P-Card Expense Report Instructions
P-Card Expense Report Instructions
We are pleased to offer support for Chrome River expense reports related to card purchases for both new and current employees. For any assistance with these reports, please contact Jackie Mitchell at jlmitch1@illinois.edu or Maile Tatman at mreynol@illinois.edu.
The following step-by-step instructions are designed to guide you through properly submitting your P-Card expense reports in Chrome River and to address a wide range of expense-related issues that may arise.
Creating a Draft Expense Report
When making P-card purchases, it's important to create your Draft Expense Reports to keep your charges organized.
Step 1: Create a New Draft Expense Report
Select Create in the Expenses section.
Step 2: Fill out the Expense Details
Fill out the Expense Details with the following guidelines:
Report Name: Enter the vendor followed by the order total. (ex. Amazon - $59.99)
Business Purpose: Should answer the who, what, when, where, and why of the expense. See Providing a Detailed Business Purpose to ensure your following University guidelines.
Report Type: Should be P-card.
Budget Fiscal Year: Should be the fiscal year in which the purchase is made. Chrome River should default to the current fiscal year.
User Defined: This should be the vendor and the vendor’s order number. (ex. Amazon Sales Order # 114-1998617-2593836)
Click Save in the top right-hand corner.
Step 3: Record the Expense Report Number and Add Back-Up Documentation
Record the Expense Report number shown in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen. You will reference this number when saving your receipts for the order, and anywhere else you may need it.
If you have any backup documentation (P-card Exception Approval, Software or Electronic Services by P-card Forms, etc.), go ahead and add those to the draft by dragging the uploads or adding the attachments at the bottom of the expense details page.
Optional: You can go ahead and load your receipt for the order into Chrome River at this time. Doing this will allow the receipt to merge with the transaction once posted. To do this:
- Click the Plus sign
- Select Receipt Gallery at the bottom of the list and then click Upload.
This Expense Report draft will be saved until the P-card transaction has been posted to Chrome River.
Adding a Posted Transaction to your Draft
Once the transaction has been posted, you’ll find it in the Credit Card section within your eWallet on Chrome River.
Step 1: Select the Transaction to Add
While viewing the transaction in your eWallet, you can select the box next to the transaction and click Add to Report. If you have multiple transactions to add to a single draft expense report, select all necessary boxes.
Step 2: Adding the Transaction to the Draft
Your list of Draft Expense Reports will appear, select the appropriate draft from the list to add the posted transaction to. The Expense Report should list the same vendor and total as the posted transaction.
Adding the Required Details to your Draft with the Transaction(s)
After you’ve added your transaction(s) to your draft you can add all the necessary details of the P-card expense.
Step 1: Select the Valid Expense Type
Select a Valid Expense Type from the two options listed after clicking the Question Mark box. If only one account code is being used, then select PCARD EXPENSES as the expense type. If you are using multiple account codes, then select ACCOUNT ALLOCATION.
- If you selected PCARD EXPENSES for one account code: Enter the P-card Expense details, including the account code and an itemization of the items purchased in this transaction listed in the Description field. Then move ahead to add the Allocation section.
- If you selected ACCOUNT ALLOCATION for multiple account codes: Skip the Description field and move ahead to Adding the CFOP Allocation.
Allocation: Search for and enter your CFOP(s). If using more than one, select Add Allocation after entering the first, and then make sure the adjust your splits appropriate for your order.
Step 3: Account Allocation Itemization (for multiple account codes)
(If you selected PCARD EXPENSES for one account code, skip this step and proceed to step 4.)
If you selected ACCOUNT ALLOCATION for multiple account codes, select Itemize in the top right-hand corner.
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- Select PCARD EXPENSES.
- Input the appropriate amount Spent, the corresponding Account Number(code), as well as an itemization of the items purchased under this account number(code) in the Description field.
- Click Save in the top right-hand corner and then repeat steps 3a & 3b until the full amount of the posted transaction has been reconciled and the "Remaining" amount shown on the top right of your screen is $0.00.
Click Add Attachments to add the backup receipt that corresponds with this transaction.
Please note that the file must be either an image format or a PDF, Chrome River will not accept Word documents. You can either click the Add Attachments button and browse to the location where you have the receipt saved or you can simply drag and drop the receipt into the Attachments section of the report. If you uploaded your receipt when you created your draft, you can select From Receipt Gallery to locate and add. Otherwise, choose Upload Attachments to select and add from the retention file.
Click Save in the top right-hand corner.
Step 5: Reviewing your Expense Report
Click on the title of your Expense Report to review and verify all your totals add up accordingly, that your details are full and complete, and that all your backup documentation is included.
- If you need to include any notes for the approvers, you can add them to the Comments section of the main expense report details.
- If you adjusted your business purpose either in the main expense report details or on an individual transaction, it would only change it in that one place and not auto-update in the rest. You will have to go and update the business purpose in each location it’s listed in an expense report.
You can click on each expense listed to double-check that your Account Codes and Allocations are correct.
- Please note, that the CFOP allocation will automatically populate after you’ve entered it in Step 2 above. However, if there is an activity code, it will not automatically populate, and you will have to add it again to each allocation of the expense.
Step 6: Submitting your Expense Report
Click Submit at the bottom (middle) of the screen.
Finally, the below screen will appear on the upper right-hand side of the page. click Submit again.
The report has been forwarded for approval. No further action is needed unless it is returned to you.
What to do if you have an International Transaction Fee
Some payments to international vendors will have an international transaction fee that is imposed by the bank that you will need to include with the associated Expense Report. When you see these transactions posted in Chrome River, you’ll need to grab backup documentation from Bank of America.
Step 1: Obtaining your Backup Documentation
There are 2 options for obtaining your backup documentation, from the Global Card Access Dashboard or CentreSuite:
Option 1: From your Bank of America Global Card Access Dashboard, choose the appropriate card from the drop-down menu and then Scroll through your activity to find the international transaction fee, these will not be labeled as such and will appear above the corresponding transaction.
Option 2: From your Bank of America Global Card Access Dashboard, select View Statements from the Quick Actions menu on the right-hand side. A new window tab will open with your CentreSuite access. Hover over the STATEMENTS drop-down menu and select Account Activity. Select the DETAILS button for your P-card. Select the Transactions Tab and scroll to find the international transaction fee, which will be right below the associated charge. Screenshot both charges together (as shown below) and save as a .pdf file.
Step 2: Adding the Posted Transaction and Expense Details
- When you add the posted transactions to your draft, you’ll want to include the original charge AND the international transaction fee, click the boxes for both charges.
- The Account Code for the international transaction fee will be the same as the original charge account code.
- For the Description field, put “International Transaction Fee”.
- For the required receipt, upload your recently saved screenshot .pdf of the charge with the international transaction fee.
- You’ll need to update the total charge in the title of your Expense Report to include the international transaction fee.
How to Recall a Submitted Expense Report
Sometimes the need may arise where you need to recall a recently submitted Expense Report to either add information or transactions or adjust the information or transactions. If the expense is already approved or exported, you will not be able to recall it for adjustments.
Step 1: Find your Recently Submitted Expense Reports
From your Chrome River dashboard, select View All Submitted to pull your list of recently submitted expense reports.
You can also access this list by clicking the 3 Horizontal Bars at the header of Chrome River and selecting Recently Submitted.
Step 2: Select the Expense Report to Recall
Select the Expense Report you wish to recall, it should be in pending status. Expense Reports with an Approved or Exported status are not eligible to be recalled.
Click the Recall button at the top right-hand corner (below your name).
This report will then be moved to your draft list where you can open, edit, and then resubmit.
What to do when the Approver Returns your Expense Report
If an approver returns your expense report, you will receive a notification email via Chrome River with an explanation for the return. In order to make any requested adjustments to the returned Expense Report, you’ll need to first recall the report from your Recently Submitted (instructions above) to have it returned to your drafts list where you can then open, edit, and then resubmit.
What to do when you have Fraud on your P-Card
Should you be the victim of credit card fraud, after notifying Bank of America and your DCM, the following are the details to use with your Expense Report of those charges:
- The Report Name should be “Fraudulent Transaction(s)”, followed by the total. (ex. Fraudulent Transaction(s) - $54.00)
- The Business Purpose should be “Fraudulent Transaction. Has been disputed with Bank of America.” (include dispute # if you have it)
- The Report Type should be P-card.
- The Budget Fiscal Year should be the fiscal year in which the purchase is made. Chrome River should default to the current fiscal year.
- The User Defined can be left blank
- The Account Code will be 124900
You will need to obtain a screenshot of the fraudulent transactions from Bank of America (as detailed under International Transaction Fee Instructions) to provide as a receipt.
Once you get the refund from Bank of America, you will use the same account and allocation information to refund our CFOP. Be sure to obtain screenshots of the refunded fraudulent transactions to provide as receipts. If possible, wait for the refund and reconcile everything together. This may not be possible depending on how long BOA takes.