Allocate Expenses as a Cost Approver

Cost approvers are individuals officially designated as authorized signatories on accounts. They are responsible for allocating expenses to the correct accounts and approving reports in the system.

How to Allocate Expenses as a Cost Approver

1. Receive Email Notification

  • Cost approvers receive email notifications when expense reports are submitted for their approval and have 13 days to act on a report.
  • Click the link in the email to log in to Concur to allocate and approve the report.

2. Go to Required Approvals

There are several ways to go to your required approvals from the home page (Figure 1):

  • Click Required Approvals in the Quick Task Bar. 
  • Click Required Approvals in My Tasks.
  • Click Approvals in the top menu bar.

3. Review Reports Pending Approval

Verify Expenses are Fully Allocated

Before you click Approve on a report, verify that all expenses are fully allocated.

  • Select a report pending approval and click on the Report Name to open it.
  • Review the report header and confirm the funding source and account information:
    • At the top of the report, click Details, then click Report Header.
    • Verify that the Funding Account Source, in red, is correct.
    • If applicable, verify the Approver, Funding Source, Entity and Account fields are correct.
    • If the information is incorrect, make changes and click Save (Figure 2). 

Review exceptions for errors on the report:

  • If an error needs to be corrected by the user, at the top click Send Back to User.
  • Yellow exceptions appear as informational warnings on the report, and may have no action that is required. These will not prevent you from approving the report (Figure 2).

4. Allocate All Expenses

  • At the top of the report click Details, then click Allocations.
    • Select the checkboxes for the desired expenses, then click Allocate Selected Expenses.
  • Click the Allocate By dropdown and choose to allocate by Percentage or Amount (Figure 3).
  • In the Percentage or Amount field, you can split the expense by typing in a value, or by clicking Add New Allocation. This allows you to allocate the expense to multiple accounts.
  • In the Approver field, type the last name of the account approver and select it from the dropdown menu.
  • In the Funding Source field, select it from the dropdown menu.
  • In the Entity field, select it from the dropdown menu.
  • In the Account field, select it from the dropdown menu.
  • In the Funding Fiscal Year field, select it from the dropdown menu.
  • If you cannot find the information you’re searching for, the cost approver you entered may not have signatory authority on the account. Try entering the name of another cost approver to find the account. 
  • When finished, verify that the expense is 100% allocated (Figure 5).
  • Click Save.
  • You may receive a Success message stating, “Allocations have been saved but there is at least one exception that may require your attention.” Click OK.
  • Repeat for each expense until all expenses are fully allocated.
  • When finished, click Done.

5. Verify Expenses Are Fully Allocated

  • When finished, verify that all expenses are fully allocated:
    • At the top of the report, click Details, then click Allocations.
    • Click the Summary button.
    • On the Allocation Summary, verify that the Approver, Funding Source, Entity and Account fields are complete for all expenses (Figure 6).
    • When finished, click Done

6. Return, Forward or Approve Report

When you are finished reviewing and allocating the report, at the top choose one of the following options:

  • Send Back to User — send the report back to the user if it requires correction. 
    • Cost approvers cannot modify expense reports. 
    • In the Comment field, provide a clear explanation of the problem, then click OK.
  • Approve & Forward — approve and forward the report to another cost approver if it requires additional allocation. 
    • In the search bar, enter the cost approver’s Last Name or Email Address. Select their name and enter a comment.
    • Click Approve & Forward. Read the Final Confirmation statement and click to Accept or Decline.
  • Approve — approve the report for reimbursement if it has been completed correctly and if all expenses are fully allocated. 
    • Read the Final Confirmation statement and click to Accept or Decline.