Options for Configuring Expense Policies
To enforce compliance with your company's expense policies, you can specify any of the following options:
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Receipt required
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Corporate card usage
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Conversion rate
Specifying a Receipt Required Policy
If your accounts payable department requires a receipt for each expense, then you must specify the following for each expense type that you define on the Create Expense Type page:
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A receipt requirement rule that reflects your company's receipt policy. A receipt can be required for cash only or for corporate card and cash.
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An expense amount, over which a receipt is required
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Warning and error tolerance percentages so the application can warn the user, if opted, of a receipt required policy violation or, in the case of an error, actually prevent submission of the expense report
Warnings are tracked by the application. You can view them in the Expense Items section on the Edit Expense Report page. Errors aren't tracked because they prevent submission of an expense report.
Specifying a Corporate Card Usage Policy
You can set up corporate card usage policies to enforce the use of corporate cards. These policies increase your control of the cards by enforcing compliance with the usage policies.
You can specify corporate card usage policies in the Edit Corporate Card Usage Policy dialog box by specifying cash limits for expense categories. A cash limit is a cash ceiling, over which an employee must use a corporate card to pay for an expense. An expense category is a grouping of expense types. For example, the expense category of Airfare includes the following expense types: International Air and Domestic Air.
You must also specify tolerance percentages for warnings or errors as they relate to the cash limits for the expense categories. The following table illustrates how the warning and error tolerance percentages work for corporate card usage policies.
|
Cash Limit for Expense Category of Car Rental |
Warning Tolerance Percentage |
Warning Amount |
Error Tolerance Percentage |
Error Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
$100 |
5% |
$100 + $5 = $105. The warning tolerance is $100 up to $105. Over $105, the user sees a warning. |
10% |
$100 + $10 = $110. The error tolerance is over $105 up to $110. Over $110, the application prevents the user from submitting the expense report. |
If the employee enters a cash amount over $105 for a car rental on the expense report, a warning displays, if opted, that reminds the employee to use a corporate card, instead of cash, for car rental charges over $100. Warnings are tracked by the application. You can view them in the Expense Items section on the Edit Expense Report page.
If the employee enters a cash amount over $110 for a car rental on the expense report, the application prevents submission of the expense report. Therefore, errors aren't tracked by the application.
Specifying a Conversion Rate Policy
You can define conversion rate behavior for each business unit in your company. These definitions enable you to enforce conversion rate policies and to validate the conversion rates that employees enter for foreign currency receipts. If you enter a conversion rate value in an expense report, or override a defaulted value, the value you enter is validated against the current conversion rate definitions.
You can specify the following conversion rate behavior on the Edit Conversion Rates and Policies page:
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Type of conversion rate, whether Corporate, Spot, or User
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Whether you want the conversion rate to default onto a newly created expense report
Note: The default conversion rate is only applicable to cash transactions. -
Warning and error tolerance percentages so the application knows when to warn the user, if opted, of a conversion rate policy violation or, in the case of an error, actually prevent submission of the expense report
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Warning and error tolerance percentages, if opted, for specific currencies
The following table illustrates how warning and error tolerance percentages work for conversion rate policies.
|
Conversion Rate |
Warning Tolerance Percentage |
Warning Tolerance |
Error Tolerance Percentage |
Error Tolerance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Conversion Rate Type = Corporate where 1 GBP = 1.579 USD. For this example, the employee reports expenses on the expense report in GBP, but is reimbursed in USD. |
5% |
1.579 + .07895 = 1.65795 The warning tolerance is 1.579 USD up to 1.65795. If the user enters a conversion rate over 1.65795, a warning displays. |
10% |
1.579 + .1579 = 1.7369 The error tolerance is over 1.65795 up to 1.7369. If the user enters a conversion rate over 1.7369, the application prevents the user from submitting the expense report. |
If the employee enters a cash amount for a meal of 25 GBP on the expense report and indicates a conversion rate over 1.65795, a warning displays, if opted, that reminds the employee to use a conversion rate less than 1.65795. Warnings are tracked by the application. You can view them in the Expense Items section on the Edit Expense Report page.
If the employee enters a cash amount for a meal of 25 GBP on the expense report and indicates a conversion rate over 1.7369, the application prevents submission of the expense report. Errors aren't tracked by the application.