Accounts Payable

Accounts Payable disburses payments to vendors, faculty, staff, and students. Payments are made by check and electronically by direct deposit. To facilitate processing, Lewis & Clark utilizes Chrome River Invoice and Expense Management. 

Chrome River 

General Overview

Chrome River is a cloud-based system designed to automate and streamline the process for requesting, approving, and processing expense reimbursements, p-card transactions, and vendor invoices. This system replaces the prior paper-based process and Works p-card reconciliation system.

Chrome River allows users to capture receipts and submit reports electronically on a computer or mobile devices. Reports are automatically routed to the correct approvers and then to the Business Office for timely and accurate processing of payments and reimbursements. The system integrates checks against the existing Lewis & Clark policies to support timely processing and reduce the likelihood of reports being submitted without complete information.

The system allows tracking of reports to follow the progress and provide transparency on the status. Transitioning to Chrome River also supports the sustainability goals of the Business Office by eliminating the need for paper check requests and expense reimbursement reports. 

Accessing Chrome River

• Single Sign-On (SSO) access
• Creating or editing a bookmark for Chrome River (PDF)

Chrome River Modules - Expense and Invoice

Chrome River consists of two modules, Expense and Invoice.

• Expense module: Includes p-card expenses as well as expense and travel reimbursements for out-of-pocket expenses incurred by faculty and staff.
• Invoice module: Used for submitting invoices for payment to all third-party vendors as well as processing student reimbursements, stipends, and awards.

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Chrome River Training Materials

Section	Chrome River General Resource	Lewis & Clark Specific Resource
General	Navigating Chrome River
	Adding / Removing a Delegate
Expense	Chrome River Expense Overview
	Expense Quick Start Guide
	Create and Submit an Expense Report
	Adding Receipt Images to Expenses
	Create Expense Items Via Email
	Create Expenses via the Receipt Gallery
	Add Credit Card Items to an Expense Report
	Creating a Hotel Expense
	Creating a Mileage Expense
	Creating a Per Diem Expense
	Splitting Expenses Between Multiple Accounts
	Recall an Expense Report to Draft Status
	Tracking an Expense Report
	Requesting and Reporting on Cash Advance
	Review and Approve an Expense Report
	Approve Expenses via Email
Invoice	Chrome River Invoice Overview
	Create an Invoice
	Add Images to Invoices
	Create a New / Temporary Vendor
	Track a Submitted Invoice
	Approve an Invoice

If you have questions or other needs that require you to speak with someone in person, we are here to help. Please email any payment-related questions to ap@lclark.edu and we will respond as quickly as possible.

Deadlines for Submitting Invoices and Expense Reports

The deadline for submitting fully approved expense reports and invoices is Friday by noon for payment processing the following week. Payments are processed by Accounts Payable once per week on Thursdays for reports and invoices received by noon on Friday of the prior week.

Reports and invoices must be fully approved by the noon Friday deadline for timely processing the following week. It is recommended to create a regular schedule for submitting and approving reports to allow sufficient time to meet the processing deadline.

Accounts Payable works to prioritize timely and accurate processing for all invoices. In the event a payment is urgent and the invoice was not submitted by the noon Friday deadline, the invoice may be marked for rush processing under special handling in Chrome River. The Accounts Payable team will work to pick these up with the Thursday processing if possible.

Deadlines for P-Card Expense Reports

P-card transactions should be reviewed and expense reports prepared timely in Chrome River. Lewis & Clark policy requires p-card and expense reimbursement transactions to be submitted within 60 days of the transaction date. The expectation is that p-card charges are reviewed weekly in Chrome River and expense reports completed either weekly or monthly depending on the volume of transactions. Reports should be submitted by the 10th of the following month and reports approved no later than the 15th of the following month.

Processing Student Reimbursements, Stipends, and Awards

Students do not have access to Chrome River for submitting expense reports. All student reimbursements, stipends, and awards will be processed by a Lewis & Clark employee using the Chrome River Invoice module.

Payment Options

Vendor payments may be set up for payment via check or ACH payment.

For reimbursements, the Business Office recommends enrolling in the electronic reimbursement payment option. If not receiving reimbursements electronically, checks may be mailed to a home or business address. We do not mail checks through campus mail. Payment via paper check may also be retrieved from Student and Departmental Account Services if requested when submitting.

Policies

Travel and Entertainment

Employee & Student Expense Reimbursements

Purchases from Vendors

Independent Contractors

Purchase Programs

Staples