format_list_bulleted Topic Overview

Managing Aging and Outstanding Expense Transactions

Certain types of expenditure transactions create Stanford payment obligations before they are actually posted to a PTA with a business justification. These transactions must be managed to ensure they are posted to a PTA in a timely manner to comply with Stanford policy and federal regulations, and to support financial stewardship of the university's resources.

This overview describes the types of transactions and their workflow, provides guidance and tools for monitoring, identifying and clearing, and describes the force clearing process for transactions aged beyond 60 days. The types of transactions include:

  • Credit Card Charges: Payments to suppliers using a Stanford Purchasing Card (PCard) or Travel Card (TCard).
  • Advances: Funds disbursed to a Stanford employee which are later reported in an expense report.
  • Expense Reports: University business and travel expenses incurred by an individual using personal funds requiring reimbursement or reporting the use of an advance or TCard purchase.
  • Non-PO payment: Obligations to pay a third party.

This section addresses aging Expense Reports in the System: Expense Requests. For more information, see  Topic Overview: Reimbursements and Expense Reports.

Aging is the number of days between the Expense End Date, which is the date of the latest transaction in the expense report, and the current date up until full local approval, when aging stops. After that the transaction is considered outstanding but still requires local monitoring until it posts to a PTA.

Transactions that have been submitted for approval and have no rejections are typically processed in a matter of days. However, in some cases a transaction can stop progressing in its workflow. See the Resource: Resolving Aging Expense Requests for guidance on how to resolve problems based on the current status.

Note: Expense Report transactions that have been saved but never submitted by the transaction preparer (status in ERS is “Saved”) do not appear in Oracle Business Intelligence (OBI) but are still considered aging.

The OBI Expense Request - Aging & Outstanding report shows transactions that have been submitted and are in process but not yet posted to a PTA as an expenditure.  Each ERS transaction age is calculated and displayed in age buckets or central processing buckets to focus attention on the different kinds of actions that need to be taken.

The report displays the transaction dollar amounts in columns based on the number of days from the Expense Request End Date up through local approval, at which point the Outstanding columns indicate where it is in central processing.

Workflow: ERS Transaction Processing with Aging

The following graphic shows the stages of ERS transaction processing with associated statuses, who is responsible at that stage and how aging is applied.

Graphic of stages of ERS transaction processing

This is done by the transaction preparer and includes transactions with the status of In Progress, Withdrawn, Rejected, Returned or Pending Resolution

This is done by the approver when the status is Pending Approval

This is done by the Business Expense Processor (on the Business Expense Team) when the status is Pending Audit Review

This is done by Accounts Payable when the status is Pending Payment

Once an expense request is fully approved and AP has processed the payment the transaction will post to the PTA(s), the status will show as Paid, and the transaction will no longer appear in aging reports.

Advances are funds paid directly to faculty, staff or students via the Expense Requests system  to support specific business activities. Examples include advance travel funds and payments to  human subject study participants. The advance ages until it is applied to an expense report that is approved and posted to a PTA. Clearing should occur within 60 days of the completion of travel or the expected clearing date, and unapplied advance amounts must be repaid to Stanford to clear the transaction from the aging report. For more information, visit Administrative Guide Policy 5.4.1: Expense Advances. The Oracle Business Intelligence OBI Advances - Aging report does not reflect that an advance has been applied to an expense report  until the expense report is fully approved.

The OBI Advances - Aging report displays advances that have not been completely cleared. Each amount applied from an advance to an Expense Report  is listed on a separate line showing the Advance Related Expense Request Transaction Number and the total shows the remaining unapplied amount. The report displays the advance dollar amounts in buckets, based on their number of days beyond the Advance Expected Clearing Date.

Workflow: Advance Processing with Aging

The following graphic shows the stages of ERS transaction processing with associated statuses, who is responsible at that stage and how aging is applied.

 

This is done by the transaction preparer when an advance is being applied to a new Expense Report in ERS. Refer to How to: Request and Clear and Advance

This is done by the approver when the status is Pending Approval

This is done by the Business Expense Processor (on the Business Expense Team) when the status is Pending Audit Review

This is done by Accounts Payable when the status is Pending Payment

Once the expense request(s) that an advance or partial advance amount has been attached to completes its workflow the advance amounts will post to PTA(s) as part of the expense request(s). While an advance is  only partially applied it will continue to appear in aging with rows showing  amounts for each expense request it is applied to. Once the full amount of the advance has been applied it is considered cleared and no longer appears in the aging report.

Note: The status of an advance shows “Paid” once the requester has been paid the advance funds. This status does not change or reflect the status of the Expense Report to which the advance has been applied.

Travel Card (TCard) charges appear in aging reports a few days after a purchase is made, with aging days initially calculated based on SU Credit Card Posted Date. If a purchase is for an activity in the future (e.g. airplane ticket for later travel) verifiers can enter an Expense End Date in the Oracle Expense Requests System (ERS) to reflect the accurate number of days of aging. For more information, visit How To Manage Travel Card (TCard) Expense End Date.

Once a TCard charge is applied to an Expense Report then the Expense Request End Date is used to calculate the days of aging. TCard charges will continue to appear in TCard Aging reports even after they have been added to an Expense Report but will show the transaction number of the Export Report to which they have been applied. Both will be visible in aging reports until the Expense Report is posted as a charge to a PTA.

The Oracle Business Intelligence OBI Credit Card Transactions - Aging report displays TCard transactions in aging buckets matching the Expense Requests report once a transaction has been added to an Expense Request and shows the Expense Request transaction number.  Amounts are displayed in age buckets or central processing buckets to focus attention on the different kinds of actions that need to be taken.

Workflow: TCard Processing with Aging

The following graphic shows stages of TCard processing, who is responsible at that stage and how aging is applied.

Stages of TCard processing

This is done by the Card Holder to initiate a TCard charge

This is done by the transaction preparer and includes transactions with the status of In Progress, Withdrawn, Rejected, Returned or Pending Resolution. Refer to How To: Create Expense Report for SU Payees.

Once all entries are complete the preparer submits the transaction

This is done by the approver when the status is Pending Approval

This is done by the Business Expense Processor (on the Business Expense Team) when the status is Pending Audit Review

This is done by Accounts Payable when the status is Pending Payment

Once an expense request is fully approved and AP has processed the payment the transaction will post to the PTA(s), the status will show as Paid, and the transaction will no longer appear in aging reports.

Purchasing Card (PCard) transaction aging starts at the SU Credit Card Posted Date and ends when it completes local approval which immediately causes the charge to post to a PTA and be cleared from the aging report. To follow policy, transactions should be cleared as soon as possible and within 60 days of the credit card posted date. For more information, visit Administrative Guide Policy 5.3.3: Purchasing Cards.
 
The Oracle Business Intelligence OBI Credit Card Transactions - Aging report displays PCard transaction amounts in aging buckets.

Workflow: PCard Processing with Aging

The following graphic shows stages of PCard processing, who is responsible at that stage and how aging is applied.

Stages of PCard processing

This is done by the PCard verifier and includes transactions with the status of New or Returned. Refer to How to: Verify PCard Transactions

This is done by the Approver(s) when the status is Pending Approval

Once a transaction is fully approved it will post to the PTA(s), the status will show Approved, and the transaction will no longer appear in aging reports.

Several tools are available to help preparers, approvers and finance staff  identify aging transactions:    

Prepare and approve transactions in a timely manner:

Manage Credit Card Profiles using:

Get help:

FMS is available to support departments in this effort.

To find either TCard or PCard transactions that have been force cleared, use the updated OBI Credit Card Transactions Report.

Choose the following Selection Criteria:

  • Choose SU Credit Card Transaction Status Description: FORCED APPROVED to find force cleared transactions.
  • Choose First GL Period Name and Last GL Period Name to select the time period when the transaction(s) were forced cleared.
  • Choose any other selection criteria desired (e.g., Organization or Award Number).

There are two additional Include Fields available in the report: GL Period Name and Posting Date, which show the force clear date.

 

Image of Selection Criteria

 

Image of TCard transaction PTAE view showing GL Period name

TCard transaction PTAE view with GL Period Name outlined

 

Image of TCard transaction PTAE view showing force clear fee amount

TCard transaction PTAE view with force clear fee outlined

 

Image of PCard transaction PTAE view showing transaction description

PCard Transaction PTAE View with force clear transaction description outlined

 

Image of PCard transaction PTAE view showing force clear fee

PCard Transaction PTAE View with fee to force clear outlined

To find Advance transactions that have been force cleared, use the new Advances - Force Cleared report.

Image of home page with Advances Force Cleared report highlighted

Choose First GL Period Name and Last GL Period Name to select the time period when the transaction(s) were forced cleared.

Image of GL Period selection criteria screen

    
This report should return all force cleared advances as well as any other invoice(s) (e.g., ERs or Rush Processing Invoices) that are linked to the original advance. The report contains a summary of force clear transactions and fees charged.

Image of advances force cleared summary

To find suspended (or closed) Credit Cards, the OBI SU Credit Card Custodian Report has been enhanced. As part of this enhancement, users can also now find closed credit cards.

Expense requests and SU Card Activity screenshot

Users can select the Card Status of ACTIVE (default status), CLOSED and/or SUSPENDED. Two  other fields were added to the report: Card Status and Inactive On date.

Card Status on report

Departments should take the following actions after a transaction is force cleared.

  1. Identify force cleared transactions
    • Use the OBI Credit Card Transactions Report.
    • For selection criteria:
      • Choose SU Credit Card Transaction Status Description: FORCED APPROVED to find force cleared transactions.
      • Choose First GL Period Name and Last GL Period Name to select the time period when the transaction(s) were forced cleared.
      • Choose any other selection criteria desired (e.g., Organization or Award Number).
    • PCards are cleared on their SU Credit Card Transaction ID Number.
    • TCards are cleared on an Expense Request Transaction Number but also have their own SU Credit Card Transaction ID Number.
  2. Determine and collect any amounts owed to Stanford for personal expenses.
    • Amounts expended for Stanford business should be explained in the business purpose and any remaining amounts defined as for personal use and repaid to Stanford.
    • Request a check from the card holder and deposit it. Starting in May 2023, the JP Morgan (JPM) mobile app replaces the Wells Fargo mobile app for depositors who previously used CASHNet and location code 10001, however Stanford will maintain a relationship with Wells Fargo for in-person branch deposits. For more information on the cash and check deposit roll out, check out the news page Cash and Check Deposit Enhancements.
    • Submit a Support Request to Card Services stating that a personal expense that was force cleared has been paid back. Include the following information in the Support Request: Last four digits of the PCard or TCard, Transaction ID and proof of deposit.
    • Upload documentation showing the deposit took place (see instructions in Create and store documentation set). This will usually occur after the initial documentation set is uploaded. For either TCards or PCards, upload the backup documentation for the final deposit to the transaction that was used to force clear the charge. This documentation supports audits and proves that the repayment was made.
  3. Create and store documentation set.
    • Create a business purpose and scan the receipt or create a document explaining why the receipt is missing.
    • Find credit card transaction in Oracle Financials and upload documents.
      • PCard: use PCard Search
        1. Search for PCard transaction ID
        2. Click on the transaction ID
        3. Click Upload/View Attachments
        4. Under Upload Attachments click Browse
        5. Select the documentation set
        6. Click Open
        7. Click Upload file(s)
        8. Click Close
      • TCard: use Expense Request Search
        1. Search for Expense Request transaction number the card was cleared on
        2. Click Select on the transaction line
        3. Click Attach/View receipts
        4. Select the expense line for the card transaction
        5. Under Upload Attachments click Browse
        6. Select the documentation set from your file system
        7. Click Open
        8. Click Upload file(s)
  4. Use iJournal to move charges to an appropriate PTAE if needed. An unallowable expenditure type should be used for any amounts that do not have an explicitly allowable business purpose. Attach the documentation set to the iJournal as well.

  1. Identify force cleared transactions
  2. Determine what is owed to Stanford for personal expenses and collect.
    1. The force cleared amount and any prior reimbursements from the traveler will both appear in the ERR Advances report in the Employee Advance Returned Amount, but in the OBI Advances - Force Cleared report earlier reimbursements will appear with the advance transaction number appended with RUM while the force cleared amount is appended with FC.
    2. Amounts expended for Stanford business should be explained in the business purpose and any remaining amounts defined as for personal use and repaid to Stanford.
    3. Collect a check from the Payee and deposit it. Starting in May 2023, the JP Morgan (JPM) mobile app replaces the Wells Fargo mobile app for depositors who previously used CASHNet and location code 10001, however Stanford will maintain a relationship with Wells Fargo for in-person branch deposits. For more information on the cash and check deposit roll out, check out the news page Cash and Check Deposit Enhancements. As with returning unused advance funds, send the check to the Payment Services team.
    4. Upload documentation showing the deposit took place (see instructions in the next step). This will usually occur after the initial documentation set is uploaded.
  3. Create and store documentation set
    1. Create a business purpose, scan the receipt(s) or create a document explaining why the receipt(s) is/are missing.
    2. Use Oracle Expense Request Search to find the advance and upload the documentation set.
      1. Search Expense Request transaction number of the original advance
      2. Click Attach/View receipts
      3. Under Upload Attachments click Browse
      4. Select the documentation set from your file system
      5. Click Open
      6. Click upload file(s)
  4. Use iJournal to move charges to an appropriate PTAE if needed. An unallowable expenditure type should be used for any amounts that do not have an explicitly allowable business purpose. Attach the documentation set to the iJournal as well.

Use these charts to find information about the status of credit card transactions, advances, and expense requests. Access to this information varies by role.

How to Find Aging and Force Cleared Transactions

Role How to Find Aging Transactions How to Find Force Approved Transactions
Cardholder or Transaction Processor Oracle Financials System Tool:
  • SU Pending Transactions
OBI Dashboard Report:
NA
Approver Oracle Financials System Tool:
  • SU Pending Transactions
OBI Dashboard Report:
OBI Dashboard Report: OBI Dashboard Report:
Department Manager OBI Dashboard Report: OBI Dashboard Report: OBI Dashboard Report:
Senior Associate Dean (or equivalent) NA NA
* Filter by SU Credit Card Transact Status Description = FORCED APPROVED by GL Period

 

 

How to Find Transactions in Any State and a Summary of Activity

Role How to Find Transactions in Any State How to Find a Summary of Activity
Card Holder or Transaction Processor OBI Dashboard Report: NA
Approver or Department Manager OBI Dashboard Report: OBI Dashboard Report:
Senior Associate Dean (or equivalent) NA OBI Dashboard Report:

 

OBI Dashboard Landing Page

The Expense Requests and SU Card Activity Dashboard includes reports about aging and cleared credit card transactions, advances, and expense requests.

Last Updated: Jun 5, 2023