Feb. 16, 2005

Laboratory policy requires submittal of foreign travel expenses within 15 days after the return from foreign travel. On most occasions the following problems will arise:

1. the traveler doesn't get his credit card bill for 30 days, a billing cycle;
2. all of the expenses may not even be on that billing cycle; some may appear on subsequent statements;
3. telephone bill expenses will be on the next billing cycle;
4. with the currency exchange, bills received from the hotels are not an accurate reflection of what the currency exchange should be; and
5. the online submittal process is very cumbersome.

It would be most helpful to the travelers if the time required for submittal of foreign travel expenses could be changed to 45 or even 60 days.

--Janet Neff-Shampine