Travel Expense Report

Travel Expense Report Guidelines

Form Formats

2 formats both are Excel spreadsheets - 1 with a mileage calculator and 1 without. Both are available on the Vantage Intranet located at the following link: If you cannot access this site please contact Chris Risko @ or 267-229-2015.

The Travel expense report forms are in 8 ½ x 11 inch format. DO NOT ALTER THE ORIGINAL FORMAT!You may submit as many forms for a 1 week period as needed. Please be sure to attach the applicable receipts to correct form.

Heading – Enter the division you are working for (Learning, Communications, Software, etc.) next to “Vantage.” Enter the period of time you are reporting.

Columns

Date – Enter the date that applies to the data you are entering.

Customer or Billable to – Enter the name of the customer,for whom these expenses have been incurred, in this column. This applies to prospective, current or former customers. The only time Vantage should ever appear in this column is for reimbursement of trips to Vantage Headquarters located in Newtown, Pennsylvania and when purchasing supplies used in the home office or the internet connections needed for the Cisco telephone system supplied by Vantage.

If this column is left blank it will be returned to the employee to be completed.

Airfare - Enter the amount of the fare, include all fees that apply. If you have a change of departure date and a fee is paid, please enter it here.

Bus, Cabs, etc. – This column applies to public transportation, including, but not limited to, train fare, airport shuttle, etc. Receipts are required.

Auto Rental – This column applies to the rental fees for the vehicle only. Enter fuel purchased for the rental in the “**Other” column.

*Number of miles traveled - Enter total number of miles traveled that apply to that date/customer. (This column will automatically calculate the dollar value.)

Remember, mileage must be calculated from where you are based. If you work from the Newtown, Pennsylvania or Reston, Virginia offices then that is the point from which all mileage to and from your customer(s) location(s) should be calculated; never from your home.

If you areoutside sales and work strictly from your home, that is your base and is the point from which your mileage should be calculated. Vantage does not reimburse employees for their personal mileage and should never be included in the report.

Mileage Allowance – The dollar value for the mileage entered into the previous column will automatically appear here.

Parking & Tolls - Enter fees paid for parking and tolls. This includes any parking fees at hotels.

You may use your EZPass statement (available on the internet) for toll documentationif you lack receipts. Receipts or EZPass statements are required.

Lodging – Enter the room charges in this columnonly. Please include allapplicable room taxes.

Telephone – This column is for the internet connection and telephone charges incurred while staying in a hotel (Business Related Travel only), as well as home office internet connection required for the Cisco phone system.

Conference / Meetings - Enter the fees for conferences attended and meetings with customers here. Please detail in the “Customer Meeting Detail” area in the lower left section of the form.

REMEMBER: One conference = one report. DO NOT mingle expenses from multiple conferences on one report. ALL expenses applicable to anindividual conference should be submitted in their entirety on one (1) form, when more than one conference has been attended in one Travel Expense cycle, use a separate report form for EACH conference.

NOTE: this is one exception to the rule of one conference = one report

If, for example, airfare is purchased well in advance of a conference, please use a separate form to expense the airfare and indicate the conference to be attended.

Do Notcombine any conference related expense on a report of regular, customer related travel expensesorwith other non-conference related expenses.

Other – This column applies to any expense not covered under any of the other headings/columns. Please detail these expenses in the “Other and Miscellaneous Detail” section in the lower right section of the form for each entry made in this column.

Meals – Enter the charges for meals purchased while traveling on behalf of Vantage. (Coworker gatherings are not reimbursed.) Please detail any meetings with customers in the “Customer Meeting Detail” area and include their names and the name of the organization they represent. Keep meal charges within reason and avoid, if at all possible, room service meals.

Tips –Company policy allows a maximum of 15%. Amounts greater than 15% will not be reimbursed, but will be recalculated and reimbursed accordingly. Repeated submission of travel expense reports with incorrectly calculated tips, will result in the forms being returned to the employee for correction. (Please be aware that many hotels add the tip to the room service bill, should you be forced to use this service, please do not add an additional tip.)

Conferences – All applicable expenses, for an individual conference, must be submitted on ONE form applicable only to that one specific conference. (Please see “Conference / Meetings” instructions above for additional information.)

General information

Charges not reimbursable –Spa, gym and entertainment such as in-room movies, etc.

Report Due Date – Expense reports are due in the accounting office by close of business on the 15th of each month.

Inside personnel - Please forward the original expense report form and applicable original receipts to your manager for approval who will then forward to accounting for processing.

Off-site personnel - Please use the US PostalService to forward your expense forms and original receipts directly to accounting. Please follow the electronic approval process as outlined below.

ELECTRONIC APPROVAL PROCESS:

For outside sales/off-site personnel - You must email all reportsto your manager for approval by close of business on the 15th (send the hard copy and original receipts via the US Postal Service directly to the accounting office).

Any electronic expense report that has been approved by your manager and forwarded to the accounting office by close of business on the 15th, will be processed in the current cycle even though the hard copy has not been received by the deadline.

ANY APPROVED ELECTRONIC REPORT THAT IS RECEIVED AND IS NOT BACKED UP WITH THE HARD COPY OF THE REPORT AND ALL APPLICABLE ORIGINAL RECEIPTS WILL BE HELD UNTIL THE NEXT CYCLE.

An unsupported electronically approved Travel Expense report will notbe processed until all supporting documentation has been received by accounting.

If the 15th falls on the weekend or a holiday, the deadline will be extended until the close of business of the NEXT business day. All managers will be advised of the alternate date.

Reimbursement Checks – Are issued once a month on the first Monday of each month. If this day falls on a holiday, the checks will be issued on Wednesday. Checks are signed by Friday of that same week. They are distributed as soon as they are received.

Shipment of checks for outside sales/off-site personnel –All reimbursement checks will be mailed using the US Postal Service. Every effort is made to get the expense reimbursement checks out in a timely manner.

Accuracy – This is extremely important! Be sure your report is legible and correct. Errors result in delays for accounting, as well as the employee. Please double check your report before submitting it for approval/reimbursement. If you submit an expense report that is illegible or requiring too many corrections, or is missing receipts – IT WILL BE RETURNED TO YOU and will not be processed for reimbursement until it has been corrected and returned to accounting. This may also result in the report(s) not being processed until the next travel expense cycle.

Contacts:

Linda Knoblauch:

Phone: 267-756-1166

Matt Herb:

Phone: 267-756-1138

NOTE: Always start with a new form each time you prepare a Travel Expense report and save a copy to your hard drive for future reference. This will help prevent some of the most common errors.

Revised – June 8, 2006