Best Practices for Grant-Funded Travel
Grant-Funded Travel Best Practices
In this module, OSP shares its top 10 best practices and common issues that arise with grant-funded travel expenses.
0:00
Thank you for participating in this training on grant funded travel best practices
presented by the Office of Sponsored Programs.
0:07
MSU provides many training resources around travel policies, allowable costs, and
the Chrome River system used to submit expense reports.
0:16
We won't try to duplicate those trainings here.
0:19
Rather, we'll be highlighting some areas we commonly see people tripping up on who
are traveling for grants.
0:25
Travel expenses are a common focus area for audits, so it's worth diving into some
of the common problems we see with these expenses.
0:32
Thanks for joining the session today.
0:35
Here's our agenda for today.
0:37
We'll do a quick review or a reminder of a few general travel guidelines for grant
funded travel.
0:43
And then we'll review what we'll call OS, PS, Top ten expense report gaps and mistakes.
0:51
Let's start with some general travel guidelines.
0:55
Pre-approvals are always required for any out of state travel and of course when there
is a mix of in state and out of state travel as well as any international travel.
1:06
This includes MSU students who are traveling on grants, and the pre-approval should
always be included when you are submitting an expense for each student traveling.
1:16
It's helpful and will likely speed up processing of your report if you use narrative
notes generously in your expense report.
1:25
We very rarely see people providing too much detail.
1:29
Some examples of where notes are needed when a personal car is used instead of a rental
or even a flight.
1:36
Valid reasons for this might include no rental cars were available, you were traveling
in the winter and needed snow tires for a safe journey.
1:45
You were carrying equipment you couldn't take on a plane, and in cases where it was
simply less expensive to travel by car than plane.
1:53
Another example, when you were traveling to multiple destinations or cities in one
trip.
1:58
Provide a business purpose for each destination and when a business receipt doesn't
match the amount being requested for reimbursement, maybe there was a personal element
to the expense that you'll want to call out to explain the difference.
2:14
When tipping, whether it's a meal or a taxi or other service, a good general guideline
is to tip between 15 and 20%.
2:24
This range will generally not be questioned or require extra explanation on an expense
report.
2:32
Now we'll move to our list of top ten mistakes or gaps in expense reports.
Number 1: Personal travel.
2:40
Often researchers will add personal travel days to a business trip.
2:44
This is perfectly acceptable as long as it doesn't add incremental cost to the business
trip.
2:50
You should provide documentation to show that this is not the case by providing flight
comparisons for your flights with and without personal travel.
2:58
If there is additional expense by extending your trip for personal reasons, then be
sure to pay that difference as a personal expense on your expense report.
3:06
Be sure to indicate the date and time that your personal time started and ended so
that per diems and other costs can be calculated appropriately.
3:15
#2, student travel.
3:17
There are often occasions when researchers will travel with students for grant related
purposes.
3:22
If this is the case and you are paying for all or part of their travel and your P
card and then submitting expenses accordingly, please indicate whether or not the
student is an MSU student and what their name is.
3:34
This is important because each MSU student will require pre-approval for out of state
and international travel, and you'll need to submit that on your expense report
#3 Hotel bills.
3:48
When submitting your hotel expense receipts, please submit receipts that represent
only the hotel room and associated taxes.
3:55
If you have other charges, such as incidentals for meals or laundry, please have the
hotel isolate the room and tax on a separate folio and pay for your incidentals separately.
4:07
#4 Lowest cost lodging.
4:10
There may be cases where you consider staying in an Airbnb instead of a hotel when
looking at the cost comparisons.
4:16
To ensure you are choosing the lowest cost option, be sure to include the service
and cleaning fees in the Airbnb expense calculations.
4:24
This means that if the Airbnb nightly rate is shown to be $100 for one night, but
there are cleaning and service fees for an additional $100, the nightly rate is actually
$200.00 and should be compared to the other options using that amount.
#5 Record driving times when driving is your method of transportation.
4:44
Please document the start and stop time of your travel so that per diems can be assigned
accurately.
4:52
#6 Meal per diems versus Hospitality
Meal per diems are the required expense method per state travel policies.
5:01
We sometimes see people using hospitality forms as a way to bypass per diem rates.
5:05
This should happen very rarely and is only allowed when a business meeting is taking
place during the meal and there is at least one non MSU attendee at the meal who is
participating in the meeting.
5:17
When this takes place, a per diem for that meal won't apply.
5:20
This may sound obvious, but it is sometimes forgotten.
5:24
In case you were not aware, per diems can be pooled to buy groceries.
5:28
We see this in places where restaurants don't exist, such as places where researchers
are camping in the field.
5:34
When pooling funds for groceries, be sure to provide documentation and justification
in Chrome River in your expense report.
#7 No paid seat upgrades or other flight add-ons.
5:48
Paid seat upgrades or other add-ons such as early check in fees and TSA pre-check
are not allowed on flights except in rare cases where there is a documented medical
need.
5:59
Now if you're a frequent flyer and are upgraded for free, that is just fine.
6:03
Enjoy the ride #8 Taxi Documentation When travelling via Uber or Taxi, Please ensure
your receipt indicates the starting location, your destination, and time of travel.
6:17
This is a source of evidence that the trip is business related and could be useful
in an audit.
6:23
#9 Friend Transportation
In some cases, you may have a friend or relative picking you up at the airport, which saves you from having to hire a taxi or paying for parking.
6:34
You can submit the mileage for this service In those cases
#10 Fly US Flag Air Carriers.
6:43
We are required to select US Flag Air Carriers when flying or when transporting cargo
by air.
6:49
You can view the list of US carriers at the link shown on the slide.
6:53
Some of them are not obvious.
6:57
Before we conclude, a few reminders to you.
7:00
Before you finalize your expense report.
7:03
Do a double check to make sure all of your receipts are attached.
7:06
Also, double check to make sure you haven't included any unnecessary receipts that
could confuse an approver and may cause delays in your report's approval.
7:15
Finally, make sure you've chosen the correct account icon so that your expenses are
charged accurately.
7:21
Often we see mistakes in in state versus out of state travel accounts and OSP versus
non OSP accounts.
7:31
There are abundant training and policy documentation resources available related to
grant funded travel.
7:38
We've listed a few on this slide but we have many more.
7:41
For a more specific question or need, this brings me to my last slide.
7:46
OSP is ready and happy to assist you with questions and education on grant funded
travel expenses.
7:53
If you have questions or need additional resources, please let your fiscal manager
know.
7:57
We are happy to help.
7:58
Thank you for participating in this session.