Account Holder Report and Financial Activity and Balances Report updates

Summary

The merchant field from Expense Reports will be available on the Account Holder Report (AHR) and Financial Activity and Balances (FAB) report starting on May 22.

Previously, the merchant’s name on the Expense Report (ER) displayed as “Expense Report” in the Payee field on the AHR and FAB reports. The merchant’s name will now be displayed in the Payee field for expense lines on the AHR and FAB reports.

This improves the visibility for account holders to review merchants associated to expense items charged to their account(s), along with improved expense trend reporting and analysis for spending reviews and budget analysis. 

Details

The merchant’s name, which will display on the Payee Trend and Transaction Detail sections of the reports, will be derived in the following ways:When a standardized merchant name is available, that merchant will appear in the Payee field. This will reduce or eliminate instances where a single merchant appears on expense reports in multiple ways (e.g., Stop and Shop #588, Stop and Shop #43) or with extraneous information (such as individual ticket numbers).

• Where a standardized merchant name is not available, the merchant name entered on the expense report will appear in the Payee field.
• In specific circumstances where the merchant is left blank, the report will display “No Merchant Name” in the Payee field.
• Accounting Adjustments for Expense Reports will continue to reflect the employee name associated with the adjustment in the Payee field as they do today.
• The impact of this change to the report length is expected to be minimal. 

In general, feedback from business community representatives who previewed the change was positive, particularly on the Transaction Detail pages, where a more complete picture of that transaction will now be found.

Need help?

Should you have any questions, concerns or feedback regarding this enhancement, please reach out to askfinance@yale.edu.