GROUP MEAL AND MEETING SUPPORT FORM
Last Revision: 01/09/2025

GROUP MEAL AND MEETING SUPPORT FORM

TABLE OF CONTENTS


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PURPOSE

The Group Meal and Meeting Support Form is used to document business purposes and attendees for an authorized group meal or meeting of Penn State employees, students, and/or guests/visitors to the University. The form is used to collect information to be added SAP Concur or the System for Integrated Management, Budget, and Accounting (SIMBA) and becomes supporting documentation.

GENERAL INFORMATION

See Procedure FN2023 Group Meals and Meetings for a detailed explanation of the Group Meal and Meetings processes.

Refer to Policies:

Petty cash funds are NOT to be used to reimburse group meal and group meeting expenses. Refer to FN2016 Long-Term and Short-Term Advances

As a reminder, the purchase of alcohol is never permitted to be charged to general funds. Also, if alcohol is purchased any gratuity related to alcohol must be split out on the receipt.

All contracts and/or agreements with external vendors must to submitted to the Office of Central Procurement for review and approval in advance of procurement and payment by submitting a Procurement Contract Request Intake Form. The approved contract and/or agreement, as well as the budget executive preauthorization to host a Group Meal and Meeting, become supporting documentation for the transaction.

USE OF PENN STATE PURCHASING CARD OR REIMBURSEMENT THROUGH SAP CONCUR

Group Meals and Meetings transactions occurring on a Penn State Purchasing Card or for reimbursement are to be reconciled in SAP Concur.

  • The Group Meal and Meeting Support Form is:
    • required when the meal is hosted by someone who is not a workflow approver; or
    • required when the meal is hosted by someone who is not the employee submitting the expense report in SAP Concur
    • optional when the budget administrator is the host of the group meal; or
    • optional when the budget administrator is a workflow approver.

A business area may add additional approvers to the workflow for their respective business area in SAP Concur. See the How to update SAP Concur Approver roles in IIQ for complete details. Adding the appropriate approvers into the workflow may negate the need to complete the form.

When there are 12 or more attendees at a Group Meal or Meeting , one attendee entry can be created for the attendees using the "Group of 12 or MORE" attendee type in SAP Concur. Create a New Attendee and select the Attendee Type of "Group of 12 or MORE," enter a name for the group, and add the group to the expense. Next edit the Attendee Count field to reflect the correct number of attendees. Create a separate document with the complete list of attendees and upload as supporting documentation to the SAP Concur expense report.

All pre-approved contracts and/or agreements, the budget executive authorization documentation, the Group Meal and Meeting Support Form (when required), a list of attendees, the business purpose, and all receipts must be uploaded as supporting documentation to the expense report in SAP Concur. Reimbursement request must be submitted within 60 calendar days after the date the expenses were paid or incurred. Reimbursement submitted more than 120 calendars days after the expenses were paid or incurred with not be reimbursed.

USE OF PURCHASE ORDER

A group meal or meeting being held at a non-University facility, with a projected cost of $10,000 or more, must be processed with a Purchase Order through a PSUbuy. The budget executive preauthorization (email or memo), any pre-approved contracts and/or agreements, and invoice must be uploaded to the Shopping Cart as supporting documentation. A Good Receipt Confirmation must also be processed immediately after the group meal/meeting has occurred (see the SIMBA Procurement: Complete a Goods Confirmation KB article for completing a goods confirmation). The use of the Group Meal and Meeting support form is not required.

USE OF NON-PO INVOICE

a Non-PO Invoice may be utilized for small events (under $10,000). All pre-approved contracts and/or agreements must be uploaded to SIMBA as supporting documentation for the transaction. The use of the Group Meal and Meeting Support Form is not required. A list of attendees, the business purpose, and the budget executive preauthorization email/memo must be uploaded as supporting documentation in SIMBA.

USE OF DIRECT BILLING OR JOURNAL ENTRY

If BJC Catering, Penn State Hospitality Services, or Campus Food Services will be providing the food and or beverages for a group meal and meeting, the Direct Bill Journal Entry processes in SIMBA would be utilized. The Group Meal and Meeting Support Form is not required. A list of attendees, the business purpose, and the budget executive preauthorization email/memo must be uploaded as supporting documentation in SIMBA.

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNT USAGE

Reimbursement for group meals and meeting, excluding alcohol (see below), should be charged to general ledger account:

  • 52390101 - Event Costs - Event Expense - Primarily Guest/Donor/Candidate/Board - Unallowable F&A
  • 52390201 - Event Costs - Event Expense - Primarily - Students - Unallowable F&A
  • 52390301 - Event Costs - Event Expense - Employee Only - Unallowable F&A
  • 52390401 - Event Costs - Event Expense - Faculty/Academic Only - Limit Use - Unallowable F&A
  • 52390601 - Event Costs - Event Expense - University Community - Unallowable F&A

In SAP Concur, this would be expense type:

  • Event & Meeting Costs - Event Expense - Primarily Guest/Donor/Candidate/Board - Unallowable F&A
  • Event & Meeting Costs - Event Expense - Primarily - Students - Unallowable F&A
  • Event & Meeting Costs - Event Expense - Employee Only - Unallowable F&A
  • Event & Meeting Costs - Event Expense - Faculty/Academic Only - Limit Use - Unallowable F&A
  • Event & Meeting Costs - Event Expense - University Community - Unallowable F&A

Reimbursement for alcohol at group meals and meetings should be charged to general ledger account:

  • 52390121 - Event Expense - Alcohol - Primarily Guest/Donor/Candidate/Board - Unallowable F&A
  • 52390221 - Event Expense - Alcohol - Primarily - Students - Limit Use - Unallowable F&A
  • 52390321 - Event Expense - Alcohol - Employee Only - Limit Use - Unallowable F&A
  • 52390421 - Event Expense - Alcohol - Faculty/Academic Only - Limit Use - Unallowable F&A
  • 52390621 - Event Expense - Alcohol - University Community - Unallowable F&A

In SAP Concur, this would be expense type:

  • Event & Meeting Costs - Event Expense - Primarily Guest/Donor/Candidate/Board - Unallowable F&A - Alcohol
  • Event & Meeting Costs - Event Expense - Primarily - Students - Limit Use - Unallowable F&A - Alcohol
  • Event & Meeting Costs - Event Expense - Employee Only - Limit Use - Unallowable F&A - Alcohol
  • Event & Meeting Costs - Event Expense - Faculty/Academic Only - Limit Use - Unallowable F&A - Alcohol
  • Event & Meeting Costs - Event Expense - University Community - Unallowable F&A - Alcohol

Any entertainment provided as part of a Group Meal or Meeting must be charged to the following GLs:

  • 52390131 - Event Costs - Entertainment - Primarily Guest/Donor/Candidate/Board - Unallowable F&A
  • 52390231 - Event Costs - Entertainment - Expense Primarily - Students - Unallowable F&A
  • 52390331 - Event Costs - Entertainment - Employee Only - Unallowable F&A
  • 52390431 - Event Costs - Entertainment - Faculty/Academic Only - Unallowable F&A
  • 52390631 - Event Costs - Entertainment - University Community - Unallowable F&A

In SAP Concur, this would be expense type:

  • Event & Meeting Costs - Event Expense Primarily Guest/Donor/Candidate/Board - Unallowable F&A - Entertainment
  • Event & Meeting Costs - Event Expense Primarily - Students - Unallowable F&A - Entertainment
  • Event & Meeting Costs - Employee Only - Unallowable F&A - Entertainment
  • Event & Meeting Costs - Faculty/Academic Only - Unallowable F&A - Entertainment
  • Event & Meeting Costs - University Community - Unallowable F&A - Entertainment

EXHIBIT AND INSTRUCTIONS

This form has fill-and-print form fields and digital ID (signature) fields enabled. The PDF version has instructions provided for the type and/or format of information to be included within the fill-and-print form fields. Hovering the computer mouse over any form field within the PDF document will display these instructions.

For step-by-step instructions on completing the Group Meal and Meeting Support form, click on link below:

Group Meal and Meeting Support Exhibit

FORM REQUIREMENTS

No form may be used that substitutes for an approved official University form without prior review and approval by the steward of the form/central office, as facilitated by the Office of Systems and Procedures (designated representative of the Associate Vice President for Finance). Policy FN17 Required Use of Approved University Forms Appearing in the General University Reference Utility (GURU) requires that all form templates must be vetted and approved prior to being published on the GURU website and all such documents having gone through said established approval process must be password protected. See Procedure FN2017 Use of Approved Form Templates Appearing on the GURU Website for complete details.

NUMBER OF COPIES AND ULTIMATE DISTRIBUTION

Table of distribution and retention of the Group Meal and Meeting Support Form
Document: Ultimate Distribution: Retention Periods: Disposition Method:
Original: Uploaded into PSUbuy, SAP Concur, or SIMBA. Upon successful upload, this electronic version becomes the document of record General Funds = End of fiscal year +7 years

Restricted Funds/Contracts/Grants = End of fiscal year after close of contract/grant +7 years
Electronic document and data = delete and empty recycle bin
Original copy Upon verification of successfully upload to financial system End of fiscal year +1 year Paper document = Secure Bin disposal or shred

Electronic document and data = delete and empty recycle bin
Copy created during the signature process When payment has processed Immediate disposal Paper document = Secure Bin disposal or shred

Electronic document and data = delete and empty recycle bin

WHERE TO SEND COMPLETED FORM

The completed form is uploaded as supporting documentation to the transaction into PSUbuy, SAP Concur, or SIMBA.

CONTACT INFORMATION

For questions or additional details, please contact your Business Area Finance Office.

To request changes to the form or to report issues with the form, please contact the Office of Systems & Procedures by submitting a Technical Support Request form.

CROSS REFERENCES