FINANCE TRAINING

A Reimbursement is a business expense that returns personal funds used for an approved business purpose (i.e., food or balloons for an event). This is the most common student leadership business expense. After you have purchased the items you need for your event with your personal money, you will need to submit a "Request for Reimbursement" (RFR) Form. In this form, you will need to detail the "Business Expense" or description of what these funds were used for in detail, according to SPU Finance's Instructions for Request for Reimbursement. 

​

In order to successfully be reimbursed for a business expense you need/need to do the following from the purchase: 

1. Receipt

   1. DO NOT FORGET YOUR RECEIPT when making the purchase. Furthermore, do not lose that receipt. You will need to attach or send a photocopy of your receipt for a successful reimbursement. 

   2. If you forgot to separate the items you purchased for the event and the items you purchased for yourself, no worries! If these items are on the same receipt, highlight the items that you want reimbursed (items for the event) so we know which items you need to be paid back for.

2. Business Information

   1. You will need a record of the date you purchased the items, the business purpose, budget number and account codes (see below for a reference to those codes). 

3. Signatures

   1. The following people need to sign and date this form for it to be successfully reimbursed:

• Claimant: You (the person who needs to be reimbursed) bottom right corner on the line labeled "claimant".

• Claimant's supervisor: Your supervisor depends on what type of organization you are. 

• Clubs

• ASSP Officer of Finance - Tani Yoshioka (ASSP-Finance@spu.edu) 

• ASSP-Cabinet

• ASSP Officer of Finance - Tani Yoshioka (ASSP-Finance@spu.edu)

• Medias

• The budget manager for your media group.

• STORP

• Advisor - Kevin Deschler (deschlerk@spu.edu)

• Collegium/Commuter

• Advisor: Jalá Harper (harperj4@spu.edu)

• If you have any questions about who to reach out to feel free to email the ASSP Officer of Finance, Tani Yoshioka, ASSP-Finance@spu.edu. 

​

Return your Reimbursement form in a Timely Manner

1. Please complete and return the reimbursement form within the week you make your purchase. Forms will not be accepted 2 weeks from the purchase date. For clubs and ASSP-cabinet return the Reimbursement form, all receipts, and any approvals if necessary to the ASSP Officer of Finance (Tani Yoshioka). For all the Medias and OSIL programs (STORP, etc.) please give all completed forms, documents, receipts, and approvals to Advisor Kevin Deschler (deschlerk@spu.edu). 

​

Tips for the Reimbursement Form:

1. When in doubt, follow the instructions on the form itself. There is an example above and the template for the RFR form is on the forms page or you can email the ASSP Officer of Finance or OSIL Graduate Assistant for the templates.

2. Make sure you attach your receipts when you return the reimbursement (RFR) form to your advisor. 

3. When you fill out the reimbursement (RFR) form and are detailing your expenses, make sure you give a good description, including the date when you made the purchase, what you bought, and how many people it served. If you bought snacks or food, detail how many people the snacks were intended for. 

4. On the "Descriptions" column, do not put your entire description into one line, make sure it is legible. 

5. The excel sheet will calculate totals for you. Make sure that this total matches the total on your receipt(s). Please include the total with taxes included. 

6. If you are going to purchase personal products in the same trip as the supplies for your event - Complete the personal products on one transaction, and the items for your event on a separate transaction and separate receipt. 

   1. If you had accidently purchased personal and business items at the same time and it wound up being on the same receipt, make sure highlight and total the items meant for your organization's business purpose. Please calculate the tax you paid as well and write the total (including tax) at the top of the receipt.

 

How to calculate sales tax and find an accurate reimbursement amount

Washington's sales tax is 6.5 percent. So in order to be reimbursed for the total amount you spent for your business expense you have to factor tax in. Whenever you are trying to figure out how much you paid in taxes multiply the tax percent by 100 to get a decimal (6.5% x 100 = 0.065). Then you multiply the percent decimal (0.065) times the total amount of your items. The number you get is the amount of taxes you paid on those items.

 

To get the total amount of your business expense (including tax) just add the tax to the sum of all the business items on that receipt (0.065 x sum of all the business items = actual total) so you can get the total amount you spent including taxes. This is the actual amount you paid and therefore the actual amount you should be reimbursed. 

​

An example is if I totaled all my business expenses on my receipt from Fred Myer (food for my club meeting) and it added up to $20.00, I would then multiply 20 times 0.065 (6.5% Washington sales tax), and which would show me I paid $1.30 in taxes on top of the $20.00 for the food. I would then add the sales tax ($1.30) to my business expenses ($20.00) and get the total amount I spent at Fred Myer ($21.30) after taxes.