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Administrative and Financial Services: Policies
Entertainment and Travel Policy: UC - and University Affairs - Specific
General Policy
All costs
incurred must directly support the business of the University
of California. University Affairs's internal policies require receipts for
ALL expenses for which reimbursement is requested. If for
some reason you have lost or misplaced a receipt for which
you are requesting reimbursement, you must provide a written
statement detailing the expense, explaining the business purpose,
explaining the reason for the missing receipt and signing
the statement certifying that you have incurred the cost.
Please submit all requests for reimbursement
as soon as you have incurred the costs. It is the University's
policy that travel vouchers be submitted within 10 days of
the trip.
Entertainment
University policy states "where meals
are a part of administrative meetings, they must be necessary
and an integral part of the business meeting, not a matter
of personal convenience. Reimbursement will not be allowed
when two or more employees from the same work location choose
to go to lunch or dinner together to continue their business
as an incidental part of the meal, or when the meeting could
have been scheduled during regular working hours."
The key to the above statement is "could have been scheduled
during regular working hours." It is understood that
there will be occasion when meetings must be conducted outside
of business hours. In instances where staff request reimbursement
for meals of this type, forward all requests to Curt Denham
for review and approval. Please attach a brief statement explaining
the circumstances and why you could not conduct the meeting
during regular business hours. All exceptions will be reviewed
by Senior Vice President Darling.
Maximum entertainment
reimbursement rates are $26.00, $38.00, $64.00 and $17.00
per person for breakfast, lunch, dinner and light refreshment.
Amounts exceeding these rates require exceptional approval
by Senior Vice President Darling. You must provide an explanation
of the need to exceed the maximum allowable rates at the time
a request for reimbursement is submitted.
(Please also refer to email from
Senior Vice President Darling dated 7/22/99; refer also to
letter from Vice President Broome "Meals with Associates"
sent via email from Director Denham 7/18/00.)
Revised Business and Finance Bulletin BUS 79-Entertainment
(See memo to Chancellors from Senior Vice President-Business and Finance dated April 19, 2005)
Reimbursement requests for total meal expenses $75 or more require
original itemized receipts. Non-itemized credit card slips
alone are not acceptable.
Policy
regarding welcome and farewell gatherings
According to University policy, University Affairs's entertainment budget
should be used primarily for entertainment that extends hospitality
to external persons or entities. University policy states
that payment or reimbursement is not permitted for the following
types of occasions: employee birthdays, weddings, anniversaries,
employee welcome and farewell gatherings (other than retirement),
Secretary's Day, etc. Senior Vice President Darling may,
however, grant an exception to the policy, specifically related
to welcoming new employees, when there is a business need
to welcome an individual in a more formal introductory setting.
Under these circumstances, the gathering will enable the individual
to meet colleagues outside of the department in order to quickly
develop key working relationships. If you are requesting this
exception, please do so through Curt Denham.
Exception: The cost of meals or light refreshments for gatherings to honor a departing employee who is retiring or who is separating from University employment after at least 5 years of service.
Senior Vice President Darling does not support the use of
funding for entertainment of internal UC staff meetings, unless
the meals/expenses are a necessary and integral part of the
business meeting. If a staff meeting is held at which meals/expenses
are an integral part of the business meeting, new staff may
be formally welcomed or departing staff may be acknowledged
during the meeting. The occasion must serve a clear University
business purpose. You are encouraged to formally welcome
new staff to University Affairs during the quarterly all-University Affairs meetings. If
you choose to acknowledge staff outside of this gathering
or other appropriate business forums, please plan to support
the entertainment expenses with non-University funding.
For additional information on the University's
policies on Entertainment, please refer to http://www.ucop.edu/ucophome/policies/bfb/bus79.html
Travel
All airfares should be booked through UCLA Travel using the
state negotiated rates whenever possible. It should be noted
that you may find fares that are less than the state rates,
however, they will generally be restrictive and non-changeable.
It may, however, be to your benefit to use the more favorable
rate if you are certain there will be no changes to your itinerary.
The maximum total reimbursement for meals
and incidentals while on travel status is $64.00 per day.
Private automobile mileage reimbursement
rates are currently 48.5 cents per mile. (effective 1/2/07)
If a rental care is needed, UCLA has preferred
agreements with Alamo Rent-A-Car, which provides some of the
lowest rates in the industry, and with National Rent-A-Car.
Please refer to the UCLA
Travel website for additional information or UCOP's Business
and Finance Bulletin on Travel
Policy.
UCOP Travel Desk and UCLA Travel Center
Updates
Calling into the UCOP Travel Desk:
- In the event the agents are busy when
you call, you will be placed on hold for the next available
agent. In one minute, you will be given the opportunity
to continue to hold or leave a voice message for the agents.
If one of the agents becomes available in that one minute,
the call will be routed to them. Please note there is a
special option for travelers who are participating in the
Special Research Group Program meetings. This option is
only for the SRP travelers.
- If, on the other hand, the two UCOP
agents are not available within the second time frame "after
you continued to hold", then the call will automatically
roll over to the UCLA Travel Desk. The first available agent
will receive the call, there is a "caller id"
feature informing the agent that the call is from UCOP.
If no agent is available there, the call will be routed
to the front desk, where you will be able to leave a message
with a "live" person or a voice mail message.
At this time, you can leave a message for the UCOP Travel
agents, and it will be forwarded to them.
- The UCLA Travel Desk agents do not have
the ability to transfer the call back to the UCOP agents,
as it is different phone systems. If you really need to
get in touch with the UCOP agents, it is best to leave a
voice message at the first prompt. Better still is to send
an email to either agent and ask them to call you as you
have had difficulty reaching them.
Sending Emails
Email Address:
gkurahas@finance.ucla.edu
Phone # 800 235-8252
The email address travel@finance.ucla.edu,
is routed to the UCLA Travel Desk, and will be routed to the
UCOP agents, if requested. So it is best to use their direct
email to contact them.
- Under most circumstances, e-mail is
the preferred method to request ticket reservations as it
gives specific instructions to the agents and it frees up
the phone lines for emergencies.
Receipt of PAC Order #
- Every attempt should be made to provide
a PAC order to the agents by 3 pm in order to have
the ticket issued that day. Providing the PAC order later
in the day can result in the ticket not being issued. The
PAC order has to be validated by Travel Accounting (TA)
before the ticket will be issued; in addition to the four
items mentioned in the email confirmation below, TA makes
sure the correct vendor # was used for the type of airfare.
- If PAC order numbers are sent to the
agents after 4 pm, this may result in the agents having
to work overtime. Your help in requesting ticket reservations
and providing the PAC order number in a timely matter to
the agents is appreciated. It is understood that last minute
travel plans do happen, however, these late transactions
should be the exception, not the norm.
UCLA Travel Center
The agents at the UCLA Travel Desk are
able to assist UCOP travelers as they have access to User
Profiles, and they are able to issue State fares in addition
to published fares. If you call in the first time to make
a reservation, and the UCOP agents are not available, the
UCLA Travel Desk can make the reservation and complete the
ticketing process for you.
The confirmation email you receive from
the UCLA Travel Center is similar to that sent out by the
UCOP agents, but it does contain more information than you
are used to seeing. It will state what type of fare it is
(State or Published) and request a PAC order. You will then
receive an email with your itinerary once the ticket is issued.
This is the same process now in place with the UCOP agents.
Sample of confirmation email sent from
the UCLA Travel Desk:
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"Thank you for booking with
The UCLA Travel Center.
This is only a reservation confirmation.
Please review your itinerary prior to your purchase.
Should you find any errors, please contact me as soon
as possible.
Once again, this is only a reservation
confirmation. Prices may change at any time and are
not guaranteed until ticketed.
In order for your ticket to be issued,
your PAC order MUST have the following information:
1. The passenger name,
2. The date of departure,
3. The departing city and the destination, and
4. The correct dollar amount including the service fee.
Of course the PAC order must be properly
posted as well. All these items must be correct, or
your ticket will not be issued
and your department will be responsible for any increase
in the airfare. You do not have to fax us your PAC order,
but we must receive the PAC order number before 3pm
on the day after the date of this email. "
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Please note, for UCOP, they have allowed
an extra hour to get them the PAC #. Please refer back to
Receipt of PAC Order # on Page 1 of this document.
Most of the above information is
not new. Should you have any concerns or questions, please
contact Belinda Borden or Karen Tomajan. Belinda is the manager
of the UCLA Travel Center and can be reached at (310)-206-6060
or email Bborden@finance.ucla.edu.
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