How to handle Concur/Amex credits

[SteveNewby]

interested in knowing how other Concur customers are utilizing Amex card program related to processing credits on expense reports, as we are experiencing credits flipping to debits when processed.

[Arntzie]

Hi:

Our practice is below.  After you review, let me know if you have further questions.  Ang

• Was the offsetting debit previously expensed? 
• Yes - Associate pulls the credit into the next expense report.  We have a rule in place which prevents the submission of an expense report if the net is a credit.
• No - Associate pulls the debit and credit into a report and submits.
• If the associate will not have debits to offset the total value of the credit:
  • Associate submits the credit and marks personal
  • My team requests a credit refund from Amex

This process was established because of the way our import is handled via our ERP.  We also have a process in place to identify cardholder's who have credit balance on their Amex account - possibly due the company along with an audit rule to review all credits marked personal. 

[Statti1978]

Our process is the same for first two bullets, However Arntzie, I have a question about he Final bullets, if the expense user will not have any charges to offset the credit, and you have them submit as personal, how do  you know to request as a refund for hte company? 

We request a refund from the credit card company for the credit amount (if the employee will not be incurring addtional expenses during the next 60 days).  Then we instruct the expense user once the refund is issue by credit card company for the credit amount a debit will appear in their Concur Expense and then they can pull the credit (from vendor) and debit (from credit card refund) into a report and submit as a zero expense.

[Arntzie]

A few things:

• We have an audit rule which stops any credits marked personal in the backoffice.  The associate is required to provide explanation of why the credit is marked personal.  Generally, based on this comment we can determine the action needed.
• We also pull reporting from our card provider to monitor all accounts with a credit balance.  We've built Cognos reporting to help determine how the credit balance came to be. 
• Associates are instructed to notify my team if the credit is due to the Company.
• Policy language instructs associates regarding personal use of the credit card.

Let me know if you have further qeustions.

[cpolifka1]

Arntizie,

We follow the same steps as you mentioned.

There is an exception to the rule, at times the employee uses the credit card for personal use by mistake. When this happens, they let us know this and I ask them to mark the expense as personal in Concur. 

We still pay AMEX for the transactions and the employee reimburses the company within a week of the date of occurance. Example the transaction is 8/28/2020, the employee let's us know.

For example Concur is submitted by the employee on 9/1 - we ask for the reimbursement the day the employee informs us (Example: transaction date 8/28/2020 - employee reimburse company by Sept 9).

Additional, we make a screen shot of the specific transaction and send an email requesting the employee to reimburse the company either by check or cash. Also flag the email with a reminder if not received in a week. Once the money is reimbursed, this goes to Petty Cash and entry is made in AP.

This ensures the company is reimbursed promptly within the timeframe given to the employee.

We have a policy also regarding the credit card not for personal use, but there are exceptions when the employee uses it by mistake at times as we are human and it happens.

I hope you find this helpfull.

Christine Polifka

[jemchale]

I fall into the first category. I submitted the charge already through a previous expense report. I now have a credit back from the vendor for the charge. I can pull that credit into my next expense report but that won't be for another 2 months. Is that ok? If it needs to done sooner, do I submit the credit and mark as personal?

[KevinD]

@jemchale likely you can wait the two months. However, some companies do have rules in place that apply to transactions older than a certain number of days. You won't really know if your company has this rule until the two months go by and you try to submit. 

[Nancyagfa]

If the charge was business, then the credit is business and is documented that way.  If you don't have enough expenses to offset the credit, I would notice your mgr that you are holding the credit until your next report.  Then bring it in and comment which report the credit is for.

[jkilchen]

I also use an audit rule to prevent submission, if report has a negative total amount due to the company card.

If employee does not have enough debits to offset the credit, I request a refund check from the card company.  Once the check is received, I then delete (hide) the credit from the system.