Official Occasion Expense Guidelines

This document supplements and highlights parts of the University’s entertainment policyand applies to all departments and units in the College of Liberal Arts. Official Occasion Expense Forms(OOEFs) are required for all entertainment and official occasion expenses. Unit heads may implement more but not less restrictive internal policies. This list is not meant to be exhaustive, but to highlight some of the most common issues and questions related to OOEFs.

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• In accordance with UT and COLA policies and procedures, all entertainment expenditures must serve an acceptable and verifiable business purpose.

• Ensure that the expenses are permitted on the account that is being used. Reference HBP 9.1.1 and the policy exception chart.

• Check DEFINE to ensure that the account currently has sufficient funds to cover the expense in the account’s free balance. Otherwise, a transfer is needed prior to submittal (or) a different account should be used.

• Per Person Expenses – These are dependent upon the participant information and the type of occasion. See details outlined below. Units will not be required to get a per person cost when there is a negotiated agreement business contract with a vendor for a total package price that includes food and non-food expenses. This means that the per person cost that the OOEF calculates will not be a policy limitation when all expenses are listed.

• Payment reimbursement can come from more than one account and should be noted in the General Information, Notes section of the OOEF.

Types of Expenses

Alcohol: 

• A Procard cannot be used to purchase alcohol.

• Alcohol expenses at dinner are reimbursable, if the meeting or event is for recruitment or a developmental purpose and/or donors or distinguished guests are in attendance.

• Alcohol is not reimbursable for business meetings conducted during breakfast or lunch.

• Alcohol will only be reimbursed up to 50% of the food and drink subtotal before tax, tip, & fees. Per UT policy, Alcohol expenses more than 50% of the subtotal before taxes, fees, and tips, will not be paid using UT funds.

  • Narrow exceptions allowed in the HBP Policy (See: 9.1.1.4.2 Maximum Permitted Amounts)

• Serving Alcohol at Events in a Non-licensed Venue including a Private Residence: The vice president for legal affairs recommends that a TABC licensed caterer or bartender be used for all events.

  • University employees should not be used as servers at an event unless it is in their official job description (even if they are TABC certified).

  • If undergraduate students will be in attendance, a licensed TABC bartender is required.https://provost.utexas.edu/policies-and-compliance/serving-alcohol-on-campus).

  • The college will not reimburse alcohol for events held at private residences.

• Alcohol on Campus: Generally, alcoholic beverages cannot be served on property and in buildings owned or controlled by The University of Texas System or UT Austin. See Board of Regents’ Rule 80102and HBP 9.1.1 for additional details.

  • To request to serve alcohol on campus at a non-licensed venue, submit an exception requestin advance of your event.

  • Review the guidelines to request an exception and see the list of licensed venues HERE

• Students: If the event is considered a student event, alcohol is not permitted. That is, alcohol is restricted on accounts with Centrally Funded Fringes (CFF) report codes. These funds must be used to support student academic services, events, or materials. Meals and refreshments are not allowed unless for events in support of student and/or academic services where most of the attendees are students. These accounts can never be used to purchase alcohol. Academic Excellence funds can be used for general entertainment (but no alcohol) expenses.

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• Tips/gratuity are reimbursable up to 20% of the pre-tax subtotal.

• Service Charges are most often meant to be a guaranteed minimum “Tip” required by the venue/vendor. Some vendors automatically charge a guaranteed amount for events or for a large number of guests, and some others charge a guaranteed minimum regardless of the number of guests. Review closely to avoid duplicating gratuity or conversely, not adding a gratuity if warranted. There is no need to add a manual tip if one is automatically charged as a “service fee.”

  • This is not always clear, as not all service fees are guaranteed gratuity. [Example: a service fee may be for items such as plates, utensils, etc.]; use your best judgement and/or confirm with the vendor what is included.

• If the venue charges a guaranteed minimum service charge that is greater than the allowable 20% gratuity, this is an unavoidable cost. Best practice is to document in the NOT section of the payment voucher.

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• Entertainment expenses involving only UT employees (faculty & staff) and for special/infrequent occasions, which may involve both employees and student employees (both graduate and undergraduate) should not exceed $100.00 per-person (including food, beverage, tax, and gratuity).

• Frequency of special gatherings involving food/entertainment expenses should be limited to no more than three times yearly (e.g., start-of-year, holidays, end-of-year, etc.)

• Regularly recurring meetings, including faculty and staff meetings, should not include food/beverage.

• Business Meetings: Meal expenses for a business meeting of two or more UT employees cannot be reimbursed if it could have been scheduled during working hours (not just for convenience).

• Team Building/Group Retreats: Should occur infrequently (i.e., not more than once yearly).

• Employee celebrations (faculty & staff): Should be kept to a reasonable occurrence (e.g., quarterly birthday gatherings, not individual ones), and not exceed $5 per-person in attendance.

• Holiday Parties: Endowment accounts may not be used to pay for holiday parties. Use Various Donors/Various Purposes (VD/VP), Excellence, or other non-core (self-sustaining) accounts.

• Retirement PartiesReceptions: Chairs/Professorship endowments cannot be used for retirement parties; however, excellence funds endowments may be used to pay for retirement partiesreceptions.

• Baby Showers & Other: Non-work-related personal events may not be paid for/reimbursed with university funds.

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