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Create Expense Report

The Expense Report process in Workday is used to reimburse employees for out-of-pocket (OOP) business expenses and to reconcile college-issued purchasing card (Pcard) transactions. This guide explains how to create an expense report.

Overview

An expense report can include a combination of items:

  • Out-of-Pocket Expenses (OOPs): Personal funds spent on business-related costs that require reimbursement.
  • Pcard (Corporate Card) Transactions: Business expenses charged to a college-issued purchasing card. These transactions are loaded into Workday and must be reconciled and assigned to the correct Worktags on an expense report.
  • Personal Pcard (Corporate Card) Transactions: Charges made with a college-issued purchasing card that are not valid work expenses and must be repaid to Macalester.
  • Mileage: Reimbursement for the use of a personal vehicle for business travel.

Pcard Rules and Policies

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.

Creating Expense Reports on Behalf of Others

All delegation roles that were in place in Wells Fargo for employees to reconcile Pcards on behalf of another cardholder have now been transferred to Workday. If you require any changes to your Pcard delegations, please contact [email protected].

Before Starting this Task

Before creating an expense report, have the following information available:

  • Itemized receipts for all expenses.
  • A description for all expenses.
  • The dates on which the expenses were incurred.
  • Any relevant Worktags, such as a Grant or Project, that should be charged.

Mobile Considerations: Capturing receipts is easier on mobile, but for tasks like splitting expense lines and adjusting Worktags most people find it easier to use a desktop computer.

When to Split Expense Reports: To streamline the approval process, it is preferred to use one expense report per set of Worktags (aka budget). However, we recognize this isn’t always feasible—especially when splitting a single credit card transaction across multiple Worktags—so multi-Worktag reports will still be processed.

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Create an Expense Report

These steps are best performed on a desktop or laptop for a complete view of all fields. Video tutorials can be found at the end of the written tutorial.

  1. Using the navigation sidebar on the left side of the Workday, hover over the Employee tab and select the Expenses Hub. 
  2. Select Create Expense Report, and complete the initial expense report form, also called the expense report header.
    • Leave the Expense Report Date as the current date.
    • The Company and Company on Expense Line should default to Macalester.
    • The Worktags are defaulted to your job position’s budget. Adjust them as desired.
      • The Worktags used here will be defaulted to all expense lines added to the report, but they can be changed on individual expense lines if needed.
      • Important: As much as possible, use a single set of Worktags for all of the transactions on a given expense report. For example, submit a separate expense report for departmental purchases, and a separate expense report for your grant purchases. A single Pcard transaction cannot be split between two separate expense reports, so you’ll need to do that on a single expense report.
    • Under Credit Card Transactions, select the Pcard transactions you want to include on the expense report. You do not need to select any if this expense report is just for out-of-pocket expenses.
    • Select OK to create the expense report. You should now have three tabs:
      • The Header tab is what you just created by starting the expense report.
        • Note: The Reimbursement Payment Type defaults to your Payment Elections choice for USA Expenses. Reimbursements are only issued for expense reports when out of pocket expenses are added.
      • The Attachments tab should NOT be used. Receipts should be attached to the relevant expense on the expense line.
      • The Expense Lines tab is where you will reconcile Pcard transactions and add any out-of-pocket (OOP) expenses.
  3. Select the Expense Lines tab. Credit card transactions you selected in step 2 will be displayed here. This is where you will complete remaining reconciliation steps.
  4. To add additional Pcard transactions or OOPs, select Add and choose the appropriate type in the dropdown menu.
    • Credit Card Transactions – for adding additional Pcard transactions you forgot to include during the initial expense report creation.
    • New Expense – for adding a new OOP expense.
      • After clicking New Expense, UNcheck the ‘Paid with Corporate Card’ box on the line item below the drag and drop receipt area at the top.
      • OOP expenses can only be entered in USD. If an OOP expense is in another currency, you have two options to determine the USD amount:
        • Preferred Method: Check your bank statement – the converted USD amount should be shown.
        • Alternate Method: Use the VISA Exchange Rate Calculator to convert the amount to USD.
          • Change the transaction date to the date on your OOP receipt.
          • Set the bank fee to your bank’s rate. If you don’t know your bank’s rate, set it to 0% or use the preferred method above and check your bank statement to determine the exact amount you paid in USD.
  5. For each expense line, complete the following fields:
    • Attachment/Receipt: At the top of each expense line there is a section for dropping/selecting files. Attach the itemized receipt for the expense.
      • Receipts must be attached to the corresponding expense line, not the Attachments tab in the expense report.
      • Expenses of $50 or more must have an attached receipt, or else the Expense Report cannot be submitted.
        • Complete a Missing Receipt Declaration for missing receipts of $50 or more. A final PDF will be emailed once all signatures are collected. Attach this final PDF as the receipt on the expense in Workday.
          • If the purchase was made with Federal Grant Funds, a Missing Receipt Declaration must be submitted regardless of dollar amount.
        • For Mileage: use a screenshot of Google (or other) maps showing the route driven and total miles.
    • Expense Date & Total Amount: Will autofill for Pcard expenses. For OOPs, enter the date the expense was incurred and the total expense amount.
    • Expense Item: Select the item that best describes the purchase (e.g., Airfare, Office Supplies).
    • Expense Activity Date: This field is important because it drives Prepaid and Postpaid expense reporting. It will appear will appear after an expense item is chosen. Enter the date based on whether the expense was for Goods or Services.
      • For Goods, use the date the goods were received.
      • For Services, use the date the service occurred (for multi-day services, use the first date). I.e. for flights, use the departure date.
    • Quantity: This field will only appear for mileage expenses. Enter the number of miles driven. The system will apply the current rate and calculate the total.
    • Memo: Enter a description/reason for the expense.
    • Worktags: Ensure the correct Grant, Project, or other required Worktags are assigned to the expense line.
      • Fund, Cost Center, and Function are ALWAYS required.
        • See Worktag Overview for more detailed Worktag information
        • See Activity Codes for more detailed information on optional Activity Code usage and tracking
      • FTR Funds: In the Program field type in your last name and hit enter.
        • Your personal FTR worktag should show up in the list as “PGXXXXX FTR – Last Name, First Name”.
        • Select your FTR, and the other Worktags will autofill. No other changes are needed on the Worktags.
      • Splitting Between Multiple Worktags: To split a single expense between multiple Worktags (budgets), you must select an Expense Item first. To make a split easier, you should also select the Expense Activity Date beforehand.
        • After selecting an Expense Item, you will see the Itemization fields show up to the right under Item Details. Click Add.
        • A new window will pop up. Enter the relevant details for the first portion of the split.
          • Total Amount: amount for this portion of the split.
          • Memo: description for this portion of the split.
          • Company: leave as Macalester College.
          • Worktags: change to the Worktags that will be paying for this portion of the split.
          • Personal Expense: if you need to mark part of a Pcard purchase as Personal, click the checkbox.
        • Click Add to add another line to the split, and complete the same fields to reflect the other portion of the split. You can add as many splits as needed.
  6. Personal Charges: If you accidentally make a personal purchase on your Macalester Pcard, you must check the Personal box on the transaction towards the bottom (after Worktags section). The transaction description (memo) should also include a related note (e.g. “Personal charge”).
    • Important Note: Workday is not currently able to do ACH repayments for personal charges. Personal charges must be repaid to Macalester via check or cash. Place your repayment in an envelope with your name and the expense report date. Send via campus mail or drop off to 77 Mac, 302E.
    • If you forget to check the Personal box on a personal charge, notify the Pcard Administrator via email as soon as possible.
  7. Once all lines are complete and accurate, click Submit.
    • An error message will display if a required field is left empty or has a logic error. Select the error message to view the details, make the required changes, and select Submit again.

Video Tutorials

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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.
  • Once an expense report has been fully approved, it can no longer be changed.

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.

Edit, Change, or Cancel an Expense Report

If an expense report has not been submitted yet, it can be edited. Once an expense report has been submitted, it can be changed or canceled it if it has not been fully approved yet.

  1. Navigate to your Expenses Hub.
  2. Select the Expense Reports page. All of your expense reports will be listed here.
  3. Under the Actions column, an Actions button will appear if the expense report has not been fully approved yet.
    • Cancel: Select Actions, and select Cancel Expense Report.
      • A window will pop up for you to confirm cancellation. Click OK.
    • Edit: To edit an unsubmitted expense report, select Actions. Select Edit Expense Report.
      • The expense report will open. Make the desired edits, and submit the expense report.
    • Change: To edit a submitted expense report, select Actions. Select Change Expense Report. A window will pop up for you to confirm you want to make changes, which will stop the current approval process. Click OK.
      • Make the desired edits, and submit the expense report. The approval process will start over from the beginning.

Fixing Worktags on Approved Expense Reports

Once an expense report has been submitted and fully approved, it can no longer be changed by the employee. At this point in the process, you must complete a Journal Entry to correct invalid Worktags.

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