Substantiation for Lost or Unobtainable Receipts Form
Table of Contents:
- Purpose:
- General Information:
- Exhibit and Instructions:
- Form Requirements:
- Number of Copies and Ultimate Distribution:
- Where To Send Completed Forms:
- Contact Information:
- Cross References:
Purpose:
The Substantiation for Lost or Unobtainable Receipts form is used to document charges if a receipt or other documentation is lost or unavailable.
General Information:
If you lose a receipt or, for some reason do not receive a receipt or invoice, contact the vendor to get a duplicate. In the rare situation that you cannot get a receipt from the vendor, you should complete a Substantiation for Lost or Unobtainable Receipts form. This form requires approval by the budget administrator or budget executive and the Financial Officer or authorized delegate before the transaction can be settled in SAP Concur. Not providing substantiation (documentation such as a receipt or the Substantiation for Lost or Unobtainable Receipts form) of a purchasing card transaction is a misuse of the purchasing card.
If a receipt or other documentation is lost or unavailable, the Cardholder must document the charge on the Substantiation for Lost or Unobtainable Receipts form indicating the details of the purchase, the business purpose, and the amount of purchase.
This support form must be approved as follows:
- Transactions under $100: Budget Administrator and Financial Officer or authorized FO delegate
- Transactions $100 or more: Budget Executive and Financial Officer or authorized FO delegate
In cases of missing or lost receipts where the transaction will be charged to a federal grant or contract, the Principal Investigator (if other than the Cardholder) is also required to approve the support form.
Exhibit and Instructions:
To view document exhibits, click on link below:
Substantiation for Lost or Unobtainable Receipts 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 Budget and 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.
Access GURU Forms:
GURU PDF forms are designed for use with Adobe Acrobat Reader or Adobe Acrobat Pro. Each browser (Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, etc) has a built-in PDF viewer making it the default PDF viewer without asking users. These built-in viewers do not necessarily support all features required for PDF forms. Similarly, many calculations are not supported by other stand-alone PDF readers (for examples, Nuance). It has been brought to the attention of the Office of Systems and Procedures that PDF forms do not function appropriately when accessed using Firefox and/or Microsoft Edge. In order to access any of the forms on GURU and have the fill-and-print functionality work properly, the end-user must access the GURU website using Google Chrome.
The latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader is available for free. Contact your IT support staff person for downloading assistance, if/as needed. If Adobe Acrobat Pro better suits your needs, contact your IT support staff person for purchasing and installation assistance.
Web-based Documents:
Clicking the form download icon on any of the form instruction pages on GURU will open a web-based version of the form. While it appears to have fill-and-print fields available, not all functionality may be available for use (i.e. digital ID fields). With some exceptions (see below), it will be necessary to convert these web-based documents to PDF documents (see Converting to PDF documents section).
Converting Web-Based Document to PDF Document:
In order to have a version with all PDF capabilities enabled, click the Fill & Sign in Acrobat icon located in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. This icon must be clicked before entering any information. Clicking this icon opens an actual PDF version of the document. Complete this version and save the document in a location where you will be able to locate it.
If, upon opening the PDF in Google Chrome, the Fill & Sign in Acrobat icon does not appear in the upper right-hand corner of the screen, it will be necessary to enable Adobe Acrobat extension. Please visit Enable Adobe Acrobat extension for Google Chrome for instructions to enable Adobe Acrobat extension.
Exceptions:
Combining PDF documents:
There may be times when it is necessary to combine multiple pdf documents into a single document for submission. In those instances, complete the following steps:
- Click on the appropriate form in GURU
- Complete the fill-and-print boxes on the web-based form
- Click the printer icon located in the upper right-hand corner of the screen
- Change Destination to Microsoft Print to PDF using the drop-down arrow
- Click Print at the bottom of that panel
- Enter a file name in the box at the bottom of the pop-up window (i.e. substantiation-for-lost-or-unobtainable-receipts-SIMBA-Smith) and be sure to select a location where you will be able to relocate the document
- Click Save
Repeat this process for each document that will be combined:
- Now, open one of the completed pdf documents and on the far right select combine files
- Click Add Files and select the files to be combined
- Click Combine
Applying Digital ID's on PDF's:
This form has the Digital ID (applying an electronic signature to the document) process enabled. If, upon opening the PDF in Google Chrome, the following does not appear in the upper right-hand corner of the screen, it will be necessary to enable Adobe Acrobat extension:

Please visit the following for instructions to enable Adobe Acrobat extension:
Enable Adobe Acrobat extension for Google Chrome
Applying Multiple Digital IDs:
Complete all fill-and-print form fields before completing the signature process:
- Open the Substantiation for Lost or Unobtainable Receipts Form
- Before entering any information, click the "Fill-and-Sign in Acrobat" (see above) icon or click the "fill-and-sign" option (looks like a pen nib) located on the right-hand column within Adobe Acrobat, or click "Tools" from the tool bar on the upper left-hand side of the screen and click "Open" under the Fill & Sign option
- Complete all fill-and-print fields
- Once the form is complete, click in the signature form field and either:
- Select your digital ID and click continue, or
- Create your digital ID, select your digital ID, and click continue
- Review the information in the appearance box and click sign
- You will be required to save a copy of the document (the digital signature is not applied until the form is saved)
- The file name will contain the name "substantiation-for-lost-or-unobtainable-receipts-SIMBA-form" in the file name field, remove the word SIMBA, add a dash and your last and first names (no spaces and all lower case (i.e., -smith-mary) to the end of the file name (i.e., substantiation-for-lost-or-unobtainable-receipts-smith-mary)
- Choose a location to save the file where you will be able to locate/retrieve this saved version
- Click save
- Close the form version appearing on your screen
- Open the version containing your last and first names saved in the previous steps
- Verify that the digital ID appears on the document
- Close the document
- Submit the document for approval following the step below
The Substantiation for Lost or Unobtainable Receipts Form requires multiple signatures. Please complete the following process for obtaining those signatures:
- The initiator completes and saves the form using the naming convention defined above
- If the transaction is charged to a federal grant or contract, the initiator sends an email, with the above referenced document as an attachment, to the Principal Investigator for initial approval. If not charged to a federal grant or contact, skip to the Budget Administrator or Budget Executive approval
- The Principal Investigator opens the document, reviews the document, and applies their digital ID (if approving) as defined in Steps 4, 5, and 6 above and the saves the document again using the same file name
- The Principal Investigator sends an email, with the above referenced document as an attachment, to the Budget Administrator or Budget Executive
- The Budget Administrator or Budget Executive opens the document, reviews the document, and applies their digital ID (if approving) as defined in Steps 4, 5, and 6 above and saves the document using the same file name
- The Budget Administrator or Budget Executive sends an email, with the above referenced document as an attachment, to the Business Area Financial Officer
- The Business Area Financial Officer opens the document, reviews the document, and applies their digital ID (if approving) as defined in Steps 4,5, and 6 above and saves the documents using the same file name
- After all approvals have been added, the Business Area Financial Officer sends an email, with the above referenced document as an attachment, to the cardholder (initiator of the form). The cardholder is then able to continue the reconciliation process within SAP Concur
If you encounter any difficulties with this process, contact the GURU support staff by submitting a Technical Support Form request or by calling the tech support line at 814-863-8592.
Number of Copies and Ultimate Distribution:
Ultimate Distribution: | Retention Periods: | |
---|---|---|
Original | SAP Concur Report | Posted to Other Accounts (including general) - End of Fiscal Year + 2 years |
Grants and Contracts Original | SAP Concur Report | Posted to Contracts and Grants - 3 years AFTER the end date of the agreement. |
Where to Send Completed Forms:
The approved form is to be submitted with the SAP Concur Report as soon as the material or service is received from the vendor.
Contact Information:
For questions, additional details, or to request changes to this form, please contact the Purchasing Card Office
Cross References:
- Policy AD35 - University Archives and Records Management
- Policy FN17 - Required Use of Approved University Forms Appearing in the General University Reference Utility
(07/1/2020)