Business Purpose

In order to be able to make a determination as to whether requests for payment or reimbursement are allowable under University Administrative Policies and Procedures, there must be adequate information included with the request to enable the reviewer to determine how the payment benefits the University.  This required information is referred to as the “Business Purpose”.

All types of requests for payment, including Purchase Requisitions through LoboMart, Reimbursement and Payment requests submitted in Chrome River Expense or Invoice, PCard reconciliation in Chrome River Expense, and Petty Cash reimbursements, require a Business Purpose when submitting the respective requests.

In addition, the University Business Policies and Procedures Manual specifies in numerous places that payments must have a purpose that benefits the University:

• Policy 4000 “Allowable and Unallowable Expenditures”, section 4.1 states in part: “To qualify as business expenses, expenditures must be directly related to or associated with the University's mission.”
• Policy 4030 “Travel” section 3 “Reimbursement” states in part:  “To be eligible for travel expense reimbursement other than mileage, travelers must be on official University business…”, and “The University business purpose of the travel, and all required supporting documentation (including receipts) must be provided."
• Policy 4320 “Purchasing Goods Off Campus” section 1 “General” states in part: “Departments must provide a detailed description of the UNM business purpose of each item purchased.”

Merely re-stating WHAT is being purchased, instead of describing WHY the payment is being requested and HOW it benefits the University, is not adequate. 

Financial Services accounting offices reserve the right to request additional information on any requested transaction before approving the transaction, and may return the request in question to the requesting department if adequate information is not received in a timely manner.

In order to have payments processed in a timely manner, please confirm that an adequate and allowable UNM Business Purpose, explaining how the payment benefits the University, has been provided for all payment requests submitted.