How to Access Audit Rules
From the Expense Settings page, under the Policy section, select Edit from Expense Compliance.
Configuring Audit Rules
Objectives
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
- Access audit rules.
- Discuss conditions and exceptions.
- Explain triggers.
- Describe the use of multiple expense types for audit rules.
- Discuss the use of multi-level lists for audit rules.
- Add a new audit rule.
- Edit an existing audit rule.
- Activate/deactivate an audit rule.
Path to Access Audit Rules
Conditions and Exceptions for Audit Rules
General concepts about Conditions
Custom audit rules are if/then statements meaning that if the defined conditions are met, then an exception is created. When creating or editing a custom audit rule, you must define the conditional expressions - the if portion of the rule.
The expression can contain one or more conditions separated by and or or.
When you create or edit a custom audit rule, you must assign an exception - the then portion of the if/then statement. All exceptions contain the following:
- Exception code - this is the company-defined code for the exception, up to eight alphanumeric characters, all uppercase.
- Exception level - company decides either to block or warn.
Examples of Conditions for Audit Rules
Examples of Conditions
- Assume that you want to monitor all car rentals involving a vendor other than the company's preferred vendor, which is Avis. The condition for the expense-related rule for car rental from a vendor other than Avis is: (Expense Type equals Car Rental) and (Vendor is not equal to Avis). In the Audit Rule tool, it appears as:
- Assume that you want to monitor all expense reports submitted by one employee. The condition for the employee-related rule for review all expense reports submitted by Jack Aranda (whose employee ID is xxx). In the Audit Rule tool, it appears as:
Triggers for Audit Rules
Audit rules are triggered when certain conditions meet predefined criteria. These criteria are designed to automatically flag non-compliant , suspicious, or erroneous expense transactions or reports for review. When you create or edit a custom audit rule, you must specify the event that triggers the rule.
| Event | Description |
|---|---|
| Allocation Save | The rule is triggered as each individual allocation line item is saved. |
| Entry Attendee Submit | The rule is triggered when the expense is submitted. |
| Entry Save | The rule is triggered when an expense is saved, whether by the user, approver, or processor. Caution If a rule that is triggered at Entry Save contains a report field in its condition, then the rule is also triggered at Report Save. |
| Entry Submit | The rule is triggered when the expense is submitted. Caution Entry Submit rules are processed before Report Submit rules. |
| Post Report Submit | The rule is triggered immediately after a report enters the first step of workflow. Any exceptions generated will not prevent the report from being submitted. |
| Report Save | The rule is triggered immediately after the report header information is saved whether by the user, approver, or processor. |
| Report Submit | The rule is triggered when the report is submitted. Caution If there are exceptions generated that are above the exception level limit (that is, prevents report submission), then the report will not be submitted and will not enter the first step of a workflow. |
Examples of common triggers for audit rules include:
- Missing or incomplete receipts
- Duplicate expenses
- Out-of-Pocket expenses
- Currency conversion errors
Use of multiple expense types for Audit Rules
In/Not and Equal/Not Equal
Assume you want to create a custom audit rule that includes several expense types. When you select Entry form the Data Object list on the Conditions page, the choices of In, Not In, Equal and Not Equal appear in the Selected Operator helper pane.
If you select In or Not In, then you can select more than one expense type to include in or exclude from the audit rule.
If you select Equal or Not Equal, then only one expense type can be selected.
Caution
This option of selecting multiple objects applies only to expense types.Use of multi-level lists for Audit Rules
You can create rules based on data in multi-level lists. To do this, select the appropriate level in the list. In this example, the rule is based on the first level of a multi-level list, which is Department.
When you select Department, then the name of the list appears, which in this case is Division-Company-Department. You must select the connected list. Next, you must choose the appropriate department from the choices, which in this case is Corporate.
How to Add a New Audit Rule
Follow these steps to create a new audit rule. We'll walk you through each part of the process, complete with detailed instructions and screenshots to help you along the way.
Once you complete these steps, a demo video will be available to reinforce what you've learned and provide a quick recap.
Steps
Once you navigate to the Compliance Control - Custom Audit Rules page, select New.
The Audit Rule step appears.
Complete the appropriate fields on the Audit Rule step:
- Name (required) - type a unique name.
- Event (required) - select the event that triggers the rule: Allocation Save, Entry Save, Entry Submit, Report Save, Report Submit.
- Applies To: (required) - select the appropriate group(s). The groups that you see here are the groups that you added on the Policy Groups page, in addition to the default groups.
- Active: (optional) - select Yes to activate the rule upon completion or leave it as No, and you can activate the rule later.
Select Next. The Conditions step appear.
Complete the appropriate fields, making selections from the helper pane. On the Conditions tab, insert the conditions for the audit rule, using:
- Insert - to add conditions
- Data Object/Operator
- Field/Value
- And, Or
Note
If you select Insert, the new condition is added at the bottom. To insert a new condition between existing conditions, select the condition that will be below the new condition. Once you select Insert, a new blank row appears.When all conditions have been added, select Next. The Exception step appears.
From the Exception Visibility list, select the users who are able to see the exception message by selecting on of the following:
- Traveler, Approver, and Expense Processor
- Approver and Expense Processor
- Processor
For the exception, you can either:
- Use an existing exception.
- Create a new exception.
To use an existing exception, select the desired exception. It appears in the Exception Code, Exception Level and Exception Text fields at the top of the page.
To create a new exception, select New. The New Exception window appears.
Complete the appropriate fields.
Field Description Exception Code Enter a unique identifier for this exception. For example: Exception Level Select one of the following: - Warn - allows users to complete the event.
- Block - prevents users from completing the event.
Message Enter a message that will be displayed to the user if the exception is triggered by an event. 
Select Save to save the new Exception.
Select Done to save the audit rule.
Result
How to Modify an Existing Audit Rule
Follow these steps to modify an audit rule. We'll walk you through each part of the process, complete with detailed instructions and screenshots to help you along the way.
Once you complete these steps, a demo video will be available to reinforce what you've learned and provide a quick recap.
Steps
On the Custom Audit Rules page, select the rule you want to edit. Select Modify.
The Audit Rule step appears.
Make any desired changes. Choose Next.
The Conditions step appears.
Edit the condition(s) as needed. Choose Next.
The Exception step appears.
Make any selections and desired changes. Select Done to save these changes.
Hint
If you want to keep the original custom audit rule as it was created by default without modifying it, you can first copy the rule and then make edits to the copy.
Result
How to Activate/Deactivate an Audit Rule
Activate a rule with you are ready to use it.
Follow these steps to activate an audit rule. We'll walk you through each part of the process, complete with detailed instructions and screenshots to help you along the way.
Once you complete these steps, a demo video will be available to reinforce what you've learned and provide a quick recap.
Steps
On the Custom Audit Rules page, select the rule you want to activate.
Choose Activate.
Hint
Rather than deleting a rule, you can choose to deactivate it. This keeps the rule available for future use if needed. However, if you prefer to permanently delete the rule, select Remove.
Result
Summary
Thank you for completing this unit!
Throughout the lessons, you have gained a solid understanding on how to work with audit rules in Concur Expense. This unit provided a detailed overview of audit rules basics, including how to create, modify, activate and deactivate them to ensure compliance and streamline your organization's expense management process.
Before you move on from this unit, there is a knowledge check to help reinforce and assess what you've learned.
Log in to track your progress & complete quizzes