Faculty Research Fund Expense Reimbursements

Post date: Feb 16, 2016 4:43:03 PM

Dear Department Directors and Administrators,

Thank you for reviewing this important communication. To help facilitate financial operations, please review our list of policy and best practices reminders for expense reimbursement requests for students, staff and faculty.

Please email me or your Departmental fiscal analyst directly if you have any questions or concerns about the details below and please share this reminder with the administrative staff and faculty in your Department as necessary.

As a general policy, expense reimbursements and advance reconciliations must be:

· Justified under University and FAS expense policies

· Properly documented (e.g., receipts, business purpose, etc.)

· Submitted into AP Workflow (faculty & staff only) within 60 days of purchase and/or the travel end date (including advance reconciliations)

- - Departments are encouraged to establish internal deadlines that are less than 60 days to provide sufficient time for processing

· Submitted on the Student Reimbursement Form (PDF form, students only) and be approved/signed by your Departmental fiscal analyst

Below please find more detailed information that highlights the top areas requiring clarification that we see frequently in FAS Fiscal. You may also view all of the expense reimbursement policies on the web.

1. Documentation

· Please note that within Arts & Science itemized receipts are required for all expenses being reimbursed no matter the dollar amount. This differs slightly from University policies.

- - If you are missing a receipt, for any amount, you may fill out a Missing/Inadequate Documentation Report and provide supporting documentation

- - Receipts differ from invoices and itineraries. Invoices, boarding passes, and itineraries are not sufficient documentation on their own; receipts must show proof of payment. Accordingly, please note that for business meals, a credit card receipt in addition to the itemized receipt is required.

2. Student Reimbursements

· Student reimbursement requests must be submitted on the Student Reimbursement Form and be approved/signed by your Departmental fiscal analyst. Please note the following:

- - Students may receive a petty cash reimbursement up to a maximum of $50. Once the form is approved/signed by your fiscal analyst, the student may take the form to the petty cash window at 383 Lafayette Street to receive the cash.

- - Per FAS policy, any request over $50 must be forwarded to Accounts Payable (CDV.APCS@nyu.edu) for processing after your Departmental fiscal analyst has signed the form.

3. Gifts

· Given the complex set of rules around gifts, please contact your Departmental fiscal analyst before purchasing a gift for a student, staff member, faculty member or visitor. Depending on the circumstances, gifts are not always allowed so it is extremely important to review the request with your fiscal analyst in advance. There are established processes for student awards, staff/faculty additional compensation, and visitor honorarium that do not require gifts.

4. Non-Reimbursable Expenses

· Products or services that are $1,000 or more should be processed via Purchase Order in i-Buy NYU.

- - We strongly encourage compliance with the above policy. Exceptions should be sent to your Departmental fiscal analyst in advance of any proposed purchase that does not follow policy.

· Any payments to an individual must be made through i-Buy NYU or NYU Payroll, and cannot be paid by cash/check/wire transfer directly from a faculty or staff to the individual.

- For example, faculty may employ individuals to assist with translation services, but these individuals must be paid via i-Buy and not via personal check or cash. Moreover, if the individual is also a current employee at NYU, then FAS Human Resources must provide pre-approval of the agreement (as these payments are not always allowable) and the payment would be issued through NYU Payroll.

- Individuals can only be reimbursed for their own expenses and not the expenses of others (including students, visitors and employees). For example, a faculty or staff member cannot buy a student a flight to a conference or pay for a student’s professional membership and then receive reimbursement for that expense. If the individual is unable to pay and receive reimbursement themselves, the Departmental CTA or P-card can be utilized for this purpose. If you are unsure, please contact your fiscal analyst.

5. Business Class for Air and Train Travel

· A Business Class ticket can only be reimbursed if both of the following are true:

- - The travel is transoceanic, transcontinental, and/or the flight time equals to or is greater than 6 hours; and

- - The Department Chair must give pre-approval for the fare upgrade

- - Please note that Business Class fares may never be charged to a federal grant and Department Chairs should request pre-approval from their Divisional Deans.

· Premium Economy fares are authorized by Arts & Science for flights that are 4 hours or longer each way. Pre-approval from your Department Chair or Divisional Dean, as applicable, is only required for Premium Economy fees greater than $100 each way.

· Upgrades to Business Class and Premium Economy are allowable only if the flight meets the above criteria and the upgrade cost is reasonable in relation to the overall cost of the flight. It is understood that upgrade opportunities are sometimes only available 24 or 48 hours before a flight, making pre-approval challenging. Accordingly, a good faith effort should be made to inform your Department Chair or Divisional Dean at the time of booking.

· Acela train travel (which is entirely business class fares) and other Business rail upgrades may be reimbursed without pre-approval if purchased via Egencia (NYU Traveler).

- - If not purchased through Egencia, the same rules for airfare upgrades (minimum length, pre-approval) apply to rail upgrades.

- - The Amtrak website may be used for Acela or other business fares if the ticket is less expensive via Amtrak.com than via Egencia. Please note that documentation from both websites must be provided in this case.

· FAS cannot increase research funds nor provide an advance of funds due to the higher costs of business travel. Also, please note that the above guidelines are specific to Arts & Science and differ slightly to University policies.

6. Personal Travel combined with Business Travel

· When possible, please purchase personal segments of trips separately from business segments. If unfeasible to book separately, the following steps should be taken to accurately determine the costs of the business portion of the trip:

- - At the time of booking, use Egencia to also search for flights for just the business segments of the trip and for the business-segment dates. You may allow for reasonable accommodations for time of day, travel times, and stops.

- - Print the search results, showing filters and several of the potential flights details and prices and then submit with your reimbursement request.

- - The price of the most affordable and reasonably comparable itinerary is the amount that will be reimbursed.

· Reasonable lag-time (1-2 days) between conferences/business obligations are permissible and lodging, meals, and necessary travel expenses may typically be reimbursed during that time. However, please note that these expenses should not be charged to a federal grant.

· Business travel for teaching and/or administrative assignments must have at least one leg of the travel through the business city. Travel expenses to the business city from a non-business city are considered personal and non-reimbursable.

7. Per Diems and Business Meals

· Per diems may be used by applying the applicable rate for meals and incidentals (“MI&E column”), but per diems may not be used for lodging expenses. The relevant U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) or State Department per diem rate sheet for each location must be included as documentation in the reimbursement request.

· All Business Meals require a statement of the business purpose of the meal, similar to the statement of business purpose required for travel. This includes a list of individuals attending the meal, their affiliations, and the business reason the meal was necessary (e.g., discuss research of “X”, review curriculum planning for “Y”, or collaboration for “Z”).

· Please note that NYU Accounts Payable strictly enforces the 20% tip maximum for business meals. Accordingly, we have to send back any request that tips more than 20% of the food & drink total, even if it is just a few cents.

8. Overall Travel Guidelines

· All NYU-related travel requires a statement of the business purpose of the trip.

- - For example, when traveling for a conference, a business purpose explanation would concisely describe the conference and its relation to the faculty member's research (e.g., “As Professor of Engineering, I presented a paper at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers at Stanford University titled ‘Energy Efficiency in the 21st Century’ and also attended lectures at the conference”). Additionally, proof of attendance is required, such as the program of the conference showing the name of the professor as a participant or a name tag or document from the event itself.

· Research Travel:

- - In addition to receipts and documentation required for all business travel, Research Travel (such as visiting an archive) requires a more detailed business purpose and research itinerary.

- - For example, when visiting an archive a business purpose explanation would include a timeline of the trip as well as a concise description of the research objective (e.g., “As Professor of Engineering and for my forthcoming book on water conservation technologies, I traveled to the reconstructed Library of Alexandria in Egypt from October 1, 2016 through October 5, 2016 to closely examine historical examples of water conservation technologies; these are not available electronically or via interlibrary loan”).

· Leave or Sabbatical Travel:

- - Day-to-day cost of living and commuting costs are not generally eligible for reimbursement while on sabbatical or on leave from NYU.

- - Travel for research during leave or sabbatical also requires a business purpose memo at the time of reimbursement.

- - For more policy information about housing expenses during a leave or sabbatical, please see our prior communication.

Thanks,

Joe

Joseph C. Wright

Senior Director, Fiscal Affairs

Faculty of Arts & Science, NYU

5 Washington Square North

Garden Level, Room B03

New York, New York 10003

212.998.7565 (Office)