Chrome River, U-M’s new expense reporting system, uses a one-approver-per person model, which aligns with expense reporting best practices. This approach allows organizations to:
- Establish clear responsibility, accountability, and consistency.
- Minimize fraud risk.
- Promote responsibility among expense report approvers, since they’re solely responsible for approvals.
This model minimizes redundancy, offers a more streamlined process, and expedites reimbursement.
Appropriate Default Approvers
- The Default Approver must be a higher administrative authority than the Expense Owner or their written delegate, as outlined in the Higher Administrative Authority guidelines.
- For employees who do not typically submit expense reports, the recommended best practice is to use a central administrative authority, such as the employee’s MPathways Department Manager, as the Default Approver.
- Units should have a clear process in place to determine, populate, and maintain a list of Default Approvers for employees.
- Chrome River Reporting is available to assist units in reviewing for appropriate Default Approvers.
Expense report approval options
- One approver per report.
- The expense report will automatically route to the Expense Owner’s Default Approver.
- The Default Approver can be changed on the report header by using the “Default Approver Override” box when it’s necessary to route the report to someone other than the default approver. If this box is checked, the Default Approver will receive a notification the report is going to another approver.
- Different approvers are needed for separate shortcode allocations.
- The “Default Approver Override” box should be checked and users will be prompted on report submission to add approvers for specific shortcodes.
- When this option is used, the Default Approver will receive a notification the report is going to another approver.
- Multiple department approvers are needed
- An approver can add another approver after they have completed their review by selecting the “Add Approver” option. There is no limit to the number of approvers that can be added using this method.
- A Delegate can create the expense report and the Expense Owner can use the “Add Approver” option to add an approver. The report will be routed to the added approver before routing to the Default Approver. There is no limit to the number of approvers that can be added using this method.
Delegating temporary approvals
Approvers should assign a temporary Approval Delegate to their Chrome River profile when the Default Approver is:
- Out of the office for an extended period
- Needs assistance with approvals for a temporary period during peak workload times (e.g., two months during the busy year-end season)
To make a permanent change to the Default Approver, use the Add or Update Default Approver form.
Approver responsibilities
Approver responsibilities are outlined in the Approver Roles and Responsibilities article. Approvers must complete the Chrome River Approver Training and Assessment annually.
Important: Individuals cannot approve their own expenses on another user’s expense report. If a Default Approver identifies expenses in a report that were purchased on their behalf, they should add an additional appropriate approver to the report using the add approver option. If the conflict is identified during the report creation process, the delegate or Expense Owner can use the Default Approver Override option to route the report to someone other than the Default Approver.
Examples:
- Lunch is brought in for a manager’s team meeting and paid for on a team member’s PCard. Because the manager was in attendance at the meal, they cannot approve the expense report for the PCard transaction.
- An administrative employee purchases airfare for their manager through CTP, U-M’s designated travel partner. Because the airfare was purchased on behalf of the manager, they cannot approve the expense report for the CTA transaction.