Business Office

Administrative and business resources

The Graduate School of Management’s Business Office staff is available to assist you with all your administrative business needs. We operate under our department head Assistant Dean James T. Kelly. This talented group handles personnel/payroll, staff recruitment, purchasing, accounts payable, accounts receivable, travel/entertainment reports, out-of-pocket reimbursements and much more. We are located in 2306 Gallagher Hall.

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GSM Travel Policy Update: Enhancing Accountability for Travel & Entertainment

Background: The GSM is funded by the California taxpayer and our students, and we always aim to be good stewards of the resources entrusted to us to deliver on our research, teaching and service mission. As good stewards, our goal is to achieve the mission in a cost-effective manner, keep our programs as affordable as possible, and maintain records that demonstrate attention to the same.

In addition, UC Davis has recently placed greater emphasis on accountability, and we can expect our travel and entertainment expenses to receive greater scrutiny in future audits. Both to prepare for this additional scrutiny and in keeping with our stewardship, the GSM is introducing the following policy revisions for all travel starting after February 15, 2024.

Increased Accountability

  • Receipts are required to reimburse all Travel and Entertainment expenses, including meals and transportation.
    • If traveling to/from San Ramon or San Francisco no toll receipt will be required.
    • If using T&E card to pay for parking and it is labeled parking no receipt will be required unless it is over $75.00
  • Screenshots are required to support airfare and hotel choices as “least cost” per UCD policy. Prices change, so it is important to have this screenshot from the time of the reservation. “Least cost” does not always mean lowest price, and a brief explanation accompanying the reimbursement request will support that distinction (e.g., a hotel next to a meeting venue that eliminates the need for local travel compared to the lowest price option). Please ensure that the screenshot includes search criteria used.
  • Reimbursement requests should provide a specific business purpose focused on the intended results. For example, “Lunch with Corporate Partner” is inadequate. For the same instance of entertainment, “Lunch with Blue Diamond EVP of Human Resources to explore interest in Executive Education event on Co-op Governance” is preferred. Supervisors will be responsible for ensuring that all T&E reimbursements have a specific and clearly stated business purpose.
  • Ideally, reimbursement requests will be accompanied by supporting materials such as discussion agendas, invitations, etc. These have always been required for employee-only events with entertainment expenses and are now requested for all events with entertainment expenses. For the example above, a good example of a supporting item would be an email confirming the meeting between the employee and the Blue Diamond executive.

Reimbursement Limits

  • Alcohol will only be reimbursed as an entertainment expense. “Entertainment” includes events when hosting clients such as alumni, corporate partners, donors, etc. Personal consumption of alcohol when not part of an entertainment event will not be reimbursed by the GSM.
  • To ensure equity and reasonableness in tipping, the following are expectations and limits on reimbursement for tipping:
    • Table service in a restaurant – 15% to 20% on the pre-tax portion of the bill, assuming that a gratuity is not already included. If a gratuity is automatically included, no additional tip will be reimbursed.
    • Full service catered events – 15% to 20% on the pre-tax food and drink portion of the bill when a gratuity is not already included. For full-service catered events, whether at a GSM location or at an external venue, the GSM host should confirm all fees and what they cover before the event. The explanation of these fees should be included in the reimbursement request, especially if an additional tip is paid. The Events Management Team and/or the Business Office can assist with understanding a catering contract and fees.
    • Catered Drop Off – the total of any delivery fee and tip should not exceed 10% of the pre-tax charge for food and drink. A “catered” drop off is delivery by the restaurant/caterer that is providing the food and often includes some help with set-up.
    • Take-out/Counter service – No tip/gratuity.
    • Delivery by a third-party delivery service (e.g., DoorDash and Grubhub) –10% or $20 whichever is less, up to $400; tip not to exceed 5% on orders greater than $400 (This is on order value, not including delivery fee.)

Purchasing & Contracting Services

Purchasing Card is available to use for items allowed per policy. Total transaction and/or daily vendor amount must be less than $9,999.99 and includes subscriptions, memberships, supplies, computers and peripherals, general office supplies, books and cleaning supplies. Please contact the Business Office with your purchasing request questions.

Vendor Risk Assessment (VRA)

A vendor risk assessment must be completed by IT before the purchase/contracting of any cloud base service. This can range from data downloads, subscriptions, software, databases etc. Please complete the questionnaire below. Any questions regarding the VRA should be directed to IT Helpdesk. 

https://ucdavis.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1MuruMhWKle4JF4 

Purchase Order (PO) and Automatic Purchase Order (APO)

PO and APO can be driven by the dollar amount, commodity codes or vendor type. If a department/campus/system-wide agreement is present, it would fall under an APO. A purchase order (requisition) is required if it meets any of the criteria below: 

  • Sponsorship Agreement
  • Total dollar amount over $9,999.99
  • Service (guest speaker, implementation, design, transcribing, surveying, data, installation, etc.)
  • Any agreement with terms and conditions requiring a signature, including free or paid cloud-based services

Please allow up to four-to-six weeks for a PO, and up to three business days for an APO. 

How do I place an order?

Reminder: Please include chart string to avoid delays.

AggieBuy

Many items can be purchased directly via AggieEnterprise Punchout. Vendors available include Amazon, B&H Photo, CDW-G, Dell, ODP (Office Depot), and Waxie. The full list of vendors is available at: AggieEnterprise Punchout Suppliers. 

Honoraria Payment

Honoraria payments are allowed for the following purposes:

  1. Providing a special lecture or short series of lectures of an academic nature.
  2. Participation in a seminar or workshop as a speaker, panelist, or as a member of a volunteer board or committee, that furthers the mission of the University.
  3. A speaking engagement.
  4. Appraisal of a manuscript for the University Press or an article submitted to a professional publication.

Effective 2/3/2025 honoraria payments will be processed via AggieEnterprise Punchout and vendor on-boarding/payment handled via: Candex.

Please email the name of individual, email address, detailed business purpose, honoraria amount and chart string to businessoffice@gsm.ucdavis.edu

Performance Agreement

When hiring a non-employee individual as a performer or actor (e.g., GSM holiday celebration and GSM orientation workshops), you will also need to complete the following forms:

Performance Agreement - Information and Agreement Template

Sponsorship Agreement 

Sponsorship Agreement - Information and Agreement Template

Must be completed when the university makes a contribution in support of an event produced by another entity, and the university is receiving a benefit in exchange for the financial contribution (e.g., name/logo on event materials, website, verbal acknowledgement, invitations to attend sponsor events, etc.).

Purchasing & Contracting Services Policies 

Administrative Business & Revenue Contracts - 330-05

Direct Deposit

Payroll direct deposit can be done via UC Path by logging in and navigating to Employee Actions>Income and Taxes>Direct Deposit.

UC Path

Travel/Entertainment/Supply reimbursement direct deposit can be done in AggieExpense. Please follow instructions at the KB article below:

https://kb.ucdavis.edu/?id=10747 

Supply Reimbursement & Unauthorized Purchases

Unauthorized purchases are those purchases that take place without prior departmental approval and a university-approved purchase order in place.  The purchased item or service may not be inappropriate, but the selected purchasing method was inappropriate, against university policy, and unauthorized.

To request reimbursement for items purchased out of pocket please complete the

Process for Requesting Reimbursement for Unauthorized Purchase

Complete the Unauthorized Purchase Statement (DocuSign) regardless of the dollar amount.

Items will be processed in AggieExpense as expense type Professional Expenses.

Business Cards & Name Badges

Business cards are ordered via AggiePrint, the standard Graduate School of Management business card is front 3, back 1.

Our standard/minimum order is 250 cards at $51.50, if a larger quantity is needed please indicate the amount. Please allow 2-4 business days once order has been placed.

To request business cards please fill out the form corresponding to your location.

Name badges are ordered through the UC Davis Bookstore and charged at $20.99 plus tax. To place an order fill out:

Delivery of badges can take up to 4 weeks depending on the campus-wide minimum with an external vendor. If a rush is needed there will be additional fees. The Graduate School of Management standard is magnet backing, template 4.

E-mail completed form to businesshelpdesk@gsm.ucdavis.edu

Aggie Expense

Aggie Expense can be accessed at the following link: 

https://aggieexpense.ucdavis.edu/

Reminder: Expenses submitted (in routing) after 60 days of the trip or event date will be reported as taxable income to the employee. Expenses should be submitted to within 30 days of travel/event to allow for processing time. 

Adding Delegates in Aggie Expense

  1. Log into Aggie Expense using your Kerberos account
  2. Click on the Profile icon (upper right side of screen)
  3. Click on the Profile Settings (Please make sure you add your address and email address at this page under Personal Information if it is not already updated)
  4. Click Add Delegate and add the following individuals:
  1. Click “Save” on this page.

Please DO NOT select “Receives Emails”

More information can be found at https://supplychain.ucdavis.edu/travel-entertainment/aggieexpense.

UC Davis Travel Card

The Travel Card is to be used only for approved and appropriate business travel and business entertainment expenses.  Travel Card expenses are automatically paid to the bank, as transactions take place.

Required Training

Everyone who wishes to participate in the Travel Card program must complete the required 30-minute online Travel Card Corporate Liability Training, available in the UC Learning Center.  This training only needs to be completed ONCE (no annual re-take requirement). 

Please email the certificate in PDF form to businessoffice@gsm.ucdavis.edu, the Business Office will prepare the application for you in AggieExpense.

No Personal Expenses

NO Personal expenses are to be made on the Travel Card. 

If a personal expense occurs, the cardholder must reconcile the charge in an AggieExpense Report. Use the Expense Type of "Personal or non reimbursable" and submit the report. You will need to pay back the University directly.

To reimburse the University, you will access your UC Davis Banner account where you will see the invoice for the charge appear approximately 10 business days after your expense report has been approved. To process the reimbursement through Banner:

Log in to MyBill with your campus user ID and Kerberos passphrase.

Agree to the consent form.

Review your balance and select Make Payment from the main page.  

Personal credit card and e-checks are accepted methods of payment.

Travel

Domestic travel is defined as travel within the lower 48 U.S. states, also known as CONUS, or continental United States. In general, you will be on the right track if you do everything possible to ensure the optimal use of university funds. There are three types of business travel expenses that can be reimbursed by the university:

Travel Reimbursement Request Form must be filled out, include receipts, copy of conference/seminar program and detailed business purpose of the trip. 

  1. Transportation: Transportation expenses should be reimbursed for the most economical mode of travel on the most commonly traveled route consistent with the authorized purpose of the trip.
  2. Subsistence: Charges for lodging and meals and incidental expenses (M&IE) must be ordinary and necessary to accomplish the official business purpose of the trip.
  3. Miscellaneous: Expenses that fall into neither the transportation nor subsistence categories but are ordinary and necessary to accomplish the official business purpose of the trip.

Car rental

Request a compact, economy or intermediate model unless a no-cost upgrade is offered. Use of higher cost model will require exceptional approval. Use of UC Davis pre-negotiated agreements is highly encouraged and can be booked via AggieExpense/Connexxus. 

Conference/Training Registration

Use your UC Travel Visa card to pay for any conference or training registration fees, even if there are no other travel expenses.

*Important: If you are attending a conference at UC Davis or any UC, please contact the Business Office for assistance. Payments between campus and other UC's should be done via an internal financial document.

Connexxus

Secured web portal with access to UC’s Systemwide Travel Program comprehensive rates and benefits for all those affiliated with UC. The travel team at the UC Office of the President negotiates discounts and rewards with major airlines, hotel properties, car rental companies, rail and travel agencies on behalf of all of UC Regents. Connexxus is accessed through the Company Notes section of AggieExpense. UC Davis Travel card and CTS transactions for travel services booked through agencies found within Connexxus import directly into Aggie Expense for trip expense reporting.

Ground transportation

Ground transportation includes all forms of non-air transportation, including car rentals, taxis, personal cars, trains and buses. 

Lodging

Expenses may be claimed up to $333.00 per night (not including taxes and fees), with required receipts. Travel policy limits lodging nightly rates to a maximum of $333.00 per night when traveling in the lower 48 states for less than 30 days. If requesting reimbursement for more than this limit, please complete this form. Submit completed form along with backup documentation to: businessoffice@gsm.ucdavis.edu. The business office will obtain the necessary signature from  James Kelly, Assistant Dean for Finance and Administration. 

Meal Reimbursement and Incidentals

Meal reimbursement for travel less than 30 days to the lower 48 states is limited to $92.00 per day. Meal reimbursement is NOT per diem and should only be claimed for the amount of actual expenses, not to exceed 92.00. Travelers should not pay for other travelers' meals. There must be an overnight stay to claim meal reimbursement.

*Receipts (itemized and charge slip) required for all meals regardless of dollar amount. 

Non-Employee Travel

Guests of the university must also follow University of California travel policies. Please check with your employee/faculty sponsor as to what amount has been agreed upon for reimbursement.

For additional information when traveling as a guest of UC Davis Graduate School of Management please see:

Please complete PDF and return to employee/faculty sponsor and they will approve and forward to the Business Office for processing. 

Hotel Agreements

If your guest is staying locally, UC Davis has negotiated rates with local hotels. Please use Preferred Booking Program by completing the 

and emailing to businessoffice@gsm.ucdavis.edu. Once booking is confirmed, you will be provided a confirmation for your visitor. 

Hotel rates are non-published for rate information please contact the hotel directly using the link above. 

Tax & Reporting Compliance

Travel reimbursements are considered nontaxable to employees because of the University’s accountable plan for employee reimbursements. One of the requirements for an accountable plan is for timely substantiation of expenses. When an employee reimbursement is not substantiated timely, the reimbursement migrates to being treated as a non-accountable plan reimbursement.  All reimbursements under non-accountable plans are treated as wages (imputed income) and the burden to determine any tax deductibility is transferred to the employee. The explicit timeline in the UCOP policy and IRS code is 45 days.  However, there is a section under the safe-harbor IRS language that allows us to use the 60 day mark. 

If you have a received a notice please contact Diane Davies Conley

UC Davis Travel Policies

Travel Regulations - Policy G-28

Entertainment

To be considered entertainment, an event should have a guest-host relationship. Official guests attend an event, at the invitation of a UC Davis host, for a valid business purpose. In general, the University will not pay for or reimburse costs for meals taken with individual colleagues at the same work location unless the participants were unable to accomplish the business purpose during working hours. University policy does not permit reimbursement when two or more employees choose to go to lunch together to continue their business as an incidental part of the meal, when the meal is of a reciprocal nature, or when the meeting could have been scheduled during regular working hours.

must be completed, include a detailed business purpose, list of names & affiliation and receipts (including itemized and charge slip). 

Allowable Expenses Include

Costs for meals or light refreshments and related services* incurred in connection with events that are primarily business activities in support of the university’s mission.

  • Hosting a conference, donor fundraising meetings, prospective donor and/or spouse (requires additional approval).
  • Student orientations, student commencements, academic research events.
  • Prospective faculty and other specialized positions. 

Meal Allowances

The following rates pertain to people being entertained and the university employee who is the official host. If expenditures will exceed these limits, additional approvals and documentation will need to be completed, and the excess may not be approved.

Maximum per person, by meal: These amounts include food, beverage, tax, tip, service and delivery charges.

  • Breakfast: $31
  • Lunch: $54
  • Dinner: $94
  • Light Refreshments: $22

Hotel Agreements

If you are hosting a conference or visitor, UC Davis has negotiated rates with local hotels. Please use Preferred Booking Program by completing the 

Email form to businessoffice@gsm.ucdavis.edu. Once booking is confirmed, you will be provided a confirmation for your visitor. 

Hotel rates are non-published for rate information please contact the hotel directly using the link above. 

UC Davis Entertainment Policies

Expenditures for Business Meetings, Entertainment, and Other Occasions – Policy BUS-79.

Training and Resources

Various modules and resources are available at: Travel & Entertainment Training

How to allocate an account: Allocate account

How to adhoc route to supervisor: Adhoc route

How to add delegates: Add delegate

Forms

Supply Chain Forms

Purchasing Related Forms

Used when requesting purchase request. 

Used when supply was paid out of pocket on behalf of the Graduate School of Management. 

Used when a new vendor needs to be added or an individual providing services.

Used when an individual is providing a service. It is used to determine correct way to hire (i.e., purchasing contract vs. employment). To be completed by Graduate School of Management employee. 

Used for performance services, can be obtained by departments without going through Procurement & Contracting Services if this form is properly completed and attached to your KFS document.

Used when working with vendors to draft a scope of work agreement.

Used when the university makes a contribution to support an event by another entity. 

UC Policy BUS-43 requires that all non-construction and non-federally funded purchases between ≥$10,000 and ≤$250,000 annually (excluding tax but including shipping) that cannot be procured via an existing strategically sourced agreement, must be awarded to a certified Small Business (SB) or Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise (DVBE), wherever practicable.

Sole source justifications are rare and are only applicable when one supplier is the exclusive option for a needed product or service, for transactions $10k or higher, when there is no existing agreement or purchase through AggieBuy, and for purchases under the UC Small Business First Program.

Travel and Entertainment Related Forms

Mileage record sheet for those who turn in more than one mileage expense per report time (i.e. monthly).

Used when receipt is missing or insufficient. This form cannot be used for airfare, car rental, conference registration or lodging. 

Used when submitting travel-related reimbursement items to the Business Office for processing. Please include required receipts.

Used when submitting entertainment-related reimbursement items to the Business Office for processing. Please include required receipts, attach a list of names & affiliation, agenda if available. 

Used when requesting a PBP (formally CTS) lodging stay for a Graduate School of Management–affiliated visitor. 

Used when requesting a reimbursement for a supply items paid out of pocket.

Used for Non-Employee travel guidelines and travel reimbursement request form. 

Used to request exception of exceeding the $333.00 lodging limit. Please complete entire form and provide supporting documentation if applicable. 

Tax Forms

The W-8BEN is a required document when making Non-U.S. Source Income payments to a Nonresident Alien (NRA); these are payments when the services performed are (1) performed by a NRA, and (2) are performed outside the United States. For details on Non-U.S. Source Income payments.

501C3 Exempt Status

2019 Withholding Exemption Certificate 

Completed form to provide to University Payees upon request.

To be completed by individual or business who is providing goods or services to the University.

Headshot of Dawn May

Dawn May

Assistant, Development and External Relations