BSD GEMS 060Approver Policies

General Guidelines

Primary or Manager Expense Approval

The primary approver’s role is vital to ensuring that travel and business related expenses comply with University, grant, and contract policies and procedures.The approver is responsible for reviewing and approving all expense reports, and should be someone who is familiar with the employee and his/herspending requirements. In addition, this person must be of appropriate level and authority to obligate University funds. Therefore, Chicago Biology & Medicine is requiring that the primary approver be the authorized signer for the default account assigned to every University employee loaded into the GEMS application. Each department’s workflow structure will be reviewed and approved by Chicago Biology & Medicine Administration and Finance departments.

The primary approver is loaded into GEMS when the employee is loaded and determined by departmental management with the approval of Director of Accounting. Specifically, expense approvers are responsible for completing the following tasks:

  1. Completing GEMS “Approver” training either online or throughclassroom training conducted by University Central Human Resources.
  2. On a regular basis, reviewing the University’s purchasing, travel and expenditure policies to be aware of applicable restrictions and any changes to such policies.
  3. Reviewing all expense reports in a timely manner. Note this is our employee requesting reimbursement for expenses they paid while working for us. The BSD expects that approval take no longer than two weeks to process.
  4. Monitoring transactions and ensuring that expenses are reasonable and appropriate to the nature of the business conducted,and that personal expenses are allocated as such.
  5. Ensuring that adequate documentation for expenses amounting to $75 or more are properly scanned into GEMS or faxed to CPS.
  6. Ensuring that documentation requirements established by the University and applicable grant and contract agreements are adhered.
  7. Ensuring that expenses charged to a grant, contract or gift accounts adhere to University and other specified restrictions. If necessary, guidance should be requested from the responsible Grant Awards Specialist or the Principal Investigator regarding travel and business related expenses funded by grants and contracts.
  8. Ensuring that transactions are charged to the proper FAS account. All full-time University employees loaded into GEMS are assigned a default ledger-2 FAS account to whichall expenses are charged. Expense can be reallocated to other FAS accounts as necessary.(Please see the requirements for reallocationexpenses below.)
  9. Requiring additional approvals as needed.Any account being charged must have signature approval from that account. (Please see the requirements for additional approvals listed below.)
  10. Discussing with the cardholder any transactions that appear to be out of line with University, grant, or contract requirements. If necessary, expense report should be returned to the preparer for further action or clarity.
  11. Escalating any concerns that continue to be unresolved to the expense prepares immediate supervisor.

Additional Approvers

The primary expense approver will forward an expense report to one or more other employees for additional approval. This approver must be of a level and authority to approve expense transactions. BSD requires additional approval in the following situations:

  1. Expenses have been allocated to a FAS account different thanthe primary default number.
  2. Expenses have been allocated to a FAS account to whichthe primary approver is not familiar.
  3. Expenses have been allocated to a FAS account for whichthe primary approver is not the authorized signer of the charging account.
  4. Expenses are charged to an account outside of the expense approver’s department or division.
  5. The primary approver is unsure that the charges are appropriate University expenses.

Guidance on how to add an additional approver is available on the BSD GEMS website.

GUIDE FOR APPROVER ABSENCES

The designated approver must be the primary approver for expense reports. The following are guidelines for approvers unable to process the expense reports.

Vacation:

The approver should provide prior notice to employees of the anticipated absence allowing ample time for existing expense submission, review, and approval. Expense reports submitted during the absence should be submitted through the normal process, but will be approved upon the approvers return.

Extended Leave:

The department GEMS representative should provide notice to the Director of Accounting of any extended leave. If the leave is expected to be short (2 weeks or less), the process associated with vacation will be followed. Leaves that are longer than 2 weeks will require a change to the approver in GEMS. A revised GESS form will need to be completed listing all employees mapped to that approver which need to be changed. The GESS form will be sent to the Director of Accounting for review and further processing. If the department GEMS representative does not have a current list of their area’s employees and approvers, it can be requested from the Director of Accounting.

Separation:

Voluntary Separation:

Prior to the approver leaving, a replacement approver must be chosen. All outstanding reimbursement requests should be reviewed and processed. The department GEMS representative will update the employee/approver structure using a GESS form. The GESS form will be sent to the Director of Accounting prior to the approver leaving. The notice will include the date the change is desired. Five business days should be allowed for processing.

Involuntary Separation:

If possible, prior to the approver leaving, a replacement approver should be chosen. The department GEMS representative will update the employee/approver structure using a GESS form. The GESS form will be sent to the Director of Accounting, if possible prior to the approver leaving. Involuntary notice will be effective immediately. The request should bequickly submitted for further processing. The request to GEMS support will also include a note to move any outstanding reimbursement requests to the new approver.

BSD administrative approval: ______Date: ______