General Policy:  UNC-General Administration's conference, seminar, and workshop expenses related to room rental, allowable meal, and break cost must be documented and approved in advance on a UNC-General Administration Conference / Meeting Approval Form (see ACT EXH 11.0).  The policy is necessary to comply with Office of State Budget and Management's (OSBM)  policies, and various business expense documentation requirements for Internal Revenue Service compliance.

1.             Types of Conferences / Meeting:

a.             Internal Conference:  A formal meeting that involves the attendance exclusively of employees within UNC-General Administration.

b.             External Conference:  A formal meeting that involves the attendance of persons primarily from external agencies.  (e.g. participants from the UNC campuses)

2.             The following guidelines apply to expenses related to conferences or meetings:

a.             A Conference Approval Form must be completed and signed by the individual hosting the meeting.  The Form must then be pre-approved in advance of the meeting by the following:

(1.)          The Division Vice President

(2.)          For academic divisions, the Senior Vice-President for Academic Affairs

(3.)          For non-academic divisions, the Chief of Staff or Chief Operating Officer

(4.)          The Accounting Office.

The individual requesting the meeting should not anticipate that any expenses will

be paid unless they have received approval from the Accounting Office in advance

of the meeting that all requirements have been met.

Meals to be provided at meetings of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs must

be pre-approved by the Chief of Staff or Chief Operating Officer and meals to be provided at

meetings of the Chiefof Staff or Chief Operating Officer must be pre-approved be the Senior

Vice President for Academic Affairs.  Meals to be provided at meetings of the President may

be approved by either the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs or the Chief of Staff.

Any individual attending a meeting where a meal is served is not authorized to request

a per-diem reimbursement for that same meal on a travel reimbursement form.

      b.            The following documentation must accompany the Conference Approval Form

·         Agenda for the meeting

·         Written invitation sent to participants

·         A list of participants that will be attending the meeting.

           c.              Only on rare occasions would expenses be allowed for internal meetings.  An example

                           of an internal meeting where expenses would be allowed would be meal expenses for a

                           day-long division retreat.

           d.             Costs for room and other meeting expenses, excluding meals, may be paid from State

                           funds.  All meal expenses will be paid from non-State funds, principally restricted

                           trust funds or federal contracts and grants where allowable.  To be paid from these

                           sources, the cost of meals must comply with the State Budget Manual's daily

                           subsistence allowance entitlement guidelines for conferences and meetings.  If the

                           cost per person exceeds these amounts, only discretionary funds can be used to pay

                           meal expenses.

          e.              Unless an exception is granted, lunches and dinners will only be authorized when external

                          participants are involved and the meeting lasts more than six hours (lunch) or more than one

                          day (dinner).  Breakfast or food during breaks will not be authorized.

          f.              Any exceptions to the guidelines must be approved jointly by the Senior Vice President

                          for Academic Affairs and the Chief Operating Officer.               .

               The Accounting Section maintains a permanent conference / meeting approval file sorted by meeting date for each fiscal year.  For efficiency purposes, the source documents for this process reside in this file and will not accompany the voucher in the paid check file. However, a copy of the approved UNC-GA Conference / Meeting Approval form will accompany conference / meeting payments in the paid check file.