»Reimbursement FAQs

• Food expenses for meetings, events, etc. Please be advised that if your meeting, event, etc. is held on campus, there is a $50 maximum per event that you may be reimbursed for. If the meeting, event, etc. is held off campus, the $50 maximum per person is not applicable.
• Printing, postage, etc.
• Pre-approved travel expenses
• If you are unsure if the item is reimbursable, please check with Kelly Farano.

If your expenditures need to be reimbursed from any of the following organizations, you can go directly to Kelly Farano in the Dean’s Suite:

• Law Review
• Animal Law Society
• Fowler School of Law Courier
• Entertainment & Sports Law Society
• Federalist Society of Chapman
• International Justice Mission
• J Rueben Clark Law Society
• Minority Law Students Association
• PAD (Phi Alpha Delta)
• PILF (Public Interest Law Foundation)
• SBA (Student Bar Association)
• Tax Law Society

For reimbursements pertaining to any other organization not listed above, please see SBA Treasurer for approval.

• It takes an average of 10 to 14 business days to be processed by the Accounts Payable Office.
• If it has been more than fourteen business days and you have not yet received payment, feel free to contact Kelly Farano to check on the status of your reimbursement.

There are times when you may need to work with a vendor outside of Chapman University, for example: to make a deposit to hold a venue; to hire a caterer or a guest speaker; to order grad chords or operating supplies for your organization, etc.  Below is a list of the items that you will need in order to process a payment to an outside vendor: 

• Invoice (required)
  • More often than not the vendor will provide you with an invoice.  However, if a vendor does not provide an invoice directly to you, you will need to generate one on your own.  Don’t worry!  All you need to do is write up a Word document that includes the following information:
    • Vendor name
    • Payment remit address
    • Date the service was performed
    • Description of the service performed
    • Amount due
    • The name of the club/account that is paying for the service performed
• Contract (possibly)
  • Please note that you may never independently enter into a contract with a vendor on behalf of Chapman University.
    • The onlyperson on campus that may sign a contract is Harold Hewitt, Chapman’s EVP/COO.
    • If the vendor requires a contract (e.g. Alumni Golf Tournament), submit the unsigned contract to Kelly Farano, who will forward the contract to the University’s Legal Department for review, followed by the office of the EVP/COO for signature.
• W-9 (required)
  • Chapman University requires a W-9 for all vendors with whom we conduct business.  In many cases (particularly in the case of annual events) the University may already have the vendor’s W-9 on file.  However, if the vendor you select has never worked with the University before, Kelly Farano will contact you and request that you provide her with a W-9 from the vendor.  Please submit the blank W-9 to the vendor and return it to Kelly Farano as soon as possible.

• For food purchases:
  • All original, itemized receipts
  • A sign-in sheet with the names of all persons in attendance at the event or meeting
• For general expenses:
  • All original receipts
• For travel expenses:
  • All original receipts
  • Flight information (from a ticket, online booking, etc.)
  • A copy of the event itinerary

• If you lost the original receipts, you can provide a copy of your bank or credit card statement that demonstrates proof of payment.  Feel free to black out any personal information that you would like to keep private. 
• If a receipt was never provided (e.g. parking at some venues), write a brief memo stating exactly that.
• If there was no sign-in sheet at your club meeting, or, if the sign-in sheet cannot be found, recreate the list of attendees as best as you can from memory (either a Word document or a handwritten list is fine).

• Please fill out the Cash Box Request Form, where you can list all of the items that you need, including petty cash up to $200.00.
  • Please do this at least a week in advance!  We can never guarantee whether cash boxes will be available, so the sooner you request one, the more likely it is we can secure a reservation.
• Once the Cash Box Request Form has been approved by Kelly Farano, you can take the form with you or pick up the cash box, etc. from the Cashier’s Office on the date you need it. Alternatively, you can leave the form with Kelly Farano and she will pick up the materials for you and store them in her office.

• Don’t worry about closing out the credit card machines at the end of each day – Kelly Farano will take care of all the deposits.
• Return the cash box and credit card machine to Kelly Farano in the Dean’s Suite at the end of each day for safekeeping. You can pick it up from her the next day.
• You can take cash boxes and credit card machines offsite to sell tickets, etc. at an event. Just be sure to return them to Kelly Farano the next day!