Denying an Expense Report as a Reports To Supervisor

Body

Overview

The responsibility of a Reports To Supervisor in reviewing an expense report is to verify that the initiator is approved for travel and that the department allows the expenses submitted. Supervisors are not able to make any changes to the document; if changes are needed, the expense report must be sent back to the initiator for edits. Denying an expense report "kills" it and it is no longer available to edit and submit. The Deny button should only be used when the expense is not a reimbursable item.

When reviewing an expense report, a Reports To Supervisor should ensure:

The request is reasonable, and the employee has permission to be on travel status
Completeness (required fields are filled out, supporting documentation is attached where appropriate and is legible)
Deadlines are observed (e.g. travel expense is submitted within 45 days of travel)

In addition, supervisors should review items for adherence to expense policies and that submitted expenses are allowable by type and amount.

Reports To Supervisors should Send Back or Deny transactions that do not meet standards or require correction or additional information.

Additional reviewer guidance can be found at the resources below.

Tutorial Resources

Quick Start for Approvers

Travel and Expense Approval Basic Workflow: Roles and Responsibilities

Approval Action Matrix

Transaction Signs Quick Reference Guide

Deny vs Send Back

Temporary Approvers Quick Start

In this article, you will learn the steps to deny an expense report as a Reports To Supervisor in the UGA Financial Management System.

1. Step 1

Click the Approvals tile.

2. Step 2

The Pending Approvals page is displayed. From this page, you can review and take actions on submitted documents.

Note: Use the Expense Report option to limit results if needed.

3. Step 3

To review an expense report, click the appropriate Expense Report.

Example shown here: Click the Expense Report labeled "Event Planner".

4. Step 4

The selected Expense Report summary page is displayed. Review the summary information.

Note: The approval steps is not a rubber stamp. As a Reports To Supervisor, you are confirming, to the best of your knowledge, that the initiator is approved to travel, and that the department allows the expenses submitted.

You should also review items for adherence to expense policy and that the expenses are allowable by type and amount.

5. Step 5

Any notes made by the initiator will appear under the Attachments and Notes section.

6. Step 6

To review the expense line details, click the appropriate expense line.

Example shown here: Click the D-Ground Transportation expense line.

7. Step 7

The Approval Line Detail page is displayed. From this page, you can review the reported information, accounting details, and attached receipts (if applicable).

8. Step 8

To review the attached receipts, click the View Attachments link.

9. Step 9

The View Attachments pop-up window is displayed.

To view the attachment in a new tab, click the Attached File link.

Note: Be sure the receipt agrees with the information in the expense report. Make sure the employee is not seeking reimbursement for unauthorized purchases such as personal gifts or alcohol . If receipts or documentation is missing or insufficient, use the Send Back feature to have the initiator add or correct the attachments.

10. Step 10

Click the [x] button in the upper-right-hand corner.

11. Step 11

Click the View Accounting link to review the accounting details.

12. Step 12

The Accounting pop-up window is displayed showing the ChartField combination for the selected expense report.

Review the information to be sure that the amounts are reasonable.

13. Step 13

Click the Close button.

14. Step 14

Example shown here: Notice that this employee (a student worker or faculty member) is seeking reimbursement for a non-job related expense.

This is not accomplished with an expense report and should be denied.

15. Step 15

Click the Back to Header button.

16. Step 16

You will repeat the review process for all expense lines in the report.

17. Step 17

You can select individual expense lines to approve by clicking the checkbox in the appropriate expense line.

Example shown here: Click the O-Other Misc Expenses checkbox.

18. Step 18

You can also click the Select All checkbox to quickly mark all the expense lines.

19. Step 19

When you deny an expense report or expense line(s), you send it back to the initiator. Deny "kills" the report and does not allow the initiator to resubmit.

Click the Deny button.

20. Step 20

The Deny dialog box is displayed. You are required to enter the appropriate reasoning for the denial into the Approver Comments field.

In this example, because they are submitting a non-job-related expense, you would instruct them to register as a supplier and submit a payment request to be reimbursed for the food purchase.

21. Step 21

With an appropriate comment entered, click the Submit button.

22. Step 22

The Pending Approvals page is displayed once again. A green bar will appear across the top of the page, notifying you the report was successfully denied.

The initiator is notified via email of the denial.