Department-Specific Information

 

Do you have receipts that require reimbursement as authorized by your supervisor? Have you attended a conference outside of Ontario that is to be covered under the University? Have you done some work outside of your laboratory that can be counted for hours? Here is some information that may be useful for you.

 

Petty Cash Reimbursements

If you have made any small purchases ($50 or under) for anything to be used for your research and it is eligible for reimbursement as stated by your supervisor, you may fill in a Petty Cash voucher (Microsoft Excel file) to be processed by our Accounting Clerk. Please download the linked Excel spreadsheet, print the form, and fill in the requested fields. Each cell has been captioned to help you input the right information.

Notes:

  • Effective Summer of 2014, all petty cash claims will be restricted to $50 and under, and only Canadian receipts will be accepted. All others will need to be put through the U of Guelph Expense Claim System.
  • If you have multiple receipts each under $50 but the grand total is more than $50, an expense claim should be used. See below for more on expense claims.

Expense Claims 

For purchases/transactions exceeding $50, an expense claim should be submitted using the Expense Claim System (ECS) managed by Financial Services' Treasury Operations. It can be used by employees of the University of Guelph upon registering as an authorized ECS user. There is an online tutorial within the system if this is your first time using the ECS.
Expenses include material purchases, food, accommodation, and travel/airfare/mileage.

Here are some helpful and specialized guidelines (credits to Gail Costigan, our Accounting Clerk) upon accessing the ECS system:

  1. The box called "Contact": you are the contact. Please put your name in the box.
  2. The box called "Contact Phone #": that is your extension or phone number. Please enter the number.
  3. The box called "Trip/Expenses Start End" is self-explanatory. Please fill this in.
  4. The box called "Destination" is self-explanatory. If the claim is not for travel, please leave it blank.
  5. The box called "Purpose" is self-explanatory. What is the purpose of your travel or your expense?
  6. The column "Expense/Auto Trip Description" should include the company/restaurant/airline/etc. name shown on the receipt.
  7. The column "Location Tax" should be filled in.
  8. Receipts should be numbered.
  9. In the case of meals, detailed meal receipts must be submitted (i.e. credit card receipts are NOT sufficient).
  10. No alcohol purchases are allowed unless you are entertaining people from outside the University. If that is the case, their names and business/institution must be included.
  11. Keep in mind that the University has a policy that expenses more than one year old will not be covered. 

If an incomplete claim is submitted to Treasury Operations, it will be delayed.

More detailed instructions for completing your expense claim can be found in the form here in the Forms and Documents section.

 

Timesheets

If you have agreed to do (and completed) any paid work within the department that is outside of your laboratory, you will require a payroll appointment, documentation of the number of hours worked and its purpose before being compensated.

The Guidelines for "Hours Worked" Submission sheet is a very useful set of guidelines that you should refer to before completing a timesheet. To summarize, there are two methods of submitting a timesheet: by email (preferred) or in-person. Signature of your supervisor is only required if completing a timesheet in-person; when submitting by email, copying your supervisor on the email will suffice.  The schedule of dates for submitting hours can be found in the Forms/Files section on the Animal Bioscience webpage in the Payroll section, titled: "Timesheet schedule 2018".

If you wish to submit hours in-person, the form can be found here. Other finance-related forms and other miscellaneous documents can all be found in the Forms/Files section at the bottom of the Animal Biosciences webpage.

If you have any further questions regarding timesheets, feel free to email Karina McKenzie, our Undergraduate Program Assistant, via kmck@uoguelph.ca.