Emburse Enterprise

The Controller’s Office has collaborated with Emburse Enterprise to serve as the central platform for processing invoices and employee expense reimbursements.

launch emburse enterprise

If you have any questions, please contact us at emburse@lafayette.edu.

Join our “Emburse Tips, Tricks, and Updates” Google group for helpful insights.

User Guides

General

Expense

 

Invoice

Emburse Training Videos

Additional Info

Chart of Accounts Resources

  • Understanding the Chart of Accounts
  • Expense Accounts   (updated 6/30/25)
    • Expense Account Listings w/ Conversion Crosswalk-Detailed (xlsx or pdf)
    • Expense Account Listings w/ Conversion Crosswalk-Summary (xlsx or pdf)
    • Expense Account Listings-Summary (no crosswalk) (xlsx or pdf)
  • Activity Code Listing (xlsx or pdf) (Updated 6/30/25)

Policies and Procedures

Key User Roles

Expense Owner: The expense owner is the employee who is to be reimbursed for a particular expense or the PCard holder whose PCard was charged for a particular expense.

Approver: The approver is responsible for approvals of expenses charged to their budget except in cases where the approver is also the expense owner.

Delegate: A delegate is someone who has access to an expense owner’s Emburse Expense account and can create expense reports on behalf of the expense owner.

Approval Delegate: An approval delegate helps you with approvals during a specified time, such as when you are out of the office.

Approval Steps & Responsibilities

Approval Steps & Responsibilities

  1. Expense or Invoice Creator Approval (at Submission Point)
    Responsibility: Confirm that the charges are accurate, complete, and comply with College policies before they are routed for further review.

    • If someone else prepares the expense report on the expense owner’s behalf, the expense owner will be asked to approve.

    • This ensures you agree with the content and supporting documentation.

  2. Special Approvals (If Applicable)
    Responsibility: Verify that the expense meets the rules and conditions specific to the funding source or program.

    • Certain types of expenses require additional review before moving forward:

      • Sponsored Research / Grants – Routed to the Office of Sponsored Programs for compliance review.

      • Other Activity-Specific Approvals – Examples include ARC grants, professional development, or start-up funds.

      • Other Expense Specific Approvals – Examples include computer software and supplies, legal expenses, hazardous materials or waste, and furniture.

  3. Supervisor (“Reports To”) Approval
    Responsibility: Confirm that the employee was acting on behalf of the College in the normal course of their duties — not to verify every line item or receipt. The supervisor has the best insight into the nature of the employee’s work, where they travel, and the types of business they conduct.

    • Every non-faculty employee has a designated supervisor in our HR system.

    • Supervisors approve all transactions for their direct reports, regardless of the department or funding source being charged.

    • Faculty supervising shared staff will also review those staff members’ reports.

  4. Budget Approvals
    Responsibility: Ensure that funding is available and the expense is appropriate for the department, fund, or account being charged.  Items are routed at the line level, so only the relevant expenses will be routed to the budget approver for approval.

    • Approvers are assigned based on the department (Org code) and the dollar amount of the expense:

      • $0 – $5,000

      • $5,001 – $25,000

      • $25,001 – $250,000

      • Amounts over $250,000 are also approved by Finance.

  5. Accounts Payable Review
    Responsibility: Final compliance check to confirm that the expense follows College policies and is ready for payment processing.

    • AP verifies documentation, payment method, and coding before releasing payment.

FAQs

Contacts