Skip to header Skip to Content Skip to Footer

Direct Pay

Travel & Direct Pay

The Direct Pay Module is for reimbursing employees, students, and non-employees for approved purchases and other allowable payments, such as memberships, sponsorships, and ARAMARK catering. However, the use of personal credit cards for business expenses is strongly discouraged. Employees are encouraged to utilize university-approved purchasing methods to ensure compliance with applicable policies and avoid potential reimbursement complications. For more details, please refer to 05.151 Function of Purchasing Services and General Purchasing Policies.

See Expenditure Guidelines for payments allowable in Direct Pay module. All goods and services should be submitted in uShop as requisitions.

Visit the Controller's Website for all Direct Pay Forms

Direct Pay News

Chrome River Direct Pay Invoice Module

The Chrome River Direct Pay Invoice Module went live on July 1st, 2020. The Invoice Module takes the place of Chrome River AP Check Requests.

When to Use Chrome River

Types of Direct Pay transactions include but are not limited to:

  • ARAMARK for catered events
  • Barnes & Noble (UNCW Bookstore)
  • Dual Employment (when UNCW has “borrowed” an employee from another state agency)
  • Employee, student and non-employee reimbursement for approved purchases
  • Event Sponsorships
  • Memberships
  • Stipends for non-employees (example: New Hanover County teacher training)
  • Refunds
  • Utilities

Additional Notes:

All on-campus catering events must be purchased through ARAMARK. Any catering or food purchases brought on campus for an event which exceed $250 must have a waiver from ARAMARK and be included as support documentation with the Chrome River Direct Pay Invoice. Contact Courtney Samuelu with Business Services with any ARAMARK questions.

Off-campus purchases of food must comply with all UNCW policies including but not limited to the Business Entertainment policy 05.107.

On Campus Non-Travel Events

Applies to events that could be defined as either internal (i.e. includes UNCW employees and/or students) or external (i.e. includes participants outside UNCW). These events are not considered Business-Related Entertainment governed by policy 05.107.

On campus events serving food require catering by ARAMARK unless the food cost is under $250 or the event organizer has received a waiver in writing directly from ARAMARK.

On campus events including alcohol are subject to UNCW policy 5.303 Alcohol Policy and must be catered by ARAMARK.

Account Codes for on campus non-travel events:
  • 921810 - Contracted Food Svc (used when ARAMARK is catering an on campus event)
  • 932290 - Misc Food Products & Prepared Food (used for on campus events when food cost is under $250)
Reminders
  • For off campus business-related entertainment events see Business-Related Entertainment Guidelines on our main Travel and Direct Pay page

Expenditure Guidelines

We have created Expenditure Guidelines, located on the Accounts Payable website, in an effort to help campus determine what's submitted in uShop and what's submitted in Chrome River. We have also included information about inter-agency transfers and wire transfers for those transactions that require either of those payment methods.

Registration Fees for Virtual Conferences and Webinars

(Revised 9/1/2020)

Many event organizers have moved their conferences to a virtual or webinar format. By attending an event online, employees are not in travel status and do not need to submit a pre-approval in Chrome River Travel.

Not being in travel status also means the Visa Travel card cannot be used to pay for registration fees for online/virtual conferences or webinars. Please use one of the following methods to pay registration fees for virtual conferences or webinars using account code 928530 Registration Fees-Non Travel Status:

  • Use a departmental p-card to prepay the registration fee to the event organizer.
    • Be sure to comply with approvals required by your Divisional Budget Officers (DBO) and/or Business Officers.
    • Transactions are reconciled in WORKS using account code 928530 Registration Fees-Non Travel Status.
  • Submit a direct pay invoice in Chrome River Direct Pay to prepay the registration fee to the event organizer.
    • Support documentation includes the registration confirmation.
    • Use account code 928530 Registration Fees-Non Travel Status located under the Services tile in Chrome River.
  • Pay by personal credit card and request reimbursement by submitting an invoice in Chrome River Direct Pay after the event has taken place. This option should be used only when the first two options are unavailable.
    • Support documentation includes the registration confirmation and approval email from the applicable DBO.
    • Use account code 928530 Registration Fees-Non Travel Status located under the Services tile in Chrome River.

GIFT CARD GUIDELINES

Please review the Gift Card Guidelines and Procedures (PDF)

Gift cards are a convenient method of providing a gift to an employee, student or non-employee.  Most often they are used to

  • encourage participation in research and surveys
  • acknowledge an employee’s service or retirement
  • say “thank you” to a conference participant or volunteer
  • award a prize to a student in a campus competition

No matter the reason for a gift card, the IRS considers gift cards to be cash equivalents and therefore may be taxable to the recipient.  For that reason, there must be a clear audit trail of the purchase and distribution of the gift cards. Please contact Joanne Ferguson if you have questions about the guidelines or procedures.

Important Dates

The deadline for an expense report or direct pay invoice in Chrome River is 10:45 a.m. on Fridays.

Expense reports must be completed correctly, approved by all parties and have all the necessary documentation and comments attached by this deadline.

Resources

Chrome River Resources

Resources