Reconciliation and Approval of Travel Card Activity

All travel card transaction must be reconciled and approved.

Timeframe for Reconciliation and Approval

• Travel Card expenses must be reconciled and submitted for approval within 60 days of the transaction posting in Chrome River.
• Department Card Administrators must work with cardholders to reconcile outstanding transactions.
• Transactions not reconciled and submitted for approval within this period will result in the following suspensions:
  1. First Suspension – Card suspended until ALL transactions have been reconciled and approved.
  2. Second Suspension – Card suspended until ALL transactions have been reconciled and approved then will remain suspended for an additional 30 days.
  3. Third Suspension – Card canceled.

Reconciliation and Approval of Transactions

Cardholders

• Navigate to MyU(myu.umn.edu) > Key Links > U Travel > Chrome River to reconcile posted transactions.
• Create a new expense report or work from an existing expense report.
• Complete the required header information.
  • Provide justification for the expense report in the Business Purpose field.
    • Job Aid: Justifications and Business Purpose
  • Select credit card transaction(s) from eWallet to be add to the expense report.
    • Provide any additional required information.
    • Provide detailed receipts for each transaction (for transactions over $25).
      • Receipts can be emailed ([email protected]) or uploaded in Chrome River at any time.
      • Chrome River will attempt to merge any receipts already loaded to corresponding credit card transactions.
    • Resolve any compliance warnings or violations by following the instructions provided in Chrome River.
  • Provide Allocation(s) (ChartField string) to record the expense.
  • If a charge appears to be invalid or is not recognizable it must still be reconciled and approved. See Administrative ProcedureDispute Process for University Travel Cards*. 
    • Indicate in the justification (Additional Information field) that the transaction is being disputed.
  • If a charge is unallowable, check the box “A portion of this expense is unallowable.” Cardholders are responsible for reimbursing the University of expenses on the travel card that are deemed unallowable. Amounts owed the University will be collected:
    • By deducting from any amount to be reimbursed to the cardholder on the expense report that includes the unallowable expense(s).
    • If the expense report does not include an amount owed to the cardholder, the cardholder must choose one of the following to pay for the unallowable expense:
      • receiving a bill from the University or
      • a one-time payroll deduction.
    • Submit Expense Report for approval.

Approvers (cannot be the cardholder)

• Expense Reports will be routed for the following approvals:
  • Supervisor – based on “reports to” relationship in HRMS.
  • Department Finance - based on the DeptID in the Allocation.
  • Certified Approver (when activity hits sponsored accounts) – based on DeptID in Allocation.
  • Chief Financial Manager – policy violations
• Approvers can either Approve or Return. Approvers cannot make any changes to the Expense Report.
• If the expense owner is also an approver on the expense reported submitted for approval, the expense report will route to “Find Me Fix Me” and Financial Helpline will contact the department to identify the appropriate person for approval.
• If expense reports route to the wrong person or an approver does not exist, the Financial Helpline can assist in reassigning the expense report.

Imaging of receipts/documentation for Expense Reports.

• Any receipts/documentation attached to an Expense Report will be “swept” into Perceptive Content once the Expense Report is approved.
• Receipts/documentation not attached to the Expense Report must still be imaged into Perceptive Content.