7130-3 Expense Report Policy

1. Policy statement

This policy is to ensure that any reimbursement for expenses for professional meetings or conferences, external representation & receptions linked directly to College business and incurred on behalf of the College meet all Ministry regulations. Any representation or reception expenses must preserve and promote the reputation of Vanier College.

2. Purpose

• To ensure that College employees and Board Members are reimbursed fairly for reasonable expenses incurred during the course of their duties.
• To ensure expenses submitted for travel, hospitality and external relations are incurred for the sake of sound management of public funds and in accordance with the rules enacted to ensure proper control of these expenses and avoid abuse.

3. Scope of application

The policy applies to all category of employment, full-time and part-time status, the Board of Directors and all employees on service contracts or invited guest speakers, at Vanier College. It also applies to the regular daytime, Continuing Education and all other ancillary services.

4. Definitions

Reception costs

Expenses incurred for holding an institutional event or organizing a reception or social gathering. All reception & hospitality expenses must be pre-approved by a designated officer representing the College.

Representation costs

Expenses incurred for the representation and reputation of the college by the chair of the Board of Directors (or representation of), the Director General, the Academic Dean or delegates.

Supporting documents

Documents attesting that an expense has been incurred and is related to the College's activities. An invoice and proof of payment is required to obtain reimbursement of an expense made by the employee. All supporting documents must be attached electronically when submitting the request. The requester must keep original proof of payment for at least one year.

Invoice

Proof of purchase of a goods or services. It mainly indicates the following: the date of the transaction, the amount, the nature of the expense and the name or business name of the issuer, the details of the taxes and the tip. This may be an official transport slip or an original meal and hotel bill used to substantiate the claim.

Proof of payment

A document certifying that the claimant has made the payment of the invoice. This may be a cash, debit or credit card transaction receipt.

5. Travel expenses

Transportation and mileage

The amount reimbursed will be calculated at $0.56 per kilometer for an individual employee.

The College encourages carpooling and will reimburse at $0.62 per kilometer for two or more employees. The names of the individuals travelling must be indicated when making the claim.

During regular working hours, the distance is calculated on a round-trip basis from the College (including external campuses) to the final destination or from the starting point, according to the nearest distance traveled. If travel is required for College business outside working hours, the distance is calculated on a round-trip basis from the starting point.

Gasoline bills are only refunded if the employee rented a vehicle for college-related activities.

For trips beyond the Metropolitan Montreal area, approval from the appropriate manager is required. Car rental, train, bus and air travel services should be considered when the cost is lower than the kilometer allowance to be claimed. It is the responsibility of the manager to review these costs.

The College does not reimburse for traffic and/or parking violation fines.

Accommodation fees

Travelers must use standard accommodations at reasonably priced midmarket hotels or choose a hotel receiving government rates by accessing the list offered through the Centre d’acquisitions gouvernementales (as of January 2020). When booking, the applicant must mention that Vanier College is part of the agreement with the Government of Quebec to obtain these preferential rates. The refund is made upon presentation of the accommodation invoice and proof of payment.

As an exception to the above, events organized by an outside organization, which has a pre-determined room price, will be refunded upon presentation of the accommodation invoice and proof of payment.

When booking hotels for an outside guest (e.g., guest speakers), the regulations mentioned above apply and the accommodations should be located nearest to the College to minimize transportation costs.

6. Domestic meal expenses

Meal (not including alcohol) expenses will be reimbursed upon presentation of supporting documents following the allowances below:

* If the duration of event/meeting is for the complete day, you are permitted to claim a maximum of 80$ regardless of your mealtime, no supporting receipts required.  

Tips are refunded if the amount is reasonable (15% max) in relation to the total bill and upon presentation of proof of payment (for example, the credit card receipt).

An indication of how many members/employees this expense covers is necessary when submitting the claim for more than just the claimant.

As an exception to the above, events organized by an outside organization, which has a pre-determined meal price, will be refunded upon presentation of the event invoice and proof of payment. If the event cost includes a meal, the allowance for the meal cannot be claimed.

7. International travel

Meal allowances are paid, for the duration of the stay abroad, in accordance with National Joint Council standards, Appendix D: It is not necessary to provide receipts when meal allowances are claimed. The meal allowance rates are inclusive of meal expenses, including taxes and tips.

Reasonable actual expenses with itemized receipts may be claimed in lieu of the meal allowances mentioned above (Appendix D).

Where travel is for a partial day, only meals that are applicable to that portion of the day are reimbursable.

A meal allowance shall not be claimed for a meal provided without charge to the employee. Some hotels offer breakfast included in the room price. Therefore, this allowance for that meal cannot be claimed.

Also, when a partner or any other external person invites you to dine, the employee is not entitled to claim the allowance for the meal in question. When we invite a partner to dine and pay the full bill, please refer to ‘Section 8 – External Representation’. An indication of how many members/employees this expense covers is necessary when submitting the claim.

The standards for international travel for rail and air travel can be increased to the next higher class after economy standards if the duration of travel is continuous for 10 hours. Continuous travel starts at the scheduled departure time and ends at the scheduled arrival time of destination.

8. External representation

These are costs incurred for the representation and reputation of the College by the Chairman of the Board of Directors (or his replacement), the Director General, the Academic Dean or delegates.

Representation expenses include meals, reasonable alcoholic beverages, registration or participation in various activities deemed reasonable. These types of expenses must be pre-approved by the Director General. An indication of how many members/employees this expense covers is necessary when submitting the claim.

9. Foreign currency

For any expense in a currency other than Canadian dollars, the employee must provide proof of the conversion rate by submitting receipts with the statement of credit card used for the expense. Failing this, the Bank of Canada rate on the transaction date will be used.

10. Authorizations

Employees who make an expenditure must follow the By-law 9, Concerning Procurement Contracts for Goods, Services and Construction. If the expense is outside the normal scope of the employee's responsibilities, the employee must receive authorization from his/her supervisor.

10.1 Approval, receipts and delays

All expense claims for all staff should be approved by their immediate supervisor.

The Director General’s expense report must be approved by the Chairman of the Board of Directors. Expenses incurred by a member of the Board of Directors in the course of business for which the member is duly mandated shall be approved by the Board Chairman. Such expenses incurred by the Chairman shall be submitted to the Director of Communications and Corporate Affairs for approval.

All expense reimbursement requests must be supported by receipts unless per diem is claimed – (see Section 6, Domestic Meal Expenses or meal allowance – see Section 7, International Travel). Receipts can be scanned and attached to the expense claim. A brief description of the expenditure must be made on the expense claim using the proper budget code.

All expense claims must be entered in the Clara/Omnivox expense report decentralized form and should be submitted within the 30 days after the expense has been incurred. For the period ending June 30th of each year, claims must be made by the second Friday of July at the latest, as per the college’s year end deadlines. Failure to comply with the deadlines, the expense will reflect the following financial year. The college reserves the right not to reimburse applicants without the required supporting documents.

11. Insurance

The college is not responsible for damages to staff member’s car incurred while using the car for college business. The owner must ensure that their automobile insurance is adequate.

Employees who rent a vehicle on behalf of the college for the purpose of their work must take out insurance with the rental company.

12. Non-refundable expenses

To be reimbursable, the travel, external representation and hospitality expense must be reasonable and for the purpose of their work and position.

Non-refundable expenses:

• Purchases for personal use
• Fines for contraventions of laws
• Theft, loss or damage to personal property, including the car
• Cost of additional travel insurance
• Charitable donations

13. Receptions and college events

Reception costs include expenses for meals, service, entertainment, decoration and set up materials for event, rental and any other expenses related to the activity that must be related to the activities of the college. This does not include employee personal celebrations.

The ‘Event Planning Form’ must be filled in by the organization representative, recommended by the Dean/Manager and approved by the Management Executive Committee.

13.1 Retirement

As per section 6, Meal Allowances, for the employee being honored only, will be reimbursed.

As the College acknowledges all retired personnel with a college-wide celebration, any personal gifts will be financed by employees’ contributions and not by the College.

14. Credit cards

14.1 Corporate credit cards

• Expenditures covered by corporate credit cards must be reconciled and sent to the Finance department within ten (10) days of the date of the monthly statement.
• Cardholders must have their monthly statements authorized by their immediate supervisor prior to forwarding the statement to the Finance department.
• Cardholders must retain the original receipts, for at least one year, for their own records and submit a copy with the monthly statement for authorization and processing.
• Cardholders must ensure that all purchases made using the College credit card respect the By-Law Number 9, Concerning Procurement Contracts for Goods, Services, and Construction.

14.2 Personal credit cards

Employees may choose to use their personal credit cards to pay their business expenses. The College is not liable for credit charges or late payment charges on an employee’s personal credit card.

14.3 Restriction

Use of a credit card, either personal or issued in the name of the College, is restricted to purchases exempted from the tendering provisions of By-law Number 9 on Procurement. Nevertheless, in exceptional circumstances when tendering provisions have been followed, a personal or a College credit card may be used when traditional purchasing procedures (requisition – purchase order – cheque/electronic transfer) are unacceptable to the supplier and no other supplier is qualified to supply the goods or services. 

15. Presentations and donations expenses

15.1 Present / gift

Personal gifts, for whatever occasion, will be financed by employees’ contributions and are not reimbursed by the College.

15.2 Donations

Any donation made by the college, which does not correspond to its primary mission, can be subject to a recovery by the Ministry, equal to the amount given:

• Free use of premises, the provision of resources or financial contributions to sports teams from a college, the foundation of a college are considered an integral part of the mission of a college;
• A donation to a non-profit charitable organization is not considered as an integral part of the mission of a college.

16. Advance of funds

• When necessary, a cash advance will be possible to an employee who requests one. Advances are obtained by completing a Cash Advance Request on the decentralized system. No additional advance or reimbursement of any kind shall be possible if settlement of a prior cash advance is outstanding.
• All cash advances must be settled by submitting an Expense Report Request using the decentralized system within 30 working days following the completion of the event. If an amount is to be returned to the college, a personal cheque in the correct amount, payable to Vanier College, must be received in the Finance department. 
• Purchases of materials, books, and other goods should not be charged using an Expense Report Request and should go through Purchasing, Bookstore, Print shop and Learning Commons. Such expenses if deemed inappropriate will not be reimbursed. 

17. Exception

the Director General may authorize a derogation from this policy, in which case he will have to explain the derogation in writing.

For a derogation concerning the Director General, the approval of the Chairman of the Board of Directors is required in writing.

For a derogation concerning the Chairman of the Board, the Director of Communications and Corporate Affairs is required in writing.

18. Application and revision of policy

The Director of Financial Services is responsible for the application and revision of this policy.