expense claim

[sheena11]

Dear Team,

For the upcoming travel, hotel accommodation has been 100% paid from my credit card and an expense is open in SAPConcur which rings an alert every week to claim that open. When i tried to do that, i got an alert mentioning, you cannot claim future dates expenses.

Is it ok, if i submit this claim post the trip and if not what is the other way ? 

Thanks & BR, Sheena

[PoojaKumatkar]

Hi @sheena11 ,

Usually request module is used to take future dated travel pre-approval and Expense module is used to claim past dated expenses. Hence you are getting error for future dated expenses while creating expense report. It is Concur's standard audit rule. Therefore, it is expected to submit expense reports post travel. 

If this answers your query, then please mark solution as accepted.

[sheena11]

thanks @PoojaKumatkar  for the quick response. However, if i wait to submit the claim post my travel, are you sure that there are no escalations  which will be triggered to my manager mentioning you have an open claim which you have not claimed for >30days ? 

[PoojaKumatkar]

Hi @sheena11 ,

As per my understanding you are talking about unsubmitted credit card transactions email reminders and in your case those transactions are future dated if my understanding is correct. Can you please confirm transactions are created for which date?

Such reminders are configured in system just to remind end users to timely submit their expenses. Now it totally depends on how your system is configurated. 

Ex. if you have not submitted your expenses X number of day then system will try triggering email reminders. Ex. 30 days. From 31st day user will start receiving email reminders. 

Here, in your case two things are overlapping, credit card transactions are created for future dates and expenses are restricted from submission for future dates.

Option 1: If future date alert message is just a yellow warning message, then you can still submit your expenses as system will not restrict you.

Option 2: But if you are getting red alert message (restrict submission) then you have to wait until credit card transaction date gets pass or can submit post trip as there will be no choice left.

Regarding notification to the manager, It is just a one of the functionality to mark in email reminders to keep them inform. Even if they reach out to you then, you can tell them due to future date restriction you are not able to submit your report.  

Or 

You can also reach out them now and take their suggestion what to do in this scenario. 

[AmandaFS]

Hi Pooja,

Can you advise how to change the future dated warning from a hard stop to a yellow warning please. We have increasingly more and more instances where our travellers book and pay for their accommodation in advance to appreciate the best rates. Many thanks Amanda

[PoojaKumatkar]

Hi @AmandaFS ,

Assuming you are asking about Expense module rule:

Role Required - Expense Configuration Administrator (restricted/unrestricted)

Steps:

1. Go to Audit Rules section and search for future dated audit rule.

2. Open audit rule, click next >> next >> next (page 3 exceptions), Click Modify >> Replace exception level from 99 to 1 >> click on save >> Done

Any exception level between 1 to 98 means warning.

Exception level 99 means hard stop.

 If this answers your query, then please mark solution as accepted.

[AmandaFS]

Many thanks that worked perfectly

[GrantC]

One thing to be careful of here. Many financial systems do not allow future dated expenses to be entered, which is the most common reason this rule is used. By changing this rule, you are potentially allowing a future dated expenses to get passed into the SAE, which  could break your company's financial integrations. 

I suggest checking with whomever manages the data flow from Concur to your financial systems before making this change.

Thanks,

[AmandaFS]

Hi @GrantC Many thanks for your advice. We actually have a Finance audit stage of review which is completed before any expense enters a DOA flow. My team conduct this review and so will pick up any expense that is not fully receipted ie already paid. Our conditional audit requires every expense type to have a relevant receipt. So this will reduce the risk of any future dated claims that have not been actually paid in advance. KR Amanda 

[KevinD]

@AmandaFS adding on to @GrantC 's response, allowing future dated expenses to go through also opens up the risk of fraud. Employees could submit expenses for several months in the future without ever having incurred the expense. You are also open to some potential financial loss. Let's say Employee A submits mobile phone expenses for the remainder of the year. Then a month later, they leave the company. It's a bit of an extreme example, but I think it illustrates my point. 🙂

[AmandaFS]

Hi @KevinD our conditional auditing does not allow for any expense without a valid receipt, in addition to this our system has a Finance audit review prior to entering the DOA flow, so my team will pick up any expenses that are not fully paid. On an employee leaving the business we conduct a full cost report, to pick up any professional fees, for final salary reduction, so any future dated expenses can be included in this. Many thanks for your advice. KR Amanda

[KevinD]

@sheena11 I looked at your report. It is odd that the hotel charged you fully for a stay you haven't even completed yet. Due to the future dated expenses rule, you will need to wait until your stay is complete so that the future dated message goes away. 

I don't believe your manager will receive any notice about you having an unsubmitted claim. Also, managers only receive notices for credit card transactions of their employees that are over 42 days old. Since the hotel charged you on December 3, it will probably age past 42 days before you complete your trip. I would suggest letting your manager know that they will receive a notice.

Also, I would speak with your manager about what the company policy is when a hotel charges you for the complete stay at the time of booking. You don't want to wait too long to submit, but since Hotel expenses require itemization and you cannot put future dates, how do you submit this in a timely manner.