Managing Year to Year Reimbursement Rates for Distance Expenses

Transcription

1 Managing Year to Year Reimbursement Rates for Distance Expenses Introduction... 1 Single vs. Multiple Reimbursement Rates... 1 Single Reimbursement Rate... 1 Multiple Reimbursement Rates... 2 Start of the Year Rate Changes... 2 Configuration and Setup of the Multiple Rate for New Year Rate Change... 2 Creating this year and next year Rates... 4 On Going Maintenance Expense Entry (Submitter) Introduction This document is for customers who will introduce a new reimbursement rate in January of 2013 yet still need to reimburse mile/kilometer driving expenses for 2012 using a different rate. This document also assumes you are currently using a single reimbursement rate. If you are already using a multiple reimbursement rate configuration, these instructions may still apply, just be sure you don t delete or edit rates intended for other purposes than described in this introduction s opening statement. Single vs. Multiple Reimbursement Rates The rate represents the amount per mile/kilometer that the submitter will receive for the expense. The final amount is calculated by multiplying the rate by the total distance driven. Only one choice can be made, use a single rate or use multiple rates for reimbursement. Single Reimbursement Rate The most common application is the single rate where everyone in the company is reimbursed the same amount per distance traveled with no exceptions. The only issue with this solution is when the reimbursement rate changes from one year to the next. When this happens, the rate needs to be changed but expenses could still be pending submission and need to use the old rate. This causes an overlap problem and typically requires the Accounting Review role to monitor expense dates closely and possibly rejecting reports so the submitter can change the rate to the old rate. Copyright ExpensAble

2 Multiple Reimbursement Rates A multiple rate configuration allows for employees to be reimbursed based on different rates depending on company policy. One example where multiple mileage rates works well is when the mileage rate changes from one year to the next. Another example would be where an employee gets reimbursed one rate if they drive their personal car but gets reimbursed a different rate if driving a company car. Additionally, other factors may impact the need to support multiple rates. Some employees may have negotiated a different rate during the hiring process or it could be possible that executives, sales and/or service representatives might all have rates that vary from each other. This document will focus specifically on the scenario where the rate is changing from one year to the next for all employees. Start of the Year Rate Changes Multiple rate configurations should be used when driving expenses from December are submitted in January after the rate has been changed to a new value. Those expenses from December should use the rate for last year. But driving expenses incurred after January 1 st should use the new rate. A common way to solve this is to create two rates; one for the current year and one for next year. Each is given an effective start and end date. Effective dates are based on the date of the expense so last years rate expires December 31 and this years rate is active January 1. Now when the submitter enters a distance expense in January that is dated December, the last years rate will be presented for their use and this years rate will not be displayed. Configuration and Setup of the Multiple Rate for New Year Rate Change The Options tab offers the Administrator the option to keep things very simple or more flexible by supporting multiple distance rates. Selecting the multiple rates option will display more tabs supporting the ability to create multiple rates and groups. The rates can then be assigned to groups and groups assigned to users for easy administration. Changes to options require a New Configuration be created and committed. To select the desired option follow these instructions: Copyright ExpensAble

3 1. Login to ExpensAble Corporate as an Administrator. (1) Click Administration (2) Click Configuration and (3) Click New. 2. When the new configuration is created (note the Pending tab), click Expense Report Settings link. 3. Click Distance link. Copyright ExpensAble

4 4. The Options tab is displayed. Select the multiple rate option, you are prompted to save the selection. Click Save. 5. Once saved, additional tabs appear to create the rates and groups. Creating this year and next year Rates The Distance Rates tab is where the rate for the current year and the rate for the next year will be created. Because effective dates can be entered, we can control their use by submitters when creating their expense reports. In the example below we will create a reimbursement rate that will be effective throughout the year 2012 and a new rate to be used throughout Copyright ExpensAble

5 1. Click the Distance rates tab. There may be some default rates displayed. As long as their status is Inactive, they are not being used. You can either leave them, deleted them or edit them (vs. creating New below) 2. In this example, we will setup a rate that will be effective for all of To create a new rate, click New. The new rate dialog appears. Each option is described in below. Copyright ExpensAble

6 3. Rate Name: Enter a user-friendly name that clearly indicates its purpose. In our example will use the year the rate is effective as the name. Rate: Enter the amount to be reimbursed per mile/km here. The Allow User to Override Rate checkbox determines if users can enter a different rate during expense entry overriding the default rate. Leave unchecked if users should only use the rate entered. Copyright ExpensAble

7 4. This is the Effective Dates section of the rate. The Rate never expires checkbox allows you to immediately activate the rate and keep it available to users forever. If selected, the Begin, End fields are disabled. Begin: Click into the field and using the calendar, select January 1, End: Select December 31, Status: Select whether the rate is Active or Inactive (good for temporarily disabling or enabling a rate without changing dates) 5. The Send an reminder checkbox allows you to request an be sent reminding you that this rate will expire soon so you can take action. To enable, select the checkbox and enter the number of days prior to expiration you want to receive the reminder. Note: will be sent to all users assigned the Administrator role that have an address entered in the Employee profile. Note: Effective dates of rates are based on the date of the expense. So when we entered the effective dates of January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2012, if the submitter enters a distance expense with a date before or after these dates, this rate will not appear and cannot be selected. If the date of the expense falls within the effective range, this rate will be displayed and is selectable. Copyright ExpensAble

8 6. Distance Groups are a means to filter rates. Rates are assigned to groups and then groups are assigned to users. When a user creates a driving distance expense (e.g. miles/kilometers), only the rates assigned to their group are displayed for selection. 7. In our example, we want all users to see both the 2012 and 2013 rates during the end of the year switch over, we will keep our rates assigned to the default All group. Click Save. Hint: if you only have a couple of rates and don t need the filtering groups allow, just create rates. By default all rates are assigned to the All group of which all users are members of by default so they will be able to select the rates without any further effort here. Copyright ExpensAble

9 8. The new rate appears in the Distance rates list. 9. Now we create the new rate for the year Click New and enter the Name and Rate. For the effective dates enter January 1, 2013 and December 31, 2013 as shown. Click Save. 10. Important: Remember that this change will not take place until the Configuration is committed. Copyright ExpensAble

10 On Going Maintenance In our example, we have two rates setup to be available only during their effective years; 2012 and If the rate for 2013 remains the rate for the next year simply edit the rate s name to the next year and change the effective End date (or mark it as not expiring). Another option is to create a new rate for the next year as we did here. Rates can only be edited by creating a new configuration first (step 1 above) and changes will only take place once the configuration changes are committed (step 10 above). Expense Entry (Submitter) Once the two yearly rates are created and the Configuration committed, what is displayed to the submitter during expense entry is driven by the date of the expense. Using the exact example above, note the difference is selections offered below based on the date of the distance expense: Date of Expense: November 27, Only the 2012 rate should be selectable (assuming the user is not assigned to other rates via Distance Groups): Date of Expense: January 15, Only the 2013 rate should be selectable (assuming the user is not assigned to other rates via Distance Groups) Copyright ExpensAble