Reimbursement Guidelines for DOC Symposia at National ACS Meetings

  • Who is eligible for reimbursement of reasonable travel expenses?
    • Academic speakers,
    • and speakers working for the government or non-profit institutions.
  • A typical reimbursement request could include:
    • Travel – non-refundable round-trip economy airfare to the meeting. Ground transportation to and from airports only. Airport parking, mileage (using the IRS Business Mileage Rate for car travel) and tolls. Mileage and tolls must not exceed $500 unless previously authorized.
    • Registration – ACS members are expected to take advantage of early registration if applicable. Please note that a cheaper one-day registration is available if the speaker will only be at the meeting for the day of the symposium. Foreign non-members are also eligible for the higher fees.
    • Accommodation – Two night’s stay in a hotel (please choose one from the ACS list, if possible).
  • Industrial speakers are typically not eligible for reimbursement, however in some unusual circumstances, limited reimbursement may be allowable.
  • For domestic speakers, reimbursements will be made by check, mailed to the speaker’s home address, unless otherwise requested. For foreign speakers, reimbursements will be made by wire transfer: Complete and attach the wire transfer form (checks can be mailed upon request but usually results in significant postal delays).
  • Reimbursement amount outside the guidelines is at the discretion of the Program Chair and Division Treasurer.
  • The total amount available for reimbursement for a single half-day session is $4,000.
    • Any additional funds raised by the symposium organizer must be approved by the Program Chair and Division Treasurer at least one month in advance of the symposium. These additional funds are technically donated to the DOC, which formally funds the symposia at the National Meetings.
  • The symposium organizer may also host a symposium speakers’ luncheon or dinner during the ACS meeting if there is sufficient funding (within the total funding allocation of $4000). Meal expenses should not exceed $150 per person or $1,250 per symposium session. The Division’s Executive Committee should approve amounts in excess of these guidelines at least one month in advance of the symposium.
  • Symposium organizers are eligible for reimbursement within the above guidelines.

    • All reimbursements must be submitted to the Program Chair within two weeks of the end of the meeting.

 

For a successful submission, please follow the instructions below.

The Individual/Speaker will:

  • Create a single PDF file that includes the Reimbursement Form (DOC) (available as a MsWord file) as page 1 and relevant receipts on subsequent pages. Note: a home address is strongly preferred, and an email address is required.
  • Name the file using the speaker’s name: lastname_firstname_$xx.xx.pdf where $xx.xx is the amount to be reimbursed.
  • Submit the PDF file using this Online Submission Form. The use of this form is required.

The Symposium Organizer:

  • Manages the overall expenses for their organized symposium on behalf of the DOC, so please be sure that the speakers understand the guidelines before the symposium.
  • As an organizer, it is your responsibility to determine the distribution of available funds. This is critical when there are not enough funds to pay all of the expenses encumbered by invited speakers. In this case, you must indicate the level of partial reimbursements to be accorded to each speaker.
  • Collect a pdf file from each speaker (see above – upon speaker submission, each file will come to you as link in an email message that also has the relevant information included).
  • Review each PDF file and make sure that it has
    1. the completed DOC reimbursement page as page 1,
    2. the relevant receipts, and
    3. is named as prescribed above: lastname_firstname_$xx.xx.pdf.
  • Review the requested amount for each submission for completeness.
  • Review the receipts and ensure all are attached.
  • Compile the relevant data into an excel spreadsheet using this Excel File Template.
  • Name the Excel file “DOC_Symposia_Reimbursement_[Spring or Fall]_202X.xls”.
  • Compose a brief email to the Program Chair and include the Excel file and 1 PDF file per person to be reimbursed.
  • Note: all speaker reimbursements for a specific symposium need to be made in a single request – secondary requests may not be reimbursed.

The Program Chair will:

  • Review the excel documents, looking for duplicate submissions and/or speakers in multiple sessions.
  • Transfer the PDF files and the Excel Documents to the to the Treasurer.