Business Entertainment
This page is meant for information dissemination for the department of Integrative Biology and Physiology at UCLA.
Entertainment Guidelines
University policy is that all business entertainment shall be properly authorized, reported, and reimbursed in accordance with UC policy, BUS-79, Expenditures for Entertainment, Business Meetings & Other Occasions. Under no circumstances shall personal expenses be charged to, or be temporarily funded by, the University, including the University Travel and Entertainment Card. Procurement Card should not be used for entertainment purposes.
As per Spring 2025, new travel and entertainment guidelines have been enacted. Please review as information is continuously changing. New Travel and Entertainment Guidelines
| Every unit / department is responsible for the financial solutions needed to weather this difficult time. UCLA leaders should critically consider all travel and entertainment expenses even if there are no pre-approval requirements. |
| Expense | Unit/Department Oversight & Discretion | CAO/CFO Pre-Approval | Travel Accounting Pre-Approval | Not Permitted |
| Essential travel not listed with a* | XXX | |||
| Faculty, researcher, or student travel for scholarship* | XXX | |||
| Study abroad programs* | XXX | |||
| Faculty, researcher, or student travel to conduct necessary research* | XXX | |||
| Sponsored research travel* (generally refers to research activities that are specifically outlined in a grant provided by an external agency including a government agency, private company, or foundation) | XXX | |||
| Faculty, researcher, or student travel to attend a conference for scholarship* | XXX | |||
| Staff conferences (see FAQs for details) | XXX | |||
| Local conferences that do not require lodging or daily meals and incidentals | XXX | |||
| Meeting or training participation required by a grant or required to maintain grant funding | XXX | |||
| Employee entertainment activities | XXX | |||
| Employee morale activities (do not require lodging or airfare; limited to once per quarter) | XXX | XXX | ||
| Employee retreats or team building trips that require lodging and/or airfare | XXX | |||
| Commencement activities within BUS-79 policy | XXX | |||
| Student / alumni entertainment activities within BUS-79 limits | XXX | |||
| Sponsorship for events hosted by other organizations | XXX | |||
| Recruiting meals or trips | XXX | |||
| Fundraising trips and activities | XXX | |||
| Mileage in excess of an employee’s regular commute (not related to remote work) | XXX | |||
| Activities required under a collective bargaining agreement | XXX |
Pre-Approvals
Pre-Approvals
We’ve been asked to reduce non-essential travel and entertainment at this time. While the timing of the restrictions and guidelines announcements are not ideal, we are all asked to review our plans to adhere to the current policies. The recent guidelines do provide us information in terms of outlying travel and entertainment items that fell outside of the previously gray or prohibited categories. To those that fall in the “scholarship” or “researcher” categories listed in the June 5th guidelines announcement, pre-approvals from our CAO, Melba Tolbert, is required for certain reimbursement or requisition.
To streamline the process, Sheena Sanchez will be collecting pre-approval requests on Melba’s behalf.
When requesting pre-approval, please provide me the following:
-Event/meeting/travel date
-Event/meeting/travel location
-Business justification as it applies to the “scholarship” and/or “researcher” categories. Include any justifications in terms of funding or program requirements, etc.
You can also create your own pre-approval verbiage for consideration. A sample you can pull from:
“This memo is to provide pre-approval for the XXX seminar for the XXX program with seminar speaker, XXX in the XXX lab. This student seminar series is a requirement of XXX. program, [insert link to program requirements]. The seminar series is held once a month, in-person only, on XXX. The purpose of the seminar series is for the students to present their research and receive feedback from their peers. The seminars are held at XXX time in a conference room since that is the most convenient time that the students can meet and present. XXX students of XXX program in their first year are required to attend all student seminars, and continuing students are required to attend once per quarter. Attendance is taken at the monthly seminar series, and this counts toward their program participation. The seminar series itself is a line item on our budget and is accounted for fiscally.
As per the new travel and entertainment policy enacted in Spring 2025, the seminar series falls under scholarship and therefore has my pre-approval.”
Requests should be sent into Sheena Sanchez prior to 12pm, daily. Sheena Sanchez will provide Melba the compilation of requests at the end of day. Please make sure to provide proper time between submission and your requested event/meeting/conference for review and response. Request responses will be provided accordingly after the requests are fully reviewed.
For the requests that require Travel Accounting Pre-Approval, please complete and email the UCLA Entertainment Worksheet to Senior Director / Tax Director Scott Monatlik (smonatlik@finance.ucla.edu). Pre-approval requests must be submitted prior to making any event commitments.
Forms of Payment for Entertainment Expenses
Use of the University’s purchasing system is the first choice for direct payment. Use of employee’s personal funds for purchase of goods and services is strongly discouraged if no other option is usable. Per LVO Policy 741, $1,000 is the reimbursement limit for purchases, other than travel, working meetings, & conference registrations.
Purchase Orders
UCLA Purchasing has noted this past academic year that if the order is less than a $1,000, a T&E card or other form of payment should be used versus a PO.
If you are using a PO, please submit the proper paperwork to our department purchaser, Amanda Sandoval, with at least ten business days prior to the event, meeting, or delivery of goods/services.
Travel & Entertainment (T&E) Card
With the approval of the CAO, eligible department personnel can apply for a Travel & Entertainment (T&E) card.
The T&E card is intended to cover most business travel related expenses, including lodging, food and transportation.
- Cardholder is personally responsible to pay balance due on time.
- T & E Card can only be used for travel and entertainment expenses that are related to University business and reimbursable under University policies. No personal expenses are allowed.
- Late fees are not reimbursable, per University policy. Cardholder is responsible for paying the late fee directly to US Bank out of personal funds. Late fees are assessed on any outstanding balances after about two billing cycles/60-days from transaction date.
- Please retain all receipts/invoices received for transaction using your T&E card as they will be required for expense report.
- Please retain attendees/guest list for your meeting/event as it maybe required for catering/food orders.
- Please visit the UC Policy and T&E Coverage & Use websites for additional information.
- Please see the T&E Cardholder Agreement with US Bank.
Personal Funds
If personal funding source is being used for business entertainment, please make sure to keep all receipts/invoices. They will be required for the reimbursement.
Source of Funds
Expenses for official entertainment may be paid from various University fund sources and are subject to the following general limitations:
Source of Funds
- No alcoholic beverages purchases are allowed on State or Federal funds.
- Exceptional expenses, such as spousal expenses and meal overages, may not be charged to State or Federal funds.
- Observe restrictions, if any, when using any University funding source. See the attached policies for complete information.
- The entertainment must be specifically authorized in the contract or grants or by agency policy and to the extent and for the purpose(s) authorized.
Reimbursable Expenses
Meals
Expenses for meals incurred by employees who hold working business meetings/events are reimbursable in accordance with the University’s policy on Expenditures for Business Meetings, Entertainment, and Other Occasions BUS-79.
MAXIMUM RATES FOR BUSINESS MEALS AND LIGHT REFRESHMENTS
| Breakfast | $31.00 |
| Lunch | $54.00 |
| Dinner | $94.00 |
| Light refreshments | $22.00 |
Please review UCLA’s Current Reimbursement Rates for most up to date rates.
See “Source of Funds” notation in last section regarding alcohol and spousal/family expenses, including entertainment on contracts or grants.
Please review UCLA’s Current Reimbursement Rates for most up to date rates.
Gifts
UC Policy G-41-Employee Non-Cash Awards and Other Gifts
UC Policy G-42-Gifts Presented to Non-Employees on Behalf of the University
Under UC Policy G-42, a gift to a student in appreciation, recognition, or incentive is allowable as a student award for a noteworthy academic achievement or for participation in a University-sponsored activity. This student must not be a University employee. If they are, this policy does not apply to them.
University Employees fall under UC Policy G-41. Employees can only be provided gifts under certain categories such as an “on the spot” award and length of service. Unallowable awards and gifts are any “Gifts provided to employees in connection with birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, holidays, farewells, graduations and other occasions of a personal nature”.
Given both policies, your gift should not exceed $75 in value.
T&E cards cannot be used to pay for gifts if there is no associated event/meeting/entertainment.
Pcards can only be used for sympathy flowers or appreciation gifts following UC Policy G-41 and UC Policy G-42.
Gifts can be submitted for reimbursement/payment to corporate card as long as it follows either of the above business policies.
Funding for gifts:
Under UC Policy G-41, employee gifts for employee recognition, length of service, and retirement awards can use state funds. Sympathy gifts, cash contributions, raffle prizes, door prizes, or incentive gifts cannot use federal or state funds.
Under UC Policy G-42, student gifts cannot use contract, grant, or non-state funds unless the funding specifies as so. State funds should not be used for these gifts except if the gift is being awarded to a student for an academic achievement.
IBP Reimbursement Policy Overview and Concur Demonstration
As per our reimbursement policy and training from October 2024, an example of how to submit reimbursement for a similar event can be found at 50:00 on the video recording.
Non-Reimbursable Expenses
As outlined by UC Policy G-28, the following list includes a brief summary of non-reimbursable expenses (This list is not all inclusive):
- Meal expenses above the meal rate maximums (see UCLA’s Current Reimbursement Rates)
- T&E Card Late Fees are not reimbursable
- Others – any other costs determined to be unreasonable or which are disallowed by University guidelines.
Other Reimbursements
Use of the University’s purchasing system is the first choice for direct payment. Use of employee’s personal funds for purchase of goods and services is strongly discouraged if other options are available. Per LVO Policy 741, $1,000 is the reimbursement limit for purchases, other than travel, working meetings, & conference registrations.
