Policy Statement

The University will reimburse employees for out-of-pocket expenses incurred during the execution of university business. Substantiation of reimbursable expenses must detail who incurred the expense, what was purchased, where the transaction occurred, the date the transaction occurred, and the business purpose of the expense. 

This policy does not include travel-related expenses. Reimbursements for travel related expenses should follow the University’s travel policy. 

Reason for Policy
This policy is to document the requirements for supporting documentation on reimbursements to employees.

Procedure

Employee reimbursements will typically be processed via expense reports using the Expenses module in the UGA Financial Management System. Expense reports should have proof of payment in the form of a receipt. There will only be isolated cases where employee reimbursements should be processed using a payment request through the Accounts Payable module in the UGA Financial Management System. These are explained below. 

Isolated cases where employee reimbursements will be processed using a payment request through the Accounts Payable module include transactions that may have tax reporting implications and need to be tracked. These cases include reimbursement to an employee for value cards (gift cards) used for participation payments. These reimbursement requests will be submitted via a spreadsheet provided to the department by Accounts Payable. For instances where an employee is reimbursed through the Accounts Payable module, the employee will need to complete the supplier registration process to establish a record within the University’s supplier database. 

Record Retention

Research Grant Records  

Number 0472-09-006 

These records relate to funded research grant proposals and research activity associated with grant funded projects. Examples of records include supporting statistics, demographic data, draft proposals, suggested revisions, final proposals, forms, protocols, applications, research/activity reports, progress reports, and summary reports. 

Retention: The final research report is permanent. All other records: 7 years after the end of the grant period.  

Accounting Records Number 0472-03-001 

This series includes bank statements, purchase requests, purchase orders, requisitions, financial reports, accounts payable and receivable records, write-off records, discrepancy, payment schedules, operating statements, year-end projections, reconciliation and expenditure reports, cancelled checks, check stubs, moving expense records, cost accounting reports, refund/disbursement request records, returned checks, deposit slips, travel records, credit voucher requisition records, cash balances and reconciliations, sales and cash reconciliation records, journal entries, outstanding obligations, refund/disbursement requests, receipts and invoices.  

Retention: Monthly and quarterly reports: 1 year. All other records 5 years. 

Related Information

The following material provides instructions for expense report creation and submission: 

   Editing and Resubmitting a Sent Back Expense Report 

   Additional Expense Report training material is in the OneSource Knowledge Base