Registration and Travel Expense Reimbursement
1. AAPS should esteem the participation of individuals who are not members of AAPS and are invited to participate at an AAPS meeting by providing expense reimbursement. If non-AAPS members are willing and able to provide their own travel expenses, then they should do so.
2. AAPS esteems and is honored to have its own members participate in AAPS sponsored events. If AAPS members are willing and able to provide for their own travel expenses, they are encouraged to do so as supportive proponents of the association.
3. Complimentary registrations and travel reimbursement for all speakers will be determined by the section representative to the program committee.
4. Reimbursement of travel expenses are limited to reasonable and customary expenses that occur over the minimum amount of travel time necessary for the individual to participate in the AAPS Program Event. For example, speakers at an AAPS symposium held on one day receive reimbursement for round trip coach airfare (with a minimum 21-day advance purchase required), two nights of hotel lodging, meals for two days, and local ground transportation. The Section Chair will determine if funds are available within their allotment or section funds to reimburse business class travel for international speakers.
5. Sections may utilize their allocated complimentary registrations for organizer/moderators if they meet the following criteria:
a) person submitted the session proposal to the AAPS Submission Site;
b) person is the primary contact with speakers and has coordinated the technical content associated with the session;
c) and person is moderating the session This applies to complimentary registrations only. Sections may not use their allocated reimbursement dollars to provide travel reimbursement.
6. The Chair and Co-Chair of the Annual Meeting and the National Biotechnology Conference will receive a complimentary registration.
7. The AAPS President and AAPS President-Elect are both speakers at the Opening Session of the Annual Meeting and the National Biotechnology Conference and therefore receive a complimentary registration to these meetings.
8. Costs associated with travel are done by a reimbursement system. Travel and expenses must occur before the reimbursement can be provided except under very special pre-approved circumstances.
9. Travel reimbursement for AAPS Award Winners at the Annual Meeting have specific restrictions for each award. Award Winners should refer to their specific award for details on the amount of reimbursement. However, the same general principles set forth in this guideline, such as airfare, lodging and meal reimbursement restrictions apply to all Award Winners as well.
Expense Reports:
Reporting of all travel expenses must be completed in a timely fashion and must include appropriate documentation of all expenses incurred. An expense report form is available from the AAPS. A suitable document that clearly itemizes the date, amount and source of each expense and expense category is an acceptable alternative to the AAPS expense form. In either case, the expense report should clearly list the total for all expenses to be reimbursed. Verified receipts for each expense must accompany all reports.
Standard practice should be to file an expense report with the AAPS staff no later than 3 weeks after the end of the meeting. Expense reimbursement requests more than 6 months old may not be processed and reimbursement requests received after more than one year will not be processed. When reimbursement of travel expense has already been given to the participant by another organization or an institution, it is the responsibility of the individual to clearly indicate this fact on the expense report and to indicate to whom a reimbursement check should be written.
Specific Expenses:
Airfare: AAPS speakers requesting reimbursement for airfare will be required to purchase their tickets at least 21 days in advance of their departure date to receive associated discounts for early purchase. Participants not abiding by this policy may not be reimbursed for the difference in cost between their ticket and the same ticket bought 21 days in advance. At all times, AAPS speakers will be encouraged to keep their airfare
costs as reasonable as possible.
AAPS will only reimburse coach/economy fares for travel in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. Additional costs for business class or first class tickets are the responsibility of the speaker. The Section Chair will determine if funds are available within their allotment or section funds to reimburse business class travel for international speakers.
AAPS speakers may be asked to book their flights through a specified travel agent or keep the airfare expense below the fare available through such an agent.
Personal Automobile or Alternative Transportation: If travel to an AAPS meeting is done using the speaker’s automobile or a rental car, the expenses for this transportation will be reimbursed at the current usual and customary per mile rate (for personal auto) or reimbursement of rental car expenses. Expenses for other forms of alternative transportation (bus or train) to the AAPS meeting can also be reimbursed. In any case, the
maximum automobile or alternative transportation expense cannot exceed that permitted for round-trip airfare reimbursement.
Hotel or Lodging: AAPS speakers may submit receipts for lodging expenses for reimbursement for amounts up to the limit of the maximum hotel registration costs for AAPS that are published in association with the AAPS meeting. AAPS will not reimburse lodging expenses above and beyond these typical hotel rates. Incidental expenses such as laundry, telephone calls, movies or entertainment will not be reimbursed. The reimbursement will only cover lodging for the period of nights that the participant is active in the AAPS meeting plus one night for travel (after arrival or before departure). On occasion, a complimentary (no charge) room may be available and provided to AAPS speakers in which case there would be no reimbursement for lodging expenses.
Meals: For meals that are not provided in association with the AAPS meeting, the speaker may receive reasonable reimbursement of meal expenses. Miscellaneous Expenses: Other reasonable and customary expenses such as ground transportation (e.g., taxi cab, shuttle) or parking will be reimbursed. Expenses for a rental car will generally not be reimbursed unless it can be shown that use of a rental car reduced the total expenses association with ground transportation used in association with the AAPS meeting.
Revised 7/19/06