For every financial transaction, the initiator must substantiate a business purpose that justifies -
- How does this expense benefit or support Yale University business and Yale’s Mission?
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Your business explanation much included the following information: Who, What, Where, Why and When?
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If your business purpose involves travel, the full travel dates for your trip are required.
The majority of your expenses will be categorized as one of these four common business purposes:
- Research, including field work
- Seminars & conferences
- Instruction & Teaching
- Department & University events
Business Explanation & Details
For standard expenses, minimal detail is required. Many of these details are often included on receipts. For each transaction, the expense preparer needs to include the Who, What, When, Why, and Where. If an expense is for a general business purpose, such as “calendar software for scheduling with students,” it is not necessary to provide additional details to the expense preparer, because the overall business purpose/explanation (Teaching & Instruction) is obvious. However, if you purchase a specific type of software or program for a specific course, in this case, a little more detail should be included in the business explanation.
For general expenses related to your research, please leave out very specific details about your research. The overall, general research subject or research project title is sufficient. You do not need to include titles of your articles or book projects, or other specific research project details, although it is helpful at times to include the title of the research project.
For expenses that are not standard, or in which the university business purpose is not as obvious to the preparer, err on the side of more detail than less in your explanation. Any details provided that are not needed in the expense report will be omitted from the WorkDay report.
For expenses related to specific events, including departmental events, course-related events like guest lectures or workshops, and travel for business purposes (conferences, research), more detail is needed in order to process your expenses. Titles and specific dates of events are required.