Pomona College and the other Claremont Colleges have implemented the Expenses module in Workday to reimburse expenses and clear purchase card transactions. P Card transactions will be uploaded from Bank of America daily.
Finance Recommendations:
- Create separate expense reports by Cost Center or Grant to reduce the number of required approvals.
- For easier review, create expense reports weekly when more than ten transactions are to be reconciled.
- If the department wants to track expenses by trip, include P Card transactions, reimbursable transactions, and advances on one expense report.
Job aides to assist you in completing expense reports are in the Workday Resources app on the Workday home page.
The following is a summary of Pomona’s reimbursement and P Card policies.
Credit Card/Purchasing Card (PCARD) Purchases
The Finance Office issues purchasing cards to Pomona faculty and staff to make the purchasing process more efficient. The P Card functions similarly to a credit card (it has a VISA logo on the face of the card) and is paid directly by the College to Bank of America (B of A).
To obtain a purchasing card, log into Workday, search ‘Request Purchase Card,’ and complete the fields as appropriate. See the specific job aide in the Workday Resources application on the home page in Workday under the Expenses section titled ‘Request Purchase Card.’ The card will be available within ten days. You will be contacted by the Finance Office when it is available.
Once the first purchase has been made on the P Card, please contact the Systems Training Director to schedule Expenses training. If training has not been completed within 30 days of the 1st transaction, the P Card will be closed for use until training is completed.
The policies included herein are for general expenditure approvals relating to P-Card purchases:
Spending Limits and Restrictions
- Most cards have a preset maximum single purchase level of $5,000. NOTE: If this needs to be changed due to a specific event, please create a ‘Request Purchase Card’ in Workday before the event so the card can be updated. This will prevent card denial at the time of purchase.
- Purchases must be sent to a College address
- Restrictions – The card should not be used to pay for the following:
- Cash advances
- Financial or professional services (legal, accounting, engineering, etc.)
- Invoice payments (except urgent exceptions that must be entered as $0 invoices to avoid duplicate payments)
- Equipment, furniture, computer equipment
- Purchases ≥ $25,000
- Round‑up donations
- Personal expenses
- Reimbursement for direct payments to students/faculty/staff by other departments utilizing prepaid debit cards or electronic payment apps like PayPal and Venmo are not permitted unless approved in advance by the Finance Office. Situations needing prepaid cards should be handled using Cash Advances to employees, Petty Cash to students, or other means determined by the Finance Office. Receipts are still required to clear any advance of cash.
- If using the Per Diem reimbursement method, do not use the P Card to pay for meal transactions.
Documentation and Receipts
- Expense Reports must be approved in Workday within 30 days of the receipt date.
- Receipt date must match the transaction date entered in Workday.
- Missing or insufficient documentation for transactions over $75 will result in the amount being taxable to the cardholder.
- Altered receipts are not accepted.
- Description and business purpose for each expense should be documented in the memo field of the report.
Special Transaction Types
- Meals & Entertainment: Business purpose required; attendee names must be listed (or group affiliation if >10 attendees).
- Gift Cards:
- Must be distributed within 30 days of purchase.
- Participant/Recipient Gift Card Log and confirmation of receipt, either via email or signature, is required.
- Cards over $10 are taxable to recipients.
- The value of cards that have been undistributed after 30 days must be reimbursed to the College.
- If bulk gift card purchases are made or gift cards are purchased in advance, they will be treated as a cash advance to be cleared with the Gift Card Log and confirmation of receipt within 30 days. If not cleared, the amount remaining must be reimbursed to the College
- Dining Hall Tickets: Tickets purchased, whether in advance or used immediately, must include a business purpose. Any tickets remaining can be returned to Dining by the end of the year for a refund, as tickets are void after year-end.
Compliance and Enforcement
- Personal charges must be reimbursed immediately via the Cashier.
- Sharing cards or PINs is grounds for revocation.
- Habitual out‑of‑pocket spending instead of P Card use may result in cancellation.
- Delinquent reports may result in:
- Charges moved to operating budgets
- Card deactivation
- Taxable income reported on W‑2
- The Finance Office makes taxability determinations and provides the taxable amount to Payroll for W-2 reporting. Notification of the taxable amount is noted in the process comments section of the expense report in Workday.
Expense Reimbursements and Travel Advances
The Finance Office reimburses for travel expenditures when appropriately documented with receipts. The expense report should be completed within 30 days of travel, but not earlier than two weeks before. Detailed receipts (regardless of transaction amount) are required, except for incidentals or when using the Per Diem reimbursement method. Reimbursements received after 60 days will be taxable to the employee per IRS guidelines.[1] NOTE: Travel purchased more than 60 days before travel is exempt from taxation.
Appropriate receipts for out-of-pocket expenses
- Be detailed and show proof and form of payment.
- Show the last four digits of a credit card or be supported by a bank statement.
- If the payment form is a personal check, a copy of the bank-cashed check must be provided.
- If the payment form is cash and a receipt is not provided, complete the Cash Receipt Form and have the supplier sign to confirm receipt of the payment
- Include:
- Lodging folios
- Airfare itineraries
- Rental car checkout summaries
- Mixed business/personal travel requires documentation of the business‑only cost.
- If anything is written on the receipt for any reason, please write legibly and in ink that will scan clearly.
- Altered receipts will not be accepted.
Special Transaction Types
- Federal Grants - If traveling for research on a Federal grant and taking an extra leg for personal travel, only the travel to the research location or back from the research location will be reimbursed, not the round trip per Federal guidelines. See Chapter 19 for additional details
- Meals & Entertainment: Business purpose required; attendee names must be listed (or group affiliation if >10 attendees).
- Gift Cards - Same rules apply as P Card purchases:
- Must be distributed within 30 days of purchase.
- Participant/Recipient Gift Card Log and confirmation of receipt, either via email or signature, is required.
- Cards over $10 are taxable to recipients.
- The value of cards that have been undistributed after 30 days must be reimbursed to the College.
- If bulk gift card purchases are made or gift cards are purchased in advance, they will be treated as a cash advance to be cleared with the Gift Card Log and confirmation of receipt within 30 days. If not cleared, the amount remaining must be reimbursed to the College
- Dining Hall Tickets - Same rules apply as P Card purchases: Tickets purchased, whether in advance or used immediately, must include a business purpose.
- Moving Expenses
- Moving expenses must be pre-approved by Human Resources or the Dean’s Office. Reimbursements are based on the authorized amounts and treated as taxable, if necessary, per IRS guidelines in Publication 521. The current version of this publication is available at the IRS website.
IRS Compliance and Due Dates
- Substantiation must occur within 60 days of the transaction date.
- Adequate records must show amount, time, place, and business purpose.
- Failure to comply results in taxable income to the employee. The Finance Office makes taxability determinations and provides the taxable amount to Payroll for W-2 reporting. Notification of the taxable amount is noted in the process comments section of the expense report in Workday.
Travel Advances
- Requested via Spend Authorization in Workday with the Cash Advance option.
- Expense Report required within 30 days of return, but not earlier than two weeks before travel
- Advances outstanding beyond 60 days are taxable.
- Over‑advances must be deposited with the Cashier; under‑advances are reimbursed through Workday.
For information regarding additional Finance policies, please see the Finance Office – Guide to Payment and Purchasing Processes on the Finances tab in Workday Resources on the Workday homepage.
[1]It is understood that there may be times when more than 60 days is reasonable, such as when there are illnesses, leaves, vacancies, or when the employee is out of the country and doesn’t have internet access. [back]