Do any of your employees (such as a professor, dean, coach, or staff member) ever travel to speak at an external entity's conference or event? If so, keep the following points in mind:
- If the external party agrees in advance to cover any related travel costs incurred by the University of Illinois System in exchange for these speaking services, then:
- These types of payments should be recorded as revenue to an applicable self-supporting fund using account code 307825, Speaking and Presentation Services Revenue.
- These payments should not be recorded as an expense reimbursement, even if the payment is for the exact amount of travel expenses incurred.
- Once this revenue is properly credited to the applicable self-supporting fund, you would then need to ensure that the related travel costs are debited to the appropriate expense account codes within this self-supporting fund as well. This ensures proper matching of revenues and expenses within the applicable self-supporting fund.
- However, if no payment was required or agreed upon in advance, and if your department subsequently receives an unexpected payment from the external party as a “thank-you” for your employee’s time and efforts, then:
- This type of payment would be treated as a gift and should be deposited through the University of Illinois Foundation via a gift transmittal form.
- Finally, keep in mind that if the staff member is performing these speaking services while on university time, then the external party needs to ensure that the check is written out to either the University of Illinois System (assuming it is self-supporting revenue) or the UI Foundation (assuming it is gift revenue), and not to the individual themselves.
- The only time that the external party should write the check out to the individual directly is if the employee is on benefit time (such as vacation) and/or if the individual is performing these services outside of their normal university employment duties.
Contact
For further questions related to this topic, contact the applicable subject matter experts within either the Self-Supporting Funds section or the Gift Funds section of UAFR’s Who to Ask list.