Effective April 28, 2025
| To: |
All Cook County Employees and Appointed and Elected Officials
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| From: |
Tanya S. Anthony, Chief Financial Officer
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| Date: |
April 25, 2025
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| Subject: |
Launch of iExpense and Updates to the Business & Travel Expense Policy
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In collaboration with the Bureau of Technology, the Cook County Bureau of Finance spent the last year configuring and implementing a new Oracle EBS module —iExpense— to streamline the employee expense reimbursement process. We are happy to announce that iExpense goes live effective April 28, 2025.
iExpense streamlines the employee reimbursement process allowing:
- Employees to submit reimbursement requests online;
- Departmental authorized approvers to review and approve such requests;
- Employees to track the status of requests; and
- Employees to receive payments through Accounts Payable (AP) on a weekly basis instead of on the payroll cycle.
Please submit your reimbursement requests using the new system effective April 28, 2025. The iExpense User Guide and training videos are available on the Cook County Budget Hub.
Furthermore, the Bureau of Finance has updated the Employee and Official Business and Travel Expense Policy to lessen the burden on employees. Below are the major updates to the policy:
Out-of-town, Overnight Travel Meal Expenses
Employees will be reimbursed for meal expenses incurred on or after the effective date of the policy on an out-of-town, overnight business trip at the GSA Per Diem without itemized receipts (No supporting documents required).
Local Public Transportation
Employees will not be required to submit itemized receipts for use of local public transportation for a local travel performed for the County’s official business if the total cost of the public transportation usage is less than $10 per day.
Please note that all employees, including appointed and elected officials within Cook County government, are subject to the policy. You are strongly encouraged to familiarize yourself with the policy before incurring out-of-pocket expenses to avoid non-reimbursable costs and discipline. Each office should ensure the updated policy is shared with your employees as appropriate. The policy is available here.
Please note that launching iExpense or executing the new policy does not replace the procurement process. The employee reimbursement option should be employed when County agencies are unable to procure goods and services using the process permitted within the Procurement Code or through the Comptroller's e-Payables program.
If you have any questions about the Policy or iExpense utilization, please contact DBMS.Questions@cookcountyil.gov.
Resources:
Exempt Purchases Memo ("Direct Pay")
ePayables
Travel Arrangements
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