I. Policy Statement

(Effective as of March 1, 2023)

The UMass Business and Travel Expense Policy was updated and approved by the Board of Trustees on Dec. 16, 2021. On July 1, 2022, the new policy and standards were adopted by all UMass campuses. One change that was adopted is, all events, with food and beverage over $500, must be pre-approved. Some departments have multiple events over $500 throughout the fiscal year that would require pre-approval. The Alcohol at Events policy requires pre-approval for all events with alcohol. This procedure allows those departments to be able to do a one-time pre-approval with a listing of all the events and to note whether the event will have alcohol during the fiscal year that the pre-approval will cover.

NOTE: Any events with alcohol have to be in compliance with UMass Lowell’s Alcohol and Beverages policy.

II. Purpose

The purpose is to establish guidelines and procedures for a blanket approval for all events over $500 with food, beverage, and/or alcohol.

III. Scope

These procedures apply to all departments that have events over $500 with food, beverage, and/or alcohol.

IV. Procedures

All Events over $500 or Events with Alcohol, must have a Prior Approval Request approved in Concur prior to the event. The approved request will then be used when reconciling the bank card or to be attached to the Purchase Order for Aramark.

For departments that have multiple events throughout the year, the blanket approval spreadsheet can be attached to the request in Concur. It should be noted in the Comments section that this is a blanket approval request.

Any questions, please email the Controller’s office by email: controller@uml.edu.

VI. Responsibility

The Controller’s Office is the department responsible for implementing the procedure. All campus departments are responsible for adherence to the procedure.