Accounts Payable & Travel Accounting Update & Important Reminders for April

Sent to the AFS-Update mailing list on April 4

CTS/Corp Card Renewal Process and Mailing New Cards

Many CTS and Corporate Cards are scheduled to expire this year. If your existing card has been activated, the account is “open” (not suspended or closed), and is scheduled to expire this year, the bank will automatically renew your card and send you a new card the month before the card is scheduled to expire.

  • Corporate Card Holders, the new card will be mailed directly to you at the address on file with the bank. 
  • CTS Card Holders will receive a letter with their new CTS account information. The bank will mail each letter directly to the Accounting Office. Additional information on how to receive the new CTS letter from the Accounting Office will be communicated to cardholders closer to the card expiration date.

If your card is suspended or closed one month before the expiration date, the account will not be renewed by the bank.

CTS Cards: Important Reminders and Tips

Do you have a CTS Card? Please read the following reminders and tips for working with your card. More information about CTS cards can be found on our website.

CTS Card Email Notifications

CTS Cardholder receive an email from KFS (travel-accounting@uci.edu) whenever purchases are made with the CTS account and the charges are in KFS ready to be reconciled. Please be sure to read your messages to be aware of possible fraudulent activity on your card. Here is an example of the email cardholders receive:

x

CTS Reconciliation – Prevent Credit Card Fraud!

Fraudulent credit card activity is on the rise. If you believe there has been fraudulent activity on your CTS account, please contact travel-accounting@uci.edu immediately so we can review and ensure the fraudulent activity is reported to the bank. The bank requires all fraudulent activity to be reported within 60 days, or the department may not be able to recover the stolen funds.

Please keep in mind all CTS transactions must be reconciled within 45 days to be compliant with University policy. As long as CTS expenses are reconciled within the 45-day deadline, we will be compliant with the bank’s fraud reporting deadlines.

Tracking CTS Expenses

Anyone who has the KSAMS role of “TEM Organization Profile Arranger” has the ability to view the TEM Arranger Dashboard. This dashboard is an effective tool for departments to track CTS and Corporate Card expenses, and ensure expenses are reconciled within the 45-day deadline set by UC policy. Please see our website for additional information on the TEM Arranger Dashboard and how to access it.

StudentUniverse: New Group Travel Agency for Students

The UC Central Travel Office recently announced an agreement with a new travel agency to specifically work with student travel and group travel. This travel agency replaces STA Travel, which went out of business in 2020. 

StudentUniverse is the university’s new travel agency specifically for student travel and group travel.  StudentUniverse has developed a website for UCI students and staff to use to book travel. This website is a great resource for students in particular (as students do not have access to ConnexUC) with great deals for traveling students – and not just for airfare, but train travel, lodging, and more.

To learn more about StudentUniverse, visit their website: https://www.studentuniverse.com/travel-services/ucop/affiliate/Ucirvine. If you have questions, please contact StudentUniverse by email or phone.

When booking university business travel through StudentUniverse, be sure to register your trip with UC Away, travel risk and insurance. If you have questions on the insurance, please contact Risk Services at 949-824-6510 or visit their website.

Honoraria Offered to Individuals (Non-UC Employees)

An honorarium is a one-time payment granted in recognition of a special service or distinguished achievement for which custom or propriety forbids any fixed business price to be set. Honoraria are paid to persons of scholarly or professional standing in conjunction with an academic activity at UCI. Required documentation for invited non-university employees includes:

  • Written or email invitation from UCI to the invited guest (individual) with the offered honorarium dollar amount in advance of the event date.
  • If there is a name change from the invited guest’s name to another entity, the required documentation is: advance written notice or email to change the invited guest name to another name, before the event. If there is no written notification, or request is made after the event, the original individual name will be paid the honorarium.

If a company is providing a service or if there is an invoice, arrange payment on a P.O. for the service provided. For more information, see the Honoria page on UCI Policies and Procedures website.

DV Tips: Don’t Forget the Invoice Number

For accurate reporting purposes and to prevent duplicate reimbursements, it is a requirement to enter at least one Accounting Line item per invoice or receipt in the “Accounting Lines” tab of each Disbursement Voucher (DV) eDoc. There cannot be multiple receipts combined in one Accounting Line item on a DV eDoc.

For example, if you need to reimburse four receipts on one DV, then there must be at least four separate accounting lines entered on the DV eDoc, one line per receipt. The invoice number or receipt number must also be entered in the “Invoice Number” field on the respective Accounting line item.

When the invoice or receipt number is entered in this field, the system will perform a check to ensure the same receipt/invoice has not already been reimbursed to the payee. A warning message will appear if this receipt/invoice has already been reimbursed, and the previous reimbursement doc number will be displayed. 

Foreign Per Diems for Meals & Lodging

A per diem is a daily allowance paid to travelers for meals, tips, incidental expenses and/or lodging to spend each day on business travel. Based on the UC Policy G-28 Travel Regulations, per diems are authorized in these situations:

  • All foreign travel
  • Travel within Alaska, Hawaii, and other United States possessions (Outside the continental United States)
  • Domestic travel assignments of 30 days or more

Travelers may be reimbursed up to the maximum per diem amount. The payment of per diem does not require supporting receipts unless this is a department policy or if the funding source requires receipts. The department may set the per diem at a lower rate or allow the maximum amount based on the budget or funding source. The department may also decide that the traveler may be reimbursed on ‘Actual Expenses’ based on the budget or the funding source requirements.

Required Documentation for Foreign Per Diems – include a copy of the foreign per diem sheet/s. If the traveler was in the foreign country multiple months, include copies of the foreign per diem sheets for each applicable month, as the per diem rates may change month to month.

Find Up-to-Date Forms on the AP Website

Find up-to-date forms required for all kinds of Accounts Payable transactions on our website. Using the most current forms will ensure AP has all the information needed to review and approve payments.

For foreign bank wire transfers, please make sure to use the updated International Wire Transfer Request Form. All of our forms can be found on our website here:  AP Home Page

Important Reminders for Invoices

  • Always send all invoices and payment inquiries to: accounts-payable@uci.edu.
  • All invoices under $10K will be processed and funds disbursed, per the net terms. Invoices over $10K will route to the Fiscal Officer for approval. Invoices over $100K will route to the Fiscal Officer and Controller for approval prior to funds being disbursed. Facilities Management and Design & Construction require a red stamp of approval, regardless of amounts, before the invoice will be processed.
  • When sending your invoice to accounts-payable@uci.edu please enter the vendor’s REMIT (Pay To) name in the subject line of the email to ensure faster processing. AP staff manage workloads alphabetically by vendor name.
  • Purchase Orders should NOT be closed until the final product/service is received. Invoice payments are delayed when AP has to contact departments to open POs to process the invoice.
  • Sub-award Purchase Orders (PO) must have two lines.
    • Line 1 - for $25,000, which is UCI’s federal negotiated rate.
    • Line 2 - for the remaining amount.
  • Invoices for product or services provided prior to June 30, 2023, must have a valid purchase order. The purchase order must be:
    • Open
    • NOT Expired
    • Approved
    • Have available funds (enough funds to pay all open invoices through June 30, 2023).
    • Amended and FINAL prior to June 1, 2023, for High Value/High Risk, Contract or Recurring Payment POs.

Vendor Onboarding: Don’t Delay Onboarding Payees

Payees must be onboarded through PaymentWorks to be paid on a Purchase Order (PO), Disbursement Voucher (DV) or TEM (Travel, Entertainment, Move/Relocation) document. Please submit onboarding requests now to avoid delays of payments or risk missing fiscal year-end close deadlines.

Accounts Payable Remote Business Hours

Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. – Remote