Expense Requests

The Expense Requests System is used to:

Submit expense reports to properly record business and travel-related expenses, and to request reimbursement for Stanford affiliates (faculty, staff, students, emeritus on payroll) – including reporting expenses purchased with a Stanford Travel Card (TCards). Refer to Topic Overview: Reimbursements and Expense Requests.
Request reimbursement for Stanford business and travel expenses incurred by non-Stanford affiliates (individuals, companies or organizations not affiliated with the university or emeritus no longer on payroll). Refer to Topic Overview: Inviting and Paying Domestic Visitors and Topic Overview: Inviting and Paying Foreign Visitors.
Request advances for travel expenses (when payment by Stanford Travel Card is not an option) or to provide funds for distribution to human subjects. Refer to Topic Overview: Advances.
Request non-purchase order (non-PO) payments to pay for certain types of expenses that do not require a formal purchase order (PO), or for which negotiation by the Procurement Services department adds no value. Refer to Guidelines for Use of Non-PO Payment Categories.
Request replenishment for a Petty Cash fund. Refer to Topic Overview: Life Cycle of a Petty Cash Fund.

Visit the Newsroom for recent announcements and subscribe to receive future Expense Requests system updates and enhancements.

If you require access to the Expense Requests system, you will need to:

Have your school/department grant you "SU Expense Requests" authority privilege using the Authority Manager application. For help determining who can grant authority in your organization, refer to Topic Overview: View Financial Authority Assignments.
Complete required training including any prerequisite courses not previously taken.

Travel Card verifiers and Petty Cash custodians require additional authority privileges which are granted during the application process by Financial Management Services.

Financial approvers do not need access to the Expense Requests system in order to review and approve or reject transactions submitted for their approval. Expense Requests system approvals are handled using Oracle Workflow Notifications. Refer to Topic Overview: Authority to Approve Financial Transactions and How-to: Approve, Request More Info or Reject an Expense Report, Advance or Non-PO Payment.

Courses for the Expense Requests system are available online, accessible on-demand via STARS. If you have previously completed courses including those listed as prerequisites, you do not need to re-take them unless specified.

Courses Required for Expense Requests System Access

FIN-0500: Introduction to the Expense Requests System

Courses Required for New Travel Card (TCard) Verifiers

The course listed below applies to the person listed on the Travel Card application that will be responsible for verifying TCard transactions and originating expense reports.

FIN-0402: Expense Reports with Travel Card Transactions

Recommended Courses by Subject Area

The Expense Requests system supports a variety of business processes and different types of business and travel-related transactions. The following courses are recommended to users based on specific job roles and responsibilities. Complete courses required for Expense Requests system access prior to enrolling in any of the courses below.

Courses Required for Approvers of Expense Requests System Transactions

FIN-0103: Approving Financial Transactions

Additional Courses Required for New Petty Cash Custodians

Upon completion of required training, the petty cash custodian will be granted access to the Petty Cash module within the Expense Requests system and the account will be funded. To ensure that custodians are up to date with petty cash requirements, a short annual recertification training is administered by the Office of the Treasurer via STARS to all petty cash custodians.

FIN-PROG-0506: Petty Cash Administration Certification

For training assistance (e.g., course enrollment, completions, training-related questions or training records), contact the Financial Management Services Training Specialist.

Category	How-to Instructions
Oracle Basics	Oracle Basics Guide
Expense Requests System Basics	Set Up Expense Request Preferences General Field Defaults (highly recommended) My Allocations My Approvers My Events Help for determining transaction type for new transactions Use Expenditure Type Mapping Tool Search for Expense Request Transactions (e.g., Expense Reports, Advance Requests, Visitor Reimbursements, Petty Cash Replenishment Requests)
Expense Reports	Note: Understand Guidelines for Use of Categories for SU Payees and Guidelines for Use of Categories for Non-SU Payees (Visitor Reimbursement). Create Expense Report for SU Payee Domestic Human Subjects Foreign Athletics Relocation Create Expense Report for Non-SU Payee (Visitor Reimbursement) Domestic Foreign Athletics Copy and Paste Expense Lines from Excel
Travel Card (TCard) Charges	View and Organize Outstanding TCard Charges Manage TCard Expense End Date View TCard History Return Personal Expenses Charged to Travel Card Record Disputed TCard Transactions Mark Transaction in Dispute Record Dispute Resolution Manage Stanford Purchasing Card (PCard)/Travel Card (TCard) Account Profile
Advances	Note: Understand Guidelines for Use of Advance Categories Request and Clear an Advance Request Advance Clear Advance Return Unused Advance Funds
Non-PO Payments	Note: Understand Guidelines for Use of Non-PO Payment Categories Create Non-PO Payment Request Single Payee Multiple Payees
Human Subject Payments	For help determining the correct payment method in the Expense Requests system, refer to Paying Human Subjects - Payment Methods by Incentive and Payee Type.
Petty Cash	Replenish Petty Cash Refer to Life Cycle of a Petty Cash Fund

Step-by-step instructions for transaction approvers are available at:
- Oracle Workflow Notification system How-tos
Step-by-step instructions for viewing and requesting suppliers are available at:
- Supplier Query and Requests system How-tos

There are a number of resources available to help transaction preparers identify correct Expenditure Type codes. For more information, refer to Topic Overview: Find Existing Expenditure Type Codes.

Other helpful resources include: