Expense Reports and Reimbursements

Policy and Process

Whenever possible, efforts should be made to minimize the use of personal funds on behalf of the University. Please use direct payment methods whenever available, such as iBuyNU, preferred vendor direct billing options, corporate cards, or payment requests.

Expense Policy Exceptions: Common requests for a policy exception include misplaced or missing receipts and events where the cost per person is expected to be over the daily limit.
Expense Approval Roles and Responsibilities: Each individual within the workflow process has the responsibility of ensuring that travel expenditures are authorized and accurate.
90-Day Policy: The 90 day policy calls for the posting of expenditures and other costs within 90 days of their occurrence.

For information on processing My Wallet Transactions page, please see the Corporate Card - Reconciliation page.

Employee Expense Reimbursement: In order to obtain reimbursement for personal funds expended and to account for any amounts expended using an advance, all expenses must be documented on the NUFinancials Expense Report.
Visitor Expense Reimbursement: Northwestern University reimburses individuals who are not University faculty or staff, for University-approved travel expenses.
Travel Expense Reimbursement: To be reimbursed for qualifying travel expenses, the appropriate expense report form(s) need to be completed.