This resource assists with resolving outstanding expense requests (which include requests to approve TCard transactions, reimburse personal charges, and clear advances) and their attached transactions by providing suggested steps to take based on the transaction status shown in the Oracle Business Intelligence (OBI) report Expense Requests - Aging.
“Aging” refers to an expense transaction that:
- has been incurred by the university
- has not been submitted for approval within Oracle Financials
- has not been approved locally (by a local school or unit)
“Outstanding” refers to any expense request or transaction that has completed local approval but is pending central approval from FMS. At this point, the attached expense transactions stop aging, but they and the expense request are considered “outstanding” in OBI aging reports until the expense request is paid and posted to an appropriate PTA.
Note: Outstanding expense requests are sometimes mistakenly referred to as aging expense requests.
The expense request process flow within the Expense Requests system and the roles and responsibilities of those involved is detailed in Topic Overview: Reimbursements and Expense Reports.
Expense requests without rejections are typically completed in a matter of days once submitted for approval. However, an expense request can encounter situations that cause it to pause within its workflow (displayed as “outstanding” in OBI reports). Examples include:
- Approver or preparer are no longer in their original role at Stanford but the expense request is in their work queue
- Supplier setup for the expense request was never completed
- Banking information for the supplier was incorrect, resulting in a returned payment
- Personal expense reimbursement check from a traveler has not been processed
- Requests for additional information by central business expense auditors or local approvers
- System glitches
The Expense Requests - Aging Report, within the OBI Expense Requests and SU Card Activity Dashboard, displays active expense requests that have been submitted for approval but have not yet been posted and paid. This report shows the age of individual expense requests and groups them into buckets by aging days.
Using the Expense Requests - Aging Report, incomplete expense requests will be indicated by their:
- Status (Expense Request Transaction Status Description field)
- Age (Age Day Quantity field) and type of aging bucket they are displayed in
- Last approved date (Expense Request Last Approved Date field)
Additional information about the history of the expense request can be found by reviewing the expense request processing details in the Expense Requests system. For instructions, refer to How To: Search for Expense Request Transactions.
Financial analysts/managers can look up Expense Request Transaction Status Descriptions in the table below to see suggested steps to resolve problems with processing the transactions. For older transactions, the first step should be to verify if other forms of payment were made to the traveler/supplier, such as a different expense request or a credit card or purchase order.
| Expense Request Transaction Status Description | How to Resolve |
|---|---|
| Paid | Submit a support request for status. |
| Pending Approval |
Steps to resolution:
|
| Pending Audit Review | Wait for audit by Business Expense team according to the published processing time. If the department approval date is prior to that processing period, submit a support request for questions and status. |
| Pending Business Expense Audit | Wait for audit by Business Expense team according to the published processing time. If the department approval date is prior to that processing period, submit a support request for questions and status. |
| Pending Payment | Submit a support request if the current date is three to five business days after the current audit date. |
| Pending Independent Reviewer Approval |
Steps to resolution:
|
| Pending Resolution from Preparer (This status applies only to Non-PO Payments [PR]) |
Potential scenarios:
|
| Pending Supplier Setup |
Steps to resolution:
|
| Pending Your Resolution (This status applies only to Expense Reports [ER] and Visitor Reimbursements [VR]) |
Potential scenarios:
|
| Ready for Payment | If the department approval date is before the current audit date by the Business Expense audit team, allow one to two additional business days after final audit approval before submitting a support request. |
| Rejected |
Potential scenarios (see note below*):
|
| Returned by Business Expense Auditor | Potential scenarios (see note below*):
|
| Withdrawn | Potential scenarios:
|
|
*Note: Rejected/returned expense requests go back to the ERS queue of the preparer (who was the verifier at time of submission), who may not be the current verifier. Use the OBI Credit Card Transactions - Aging Report to compare Preparer Full Name with Current Verifier Full Name to find transactions that the current verifier cannot see in their Expense Requests system queue. To cancel rejected/returned expense request(s) and move their TCard transactions to the queue of the current verifier, submit a support request to Card Services and select “Transaction” as the type of inquiry. |
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