Individual meal expenses are reimbursed using Per Diem (Travel Allowances). The following outlines how to account for PCARD meal expenses and out-of-pocket meal expenses as they correspond to Per Diem meal allowances. Each type of meal transaction should be processed as follows:

After creating the Report Header or by clicking Details->New Itinerary, create and itinerary which will alllow Concur to create the daily per diem expense entries:

  1. Create itinerary rows in the New Stop section of the Traver Allowences screen.
  2. Each itinerary row contains the departure location, date and time and the arrival location, date and time of your destination.
  3. Create an itinerary row for each change in overnight stay location.
  4. Click Save to save each row when complete.
  5. Complete all itinerary rows using the New Stop fields.
  6. If an itinerary is for 1-day travel there must still be two itinerary rows:
    • one for departure from home location and arrival at destination;
    • one for the return trip to home location.
  7. Click Next when all itinerary rows have been saved;
  8. Click Next in the Available Itineraries screen.
  9. The Expenses and Adjustments screen will display the per diem amount for each day in the itinerary.
  10. For CONUS travel the amount will include meal and incidental reimbursement.
  11. For OCONUS travel the amount will include lodging, meal and incidental reimbursement.

In compliance with the University Travel Policy, for the first and last travel days, Concur will prorate those day's meal per diem to 75% of the overnight location's allowance. Travelers will get this amount regardless of travel time of day or duration of the day's travel.

If any meals were provided during travel by a conference, a business group meal, or another source, select the checkbox corresponding to the Provided Meal to remove that meal allowance from the daily per diem. Meals presumed to be eaten at home are not considered Provided Meals. In the event all meals for a day are provided, no meal per diem can be claimed for that day. However, the incidental per diem amount ($5 for CONUS travel, variable for OCONUS travel) may still be claimed at the traveler's discretion.

Individual meals purchased with a PCARD are not provided meals, do not select the meal provided checkbox. Per diem meals corresponding to individual PCARD meals must be included to net against the amount deducted for the PCARD meal.

When all provided meals have been identified, click Create Expenses. Each day of meal per diem expense will be entered in the Expense List as a Fixed Meal. (The OCONUS lodging portion will be entered separately as Fixed Lodging).

Add PCARD Meal Expense transactions:

  1. If the Available Expenses screen is not available on the right, click the Import button above the Expense List on the left to open the Available Expenses.
  2. Select the applicable PCARD meal expense(s) from the Available Expenses screen by clicking the checkbox to the left of the transaction(s).
  3. Click the Import button in the Available Expenses screen to assign the PCARD meal transaction(s) to the report.

The default expense type, PCARD Meal Expense, will be assigned to all meals purchased with a PCARD.

  • If a PCARD Meal Expense is a group meal:
    • edit the expense entry;
    • change the expense type to "Group Meals/Mtg (attendees required)"; and
    • complete all required information and save.
  • If a PCARD Meal Expense is an individual meal:
    • edit the expense entry;
    • select the Deduct From Reimbursement checkbox located below the Comments box; and
    • save changes.

Repeat the steps for all individual PCARD meals. The amount of each individual PCARD meal will be subtracted from the total CASH reimbursement amount.

A payroll deduction will occur if the total of the PCARD meal expenses plus any non-reimbursable PCARD expenses exceeds the total CASH reimbursement (the amount a traveler is entitled to for per diem allowances plus cash expenses).

Out-of-pocket Meals: do not create any expense entries for individual meals purchased with cash or personal credit cards.

All individual meal expenses are reimbursed based on standard per diem rates assigned to each location. The traveler is eligible for the meal per diem in effect for the location where he or she spends that night. For the final travel day, the per diem in effect will be that of the prior night's stay.