Corporate Purchasing Card Procedures

Lost or Stolen Card
Contact
Card Program Administrator @
828-4232 and the card provider.

CARD MEMBER TRAINING PACKET

CORPORATE PURCHASING CARD

The Corporate Purchasing Card Program was implemented by State Purchasing in conjunction with the Department of Accounts. Use of the card is strongly encouraged for all State agencies and institutions.

CARD BENEFITS:

Place orders conveniently

Phone orders directly to vendor any time of day

Empowerment of cardholders

Cardholders can make purchases without additional approvals

Improved purchase cycle time

Reduce waiting time for department requisition/purchase order

Efficient means of providing prepayment when required

Reduced paperwork

Eliminates need for purchase requisition/purchase order

No receiving reports

Simplified billing and reconciliation

Set individual spending limits

Limit $5000 per transaction

Departments may reduce limits (i.e., per transaction, per month, etc.)

Monitor spending

Management is provided expenditure information via summary reports

Built-in audit trails

Improved vendor relations

Vendors receive prompt payment

Reduced transaction costs

Less administrative effort compared to manual or on-line processing

VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY CORPORATE PURCHASING CARD PROGRAM POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

Overview
Policy
Procedures
Issuance, cancellation and changes
Security
General requirements for usage
Returns, credits, disputed items
Statement reconciliation
Payment approval
Forms:

I. OVERVIEW

The Corporate Purchasing Card is available for University departments. The Corporate Purchasing Card is intended to streamline the procurement and payment process for small purchases.
Cardholders may contact vendors that accept the Corporate Purchasing Card to procure goods and services, with a limitation of $5,000 per purchase. The charge card provider will send a monthly statement to the cardholder. The Corporate Purchasing Card is intended for faculty and staff who have a recurring need to purchase low dollar goods and services from the same vendor. It is less suitable for senior administrators who may approve expenditures, but do not actually contact vendors.

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II. POLICY

The Corporate Purchasing Card shall only be used to purchase goods and services for Virginia Commonwealth University operations, with a $5,000 limit per transaction. All orders exceeding $5,000 must be submitted to University Purchasing on a requisition. Split transactions are strictly prohibited. Equipment or other tangible items (e.g. furniture or computers) costing $2,000 or more must be reported to the Office of Property Management Contact (8-0848). Personal charges, cash advances and business travel or entertainment expenses (including lodging, meals, transportation, and car rental) are not permitted with the Corporate Purchasing Card. Purchases from individuals for services (as opposed to incorporated businesses) are not permitted due to potential IRS tax reporting liability. To maximize the reduction of administrative costs, cardholders are encouraged to utilize vendors who accept the Corporate Purchasing Card. If you would like to have vendors added to the supplier list, please notify the Program Administrator, at corpcard@vcu.edu.

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III. PROCEDURES

A. Card Issuance, Cancellation and Changes: Cards will be issued to individuals designated by their Supervisor, Dean, Director or Department Head. The card will be issued in the name of that designated individual. The cardholder must sign an Corporate Purchasing Card Employee Agreement before obtaining the card. Upon termination of employment, cardholders must notify the Program Administrator. Changes to existing cards are made by contacting the Program Administrator, 828-4232 or e-mail corpcard@vcu.edu. It takes approximately 7 - 14 calendar days to receive a new or replacement card. The card will be mailed to the cardholder's departmental PO Box number. Upon receiving the card, the cardholder must activate the card by calling the number on the sticker attached to the card. The activation process requires you to provide the last six digits of your card number, your name and security code, which is your date of birth.

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B. Security: Authorized use of the Corporate Purchasing Card is limited to the person in whose name the card is issued. The card shall not be loaned to another person. If the cardholder will be away from the University for an extended period, a card may be issued to another person for the duration of the absence using the procedures above.

The Corporate Purchasing Card must be kept in a secure location. The account number shall not be posted or left in a conspicuous place. If the card is lost or stolen, the cardholder must immediately notify the Program Administrator (828-4232) and the card provider.

Cardholders may purchase over the Internet, provided the company's website has a Secured Socket Layer (SSL) Version 2.0 or greater at the point of order entry. A website that has this level of security has https:// in the Address Window.

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C. General Requirements For Card Usage: In order to monitor purchasing activity and perform the required reconciliation of the monthly CPC statements, cardholders should maintain a log ( CPC Purchase Log Sheet/Approval Form ) of their purchases.  The log is not mandatory but is recommended for those individuals with a large volume of activity. This log is updated each time a purchase is made using the card. Cardholders are responsible for ensuring expenditures comply with State and University policies and procedures. Attachment 1 contains information on allowable and non-allowable expenditures. See Allowable and Non-Allowable Expenditures policy. Cardholders who use the card frequently will find it helpful to use a new purchase log sheet at the beginning of each billing cycle. To use the card, the cardholder must:

1. Identify a vendor who provides the required goods or services. The card may be used with any vendor who accepts the card.

2. Call or visit the vendor and place your order. The billing address that should be communicated to the vendor is the cardholder's P.O. Box where the monthly statements are sent. The account number must not be faxed to the vendor. The order can be faxed but the account number must be phoned in to the vendor.

3. Give the vendor your Corporate Purchasing Card account number and expiration date. Your CPC authorization and spending limit will be verified electronically by the vendor.  If requested, provide the vendor with the "Sales and Use Tax Certificate of Exemption" form. The form can be found on the Financial and Reporting website at: http://www.vcu.edu/finance/pdf/st12.pdf .

4. Where applicable, record each order on your purchase log sheet. Include the date, vendor's name, a brief description, amount, and index number or any other point of sale information. For telephone orders, include the salesperson's name and telephone number. This information may be useful if any follow-up with the vendor is required.

5. When the vendor delivers the order, documentation of the purchase (such as a sales receipt or packing slip) should be provided, which must be kept on file for reconciliation to the monthly statement. In the absence of a receipt/packing slip, the cardholder must provide supporting documentation describing the purchase.

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D. Returns, Credits, And Disputed Items: If you have a problem with a purchased item or with billing resulting from the use of the Corporate Purchasing Card, you should first try to resolve the issue with the vendor that provided the item. In most cases, disputes can be resolved directly between the cardholder and the vendor. The cardholder must use the following guidelines when returning an item:

1. The cardholder must send the item back to the vendor in a manner agreed upon by the cardholder and the vendor.

2. Record the return in your purchase log. The vendor should issue you a credit to your account for any item that has been agreed to for return. This credit will appear on a subsequent monthly statement.

3. Documentation of the return (such as a credit receipt) should be issued by the vendor, and kept on file by the cardholder for reconciliation to the monthly statement. Cardholders must specifically request a credit to the Corporate Purchasing Card for any return that was originally charged to the card.

4. If a vendor refuses to credit the Corporate Purchasing Card, the cardholder may obtain a store credit. This credit must be documented on the CPC log sheet. It must be used by the cardholder for legitimate departmental business purposes only. The receipt for the use of the store credit must be retained with the cardholder's supporting documentation for audit purposes. Whenever a store credit is obtained for a return charged to the CPC, the cardholder must notify VCU's Corporate Card Administratiom at corpcard@vcu.edu. VCU is required to report this information to DOA.

5. If you are unable to resolve a dispute with the vendor, contact the VCU Corporate Card Administrator at 828-4232. The card provider will investigate and resolve the dispute on the cardholder's behalf.

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E. Reconciliation Of The Monthly Statement: Each department is responsible for retaining documentation of orders and returns, and (with the aid of your purchasing log if maintained) reconciling them to the monthly CPC statement. The following guidelines are to be used:

1. Each cardholder will receive a monthly statement that must be compared to your purchase log or to the outstanding receipts/packing slips to verify that orders and returns are accurately listed on the statement. Any pricing discrepancies between the purchase log and statement must be documented and resolved. Cardholders must maintain supporting documentation (packing slips, receipts, etc.) with their statement.

2. Purchases listed on the purchase log or receipts/packing slips not posted on the statement must be appropriately noted to ensure proper reconciliation. Receipts/packing slips remain in a pending file until the next billing cycle.

3. For purchases on the statement but missing from the purchase log or unexplained, you must document the discrepancy either on the log or the statement and reconcile differences with the vendor as needed. The total amount due on the statement will be processed for payment.

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F. Approval for Payment: At the end of each billing cycle, the cardholder must certify that the payment for goods and services were legitimately purchased and received in accordance with State procedures and regulations. The purchase log provides a location for the supervisor or departmental fiscal authority and the cardholder's certification signatures. In the absence of a log, both signatures are recorded on the face of the monthly statement. The statement must be reconciled, signed and countersigned. This should be completed prior to receipt of the next statement. The monthly statements, receipts/packing slips, supporting documentation, and log sheets (when available) must be retained in the department.

1. The cut-off date for statement billing will be about the 15th of each month. The statement billing cycle can be found on the DOA website at: Statement Cycle Dates. Cardholders should obtain a copy of their statement if it has not been received by the 20th of the month. Cardholders can access the card provider on-line system to obtain copies of their statement at: http://www.genetservice.com

2. Accounts Payable must pay CPC statements/invoices promptly to avoid finance/late charges and comply with the Commonwealth of Virginia's Prompt Pay Act. Therefore, Accounts Payable will charge the department's default index number (listed on the CPC employee agreement) for the amount due. Any corrections needed to the index number distribution will be the responsibility of the department and should be handled via a Journal Voucher. Account number 620002 will be used for recording all such expenditures.

3. Departments must retain copies of their statements and all documentation for a period of three years. These records are subject to review by University officials and auditors.

4. Monthly log sheets or the statement must be approved by the cardholder's supervisor or the fiscal authority within the department.

G. Card Suspension or Revocation: An individual's card privileges may be suspended or revoked on the basis of any of the following infractions:

1. failure to maintain appropriate documentation
2. card sharing
3. failure to reconcile statements timely and obtain appropriate signatures and dates on log sheets or statements
4. inappropriate use of the card
5. faxing card number
6. failure to respond to compliance/audit requests

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ALLOWABLE/NON-ALLOWABLE EXPENDITURES