Review Expense Reports
Expense Reporting does not begin in Workday until July 1, 2026. This guide outlines the review and approval process for managers and budget approvers at Macalester. Timely approvals are crucial for ensuring employees are reimbursed promptly and that organizational spending is managed effectively.
Overview
An expense report can include a combination of Pcard expenses and requests for out-of-pocket expenses the employee has incurred. Your approval certifies that the expenses are legitimate, compliant with Macalester’s policies, and accurately recorded.
While Workday facilitates the reconciliation of Pcard transactions, all usage is subject to Macalester policies. An itemized receipt is required for all Pcard expenses. Transactions made with the Pcard will be automatically loaded into your Workday profile. You must reconcile these transactions on an expense report in a timely manner to ensure they are correctly categorized and attributed to the proper Cost Center, Grant, Project, etc.
Review an Expense Report
After an employee submits an expense report, the report will route to the relevant budget manager(s) based on the selected Worktags. If there are expenses across multiple budgets, you only need to review the expenses for your budgets. When an expense report is submitted that includes a budget you have approval rights on, you will be sent a notification and the task will appear in My Tasks for your review.
- Navigate to My Tasks in Workday. You may also see the task on your Workday homepage.
- Select the Expense Report task for review. The title will be “Expense Report for [Employee Name]”.
- Select on each expense line item to carefully review its details. REMINDER: you only need to review the line items that apply to budgets for which you approve.
- Worktags: Confirm the correct Cost Center and any other relevant worktags, such as Grant or Program, are assigned.
- Receipts: Ensure a legible receipt is attached for each required expense. The receipt amount should match the expense line amount.
- Spend Authorization: If the report is associated with an approved spend authorization (e.g. travel advance), review the expenses to confirm they align with the intended purpose of the authorization.
- After a thorough review, take one of the following actions:
- Approve: You certify the expenses are valid, and any out-of-pocket expenses can be processed for payment. The report moves to any other applicable managers for approval before being finalized by Business Services.
- Send Back: The report is returned to the employee. You must provide a reason, which the employee will see. They can then edit and resubmit the report for your approval again.
- Deny: The expense report is rejected and will not be processed further. Employee must restart the process.
Helpful Report
Find My Team’s Expense Reports: This is the primary report for viewing all expense reports associated with your direct reports, including their status (Draft, In Progress, Approved). This is only used for viewing expense reports; no approval actions can be completed. All expense report actions must be done from your My Tasks.
To run the report:
- Type Find My Team’s Expense Reports into the Workday search bar.
- Select the report from the search results.
- Use the available filter prompts, such as by employee or status, to refine your view.
- Select OK.
- Click on the expense report in the first column to open a detailed view.
What Happens Next
Approval Process
- After submission, the expense report is automatically routed for approval. It is sent to the designated manager(s) for the Worktag(s) used on the report.
- Approvers will receive a notification in their My Tasks list.
- Approvers have the option to Approve, Send Back for correction, or Deny the expense report.
Payment
Once the expense report is fully approved, any out-of-pocket expenses will be sent to Business Services for reimbursement via direct deposit. Payment will be issued during the next weekly check run.
Review Spend Authorization
Spend Authorizations are often used for travel advances. Approving a spend authorization confirms that you are aware of and support the planned expenditures. Once approved, the travel advance will be paid out to the employee during the next weekly check run. After travel, they will submit an expense report to detail how the advance was spent and return any unused funds.
- Navigate to My Tasks in Workday. You may also see the task on your Workday homepage.
- Locate and select the Spend Authorization task from your list of actions. The title will typically be “Spend Authorization Request for [Employee Name]”.
- Review the spend authorization details, including the Description and Total Amount, and any itemized lines for anticipated expenses.
- Verify that the request aligns with policy and expected activities.
- Take one of the following actions at the bottom of the screen:
- Approve: The request is approved and will be processed for payment by Accounts Payable during the next weekly check run.
- Send Back: The request is returned to the employee with your comments, allowing them to make corrections and resubmit. This is the appropriate action if the request needs clarification or minor changes.
- Deny: The request is rejected. This action should be used when the expenditure is not authorized.
To reconcile a spend authorization, the employee will need to submit an associated expense report. Reviewing those expense reports follows the same instructions outlined in this guide with some additional considerations
- Purpose: Confirm the expenses align with the noted purpose in the spend authorization.
- Final Expense Flag: If an employee checks the Final Expense Report for Spend Authorization box, it indicates that this is the last expense report to be filed against that pre-authorization. This helps Macalester close out the spend authorization.
- Exceeding Authorization: Workday will flag expense reports where the total amount exceeds the pre-approved spend authorization. As the approver, you must review the discrepancy and use your judgment to approve or send back the report.