement uses Stanford Easy Pay, where preparers initiate payments within the Expense Requests system (ERS), but do not need to set up a visitor payee in Stanford’s supplier system. Once a payment for a visitor reimbursement or honoraria is approved, Stanford sends the payment request to a third-party vendor, Candex, to be processed and paid.
See Topic Overview: Stanford Easy Pay for more information.
Honorarium is typically a one-time gratuitous payment made as a gesture of goodwill in appreciation to speakers or participants in special Stanford events by submitting an Honoraria transaction in the Expense Requests Easy Pay system. Customary travel expenses are reimbursed by submitting an Easy Pay Expense Report in the Expense Requests system. Note: Individual departments may establish limits on honorarium payments.
See Paying Honoraria and How To: Create Honoraria Using Easy Pay for more information.
Select Non-PO Payment to pay for certain types of expenses that do not require a formal purchase order, or, for which negotiation by the Procurement department adds no value. Refer to Guidelines for Use of Non-PO Payment Categories.
- Single Payee – select when there is only one payee. Some categories allow non-PO payments to both SU Payees and Non-SU Payees.
- Multiple Payees – select to process a non-PO payment for 2 to 50 payees in one transaction.
- All payees must be paid for the same Non-PO payment category, and the same Business Purpose must apply to each.
- All payees must be already set up as a Supplier / Payee. Requests for new payees are not possible during the entry of a non-PO payment request transactions for multiple payees.
See
Only Petty Cash Custodians will see the Petty Cash Replenishment option on the home page. Use this option to replenish petty cash funds, and reconcile a petty cash account.
The tracking of foreign expense activity has become critical to Stanford University, as the global reach of the University's activities continues to grow. Data about expenses related to foreign travel, foreign purchases, and activities outside the United States are important for a variety of reasons:
- Statistics regarding Stanford's global presence
- Risk Management
- Compliance
Expense Reports Foreign Expense Categories
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
Expense Report Employee, Student | Used for expense reports that meet these criteria:
|
Visitor Reimbursement | If goods were used and/or services provided outside the U.S. Select Foreign Expense: Yes Select Yes if any part of the travel being reimbursed was outside of the U.S. |
| Advance (Foreign) | Used to request advance for foreign travel. Travel is foreign when either or both the origination or destination location (any leg) is outside the U.S. |
Foreign Events
In Expense Report, Employee, Student, foreign transactions must be associated with a foreign event. It is recommended that a Foreign Event be set up in My Events Preferences prior to entering a transaction related to that event. Once a foreign event is set up, you can apply it to multiple transactions related to that event (if needed). See How To: Set My Events Preferences.
In Visitor Reimbursement (Easy Pay), creating or using an existing event is optional.
Advances are limited to the following categories and expense types regardless of dollar value. There is no Miscellaneous category for advances. Advances requests must be for travel or human subject incentive. For more information about advances, visit the Advances Topic Overview page.
| Advance Category | Expense Types | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Advance (Domestic U.S.) | Travel Reimbursement | For domestic travel advances only. Travel is "domestic" when the origin and destination locations (all legs) are within the U.S. |
| Advance (Foreign) | Travel Reimbursement Human Subject Incentive |
For foreign travel advances and advances for human subject incentive when human subject activity is outside the U.S. Travel is "foreign" when the origin or destination location (any leg) is outside the U.S. A request for a foreign advance must be associated with a foreign event. |
| Advance (Human Subject) | Travel Reimbursement Human Subject Incentive |
For funds to be used as human subject incentive (cash or non-cash), or to pay for human subject travel when the human subject activity is in the U.S. There is a maximum limit on the total amount of uncleared advances that an individual may have pending for human subject incentive payments at any given time. Note: If human subject activity is outside the U.S., use the Advance (Foreign) category, and select the Human Subjects Incentive expense type. |
A beneficiary refers to the person or group benefiting from an expense. Examples of beneficiaries include: event or business meal attendees, attendees at a group travel meal, gift recipients, and researchers benefiting from research lab expenses.
In ERS, the Beneficiary field provides required data on beneficiaries who may be subject to taxation due to the nature of expenses from which they benefitted. The ERS system will prompt users when beneficiary information is required (based on Category, Expense Type, and Expenditure Type used in a transaction). The preparer will then need to either enter beneficiaries manually at the line level (for certain expense types) or through a system prompt on the Allocations and Approvers page.
All ERS transactions require a response to the question: “Are there additional beneficiaries other than the payee?” which is located on the Allocations and Approvers page.
- If the response is No, ERS will not require the preparer to enter beneficiaries.
- If the response is Yes, (the Yes response may be hard coded if required) then the system will determine if any of the included expense lines are taxable. If an expense is taxable, the preparer may need to add a line(s) to the beneficiary table to enter the name or names of those who benefited from the expense.
- If the response is Yes, but the ERS system has determined that beneficiary information is not needed, a response in red, Beneficiary information is not required, will appear under the original question.,
Beneficiary information is required at the line level for Gift and Gift Card Recipients and STAP Participants. Note that Beneficiaries are included on an expense request for information purposes, and they will not receive payment from the processing of that transaction. Only payees will receive disbursements from this transaction.
Note: Someone listed as a beneficiary in ERS may not necessarily be taxed.
When a beneficiary is required, the preparer enters the Affiliation Type, Beneficiary Name, and the USD amount attributed to that beneficiary. The process should be followed for each individual beneficiary.
Categories that require a beneficiary
- Relocation
- Human Subjects
Expense Types that require a beneficiary
- Gifts
- Gift Card - Employee
- STAP
Expenditure Types that require a beneficiary
These Expenditure Types will require beneficiary information in ERS:
- 52230 EMPLOYEE RECRUITMENT ALLOW
- 52235 EMPLOYEE RECRUITMENT UNALW
- 52260 EMPLOYEE MOVING ALLOW
- 52265 EMPLOYEE MOVING UNALW
These Expenditure Types, when combined with the related Expense Type, will require beneficiary information in ERS:
- 51891 STAP TUITION TRAINING
- 52210 EMPLOYEE GIFTS TAXABLE
Types of beneficiaries:
There are three types of beneficiaries:
- Faculty, Staff, or Student: University (SU) Payees
- Visitor (found in Supplier Database): Non-SU individuals (visitors) previously paid by Stanford
- Other (not found in Supplier Database): Non-SU individuals (visitors) not previously paid by Stanford (name must be entered manually)
Including beneficiary information on an ERS Transaction
ERS will only prompt preparers to complete the Beneficiary field for certain expenses for which taxation may be required. However, the response to Are there additional beneficiaries other than the payee? must always be included as part of the transaction.
How to add beneficiary information when prompted by ERS in Transaction Lines
- Enter one beneficiary (individual) per line
- Type: Select the corresponding beneficiary type (see definitions above)
- Beneficiary Name: Enter the individual’s name
- Amount: Include the USD amount by which each person benefitted per transaction line
How to add beneficiary information in Transaction Lines when not prompted by ERS
These are instances in which beneficiary information is included for the purpose of substantiating an expense. Examples include documenting the attendees at a donor meal or an employee morale event. This type of information should be included in the ERS transaction even if the system does not prompt the preparer for the beneficiary field to be completed.
- For 1-10 beneficiaries:
- Option 1: Upload a list of names and note the attachment in transaction line, Remarks.
- Option 2: Enter beneficiary names within the corresponding transaction line, Remarks.
- For 11 or more beneficiaries:
- Option 1: Upload a list of names and note that there is an attachment in transaction line, Remarks.
- Option 2: Enter the approximate number of people and describe the associated group.
- Examples:
- 11 Travel and Business Expense staff, list attached
- 230 Stanford Law School students
- For Human Subject Advance clearing, enter the Human Subject protocol information, such as "HS Advance ADVXXXXX protocol name or number"
- Examples:
Non-PO Payments are limited to the following expense categories regardless of dollar value. Some categories allow for a single request for payment to multiple payees.
Honoraria is processed using Easy Pay. See How To: Create Honoraria Using Stanford Easy Pay.
| Category: Expense Type | Description | Comments | Multiple Payees |
|---|---|---|---|
Conference Registrations:
| Payment to an organization on behalf of faculty, staff, students, and/or visitors to attend a conference or meeting of professional benefit. STAP funds may be used | Enter all conference attendees and the amount of the payment applicable to each Attach conference agenda to transaction | -- |
Dues and Subscriptions:
| Payment to an organization or publisher on behalf of faculty, staff, students, and/or visitors to maintain or further develop skills related to the job. These are generally individual subscriptions | Enter all members or subscribers and the amount of the payment applicable to each | -- |
Employee Training:
| Payment to a training provider on behalf of faculty and staff (employees) for professional training and development | Enter employee(s) attending training and the amount of the payment applicable to each | -- |
Fees:
| Legal fees, government fees, insurance premiums, insurance claims, DMV, taxes, utilities, SCP sales, entry fees to tournaments, escheatment fees, and other similar fees / charges not requiring an authorized University representative's signature | Enter employee or non-employee beneficiaries of payment | Yes |
Food & Catering:
| Payments for food and refreshments for Stanford University events, where a signature of agreement is not required by either party | Providing the number of attendees is mandatory | -- |
| House Dues | House dues and other activities payable to a Stanford residential house | -- | Yes |
| Human Subjects | An incentive payment to an individual for participation in a research project, survey, or study | This category is used to request direct payments of any amount to human subjects. This category must be used for:
| Yes |
| Postage | Payment made directly to a company or service (e.g., U.S. Postal Service) for stamps, parcel service, or adding funding to postage meters | -- | -- |
| Prizes and Awards | Award payment to non-Stanford affiliates and other organizations for recognition based on competition; Cash awards for contest winners and community partnership awards | -- | Yes |
| Refunds | Return of funds to individuals and external organizations | Can request refunds for SU Payees (faculty, staff, students, etc) and Non-SU Payees | Yes |
Relocation:
| Payments to moving companies and for temporary living expenses | Entry of Origin and Destination locations required Enter beneficiary of relocation payment (e.g. the employee being relocated) | -- |
Royalties:
| A payment made to an author, artist, composer or company for each copy of their work that is sold by the University or to an inventor for each article sold under a patent | Can request royalty payments for SU Payees (faculty, staff, students, etc) and Non-SU Payees | Yes |
Special Request:
| This category is for use only when no other category or purchase / payment option (such as iProcurement, PCard, or SmartMart) can be used | Enter employee or non-employee beneficiaries of payment, if appropriate | -- |
| Tuition Grant Program (TGP) and Stanford Tuition Reimbursement Program (STRP) | Benefit related expenses for HR use only | -- | -- |
| Transportation | Direct payments to transportation service providers when a signed agreement is not required | Enter employee or non-employee beneficiaries of payment, if appropriate | -- |
Visitors (non-SU payees) are often invited to Stanford to speak, collaborate and study. Visitors can use Stanford Easy Pay via Honoraria, Visitor Reimbursement, Visitor Relocation and Recruitment and Non-PO Payments as payment methods, initiated through the Expense Requests system.
- Reimbursing visitors (both domestic and foreign) for eligible expenses ((including relocation & recruitment)
- Paying visitor honoraria
| Description | |
|---|---|
| Honoraria | A one-time gratuitous payment made as a gesture of goodwill in appreciation to speakers or participants in special Stanford events. See How To: Create Honoraria Using Easy Pay. |
| Visitor Reimbursement | Visitor Reimbursement should be used for reimbursements for expenses incurred by visitors, such as, travel, lodging, and meals, during their engagement with our organization (including human subject visitor reimbursements). See How To: Create Visitor Reimbursement using Stanford Easy Pay. |
| Visitor Relocation & Recruitment | Visitor Relocation & Recruitment should be used for recruitment visits where expenses are incurred and reimbursed and relocation expense reimbursement for a future employee who has not been hired yet. See How To: Create Visitor Reimbursement using Stanford Easy Pay. |
General Non-PO Payments
| To pay Non-SU Payees including Visitors for service payments that do not require a contract or PO and for incentive payments made directly to human subjects. |
Expense Reports are used to report business and travel expenses (including TCard and receipt-based expenses) for the purpose of expense approval, and the allocation of expenses to the appropriate Project, Task, Award, and Expenditure Type (PTAE). An expense report may also result in a reimbursement to the Payee for eligible out-of-pocket expenses.
Each expense report will fall into one of the categories listed below. When creating a new expense report for an Stanford Employee/Student Payee, begin on the General Information screen by choosing the correct category based on the descriptions below.
| Category | |
|---|---|
| Athletics Use Only | Used only by the Athletics department |
| Expenses (Domestic U.S.) |
See below for additional guidelines |
| Expenses (Foreign) |
See below for additional guidelines |
| Human Resources Only | Used only by Human Resources staff |
| Human Subjects | To reimburse Stanford Employee/Student Payees for out-of pocket funds used for incentive payments to human subjects, or for human subject travel expenses |
| Relocation | Expenses related to employee relocation |
Domestic Expense:
- Travel is completely within the U.S.
- If travel is not involved:
- Expenses for goods purchased for use in the U.S.
- Expenses for services provided or consumed in the U.S.
Foreign Expense:
- First, determine if the expense is during foreign travel – that is, the origination location or the destination location, during any leg of a trip, is outside the U.S.
- If yes, the travel expenses and any other expenses (e.g., honoraria, conference registration, goods and services purchased, regardless of where they are used, provided or consumed) incurred or paid as a result of the trip are considered Foreign Transactions.
- If no (not foreign travel-related), then go on to Step 2.
- Second, determine if goods are used, or services provided or consumed outside the U.S.
- If yes, it is a Foreign Transaction.
- If no, it is a Domestic Transaction.
This How-To offers instructions on how to itemize travel and business expenses when creating a Stanford Employee/Student expense report. The procedures apply to both TCard charges and out-of-pocket expenses. The How-To also covers how to itemize a partially personal TCard charge (specifying the portion of the charge that is business and the portion that is personal).
Itemize Expenses or Itemize a Partially Personal TCard Transaction
- Click Details for the expense line on the Transaction Lines or Travel Card Expenses screen
- Click Itemize
- Change the Itemized Receipt Amount field to the dollar amount of the business portion of the expense
- Enter description in the Remarks
- Click Add Another Row and repeat the process to itemize other business portions of the expense Any remaining amount not put on an itemized line will show as Personal Expenses.
When payments or incentives are made to a non-resident alien, tax withholding rules apply. The human subject or the Department must pay the 30% Federal withholding tax at the time the money is disbursed. See details and examples in the Topic Overview: Paying Human Subjects.
Each Supplier / Payee will have a default Payment Method of either Check or Electronic (ACH / Direct Deposit) in the database.
When Check is the default, Special Payment Types (Wire Domestic and Wire Foreign) can be chosen, and additional delivery options are available for checks.
- Select Rush Processing (Yes or No) (a fee applies if Yes selected)
- Select Special Payment Type
- None if payment method should remain Check
- Wire Domestic for electronic wire transfer to a US bank (additional fee applies)
- Wire Foreign for electronic wire transfer to a foreign bank (additional fee applies)
- Select Delivery Option (for Check only)
- US Mail (to Payee Address)
- Redwood City (RWC) Will Call (available for Rush Processing only – to Redwood City campus, University Hall, 1st floor, Transaction Services U101, 485 Broadway Street, Redwood City, CA 94063)
- Alternate SU Address (to a Stanford address you enter – e.g. your Stanford address if you want to deliver or mail the check yourself)
- Enter Payment Currency, Expense Amount and Expense Currency (for Wire Foreign only)
- Select Payment Currency (currency to be used to pay the payee) (see information icon for help with filling out these fields)
- Enter Expense Amount (total payment amount in Expense Currency)
- For Non-USD payment currency, convert expense amount to estimated USD when entering Transaction Line.
- Select Expense Currency – currency used to express the Expense Amount
- Select WIRE Account (for Wire Domestic for existing payees only)
- If wire account is on file, select the wire account from the dropdown list
- If a new wire account must be set up, select Need New Account Setup and enter the email address for the supplier/payee or the Authorized Agent who can provide the account information Supplier Enablement will use the email to contact the supplier or Authorized Agent for the new account number.
- Select Rush Processing (Yes or No) (a fee applies if Yes selected) When Electronic Payment is the default, the Payment Method cannot be changed to Check, and Special Payment Types and Delivery Options are not available.