Purchasing & Accounts Payable

Step 1: Out-of-Pocket, Non T&E Expense is Incurred

While uncommon, an employee or guest may incur an out-of-pocket, non-travel and non-entertainment expense that is necessary and integral to conducting UCLA-related business.

Not all expense types are eligible or allowable for reimbursement. If a restricted expense is being purchased, an exception request must be submitted to AP at least one week before the purchase is made. Not all requests are approved.  

Step 2: Receipt is Retained

An original itemized receipt showing proof of payment (i.e., the amount paid and method of payment) must be retained. If the receipt does not include this information, a secondary document is required. Preliminary documents, such as order and shipping confirmations, will not be accepted in lieu of purchase receipts.

Secondary document examples: 

• Credit card statement copy with the account number blacked out
• Copy of the canceled check

 Step 3: Expense Report is Created & Submitted

An employee or their delegate(s) can create a Concur expense report for an out-of-pocket expense. For privacy and security, employees must personally provision delegate access. Employees must also submit their own reports to certify what their delegate has prepared is correct. Only a department delegate is authorized to submit a report on a guest’s behalf.

In an effort to reduce the number of expense reports submitted, users are encouraged to aggregate, where appropriate, and submit in 30-day intervals. In other words, instead of submitting a report for each individual expense, users can combine their expenses into a single report that they submit at the end of each month.

EXAMPLE: If you incur various expenses from July 1 to July 30, consolidate them into one report that you submit on August 1. 

To ensure compliance with IRS rules, non-T&E reimbursements must be submitted within 60 days of the date the expense was incurred. Reimbursements submitted after 60 days will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Reimbursements older than 364 days cannot be processed through Concur and require exceptional approval from executive leadership.

Step 4: Expense Report is Approved by the Department

Once the expense report is submitted, the department approver must review it. Approvers can select a transaction to see its associated documentation and receipt(s). If there is an error, the approver can send the report back to the employee or guest's delegate for correction.

If an expense exceeds the allowable reimbursement amount of $1,000, a CAO/CFO must be selected as the department approver (FAU Approver). This requirement does not apply to the following expense types:

• Conference Registration
• Licenses (certifications/permits, facility)
• Licenses (certifications/permits, vocational)
• Memberships (business and professional)
• Printing/Publications 

Step 5: Expense Report is Routed for Additional Approval(s) & Then Reviewed by AP

Once department-level approval is received, the report will be routed to the next approval step in the approval workflow (approval requirements vary per expense type). After all necessary approvals have been received, AP reviews and audits the expense report. After this final layer of approval is received, the expense report will be processed and charged to the indicated FAUs.

Payment will be issued two business days from the date of approval via the following payment methods:

• For Employees: EFT or check—based on UCPath payroll payment method
• For Guests: Zelle or check

The actual payment date may vary. We recommend recipients wait a reasonable amount of time for their banking institution to reflect the payment or for the check to arrive via USPS before contacting the non-T&E reimbursements team.