The Smith College procurement card policy can be found at the following link. Any faculty or staff member with a college procurement card, REALLY SHOULD READ IT:

There is one exception granted to the administrative staff at the Science Center. See below under “Food and Travel”…

Procurement Card Pop Quiz

Here are some of the highlights from the Procurement Card Policy that you really can’t afford to miss. Did you know that …

  • You are personally responsible for all charges one any procard in your name. Iit is your responsibility to verify charges every month.
  • There is no such thing as a “department card”. All cards are assigned to an individual responsible for all charges made.
  • There are multiple restrictions on what you can buy with the card, e.g you cannot buy gift-cards or any other type of gifts.
  • Make sure you are not charged tax. This goes for all college purchasing. If documentation is needed, you can find the tax exempt form on the Purchasing Department web site.
  • For every fiscal year, the cardholder is responsible for building a file with ORIGINAL receipts for all purchases on every statement. Every month, you are required to attach all original receipts to the statement, sign it, and put it (the “statement package”) in your pro-card file. The ORIGINAL receipt always goes with the pro-card statement; everybody else gets a copy. If you do a journal entry, all you need to attach is a copy of your statement.
  • In most cases, you are a required to get a second review and signature on the statement package every month before filing it. This is also the person that has to sign any applications for new cards.
    • Staff member card drawing on grant: second signature by grant PI
    • Staff member card drawing on departmental org or fund: second signature by Department Chair
    • Staff member card drawing on administration budget: second signature by supervisor
    • Faculty card drawing on grant where this faculty member is PI: no other signature is required
    • Faculty card drawing on grant where somebody else is PI: second signature by grant PI
    • Faculty card drawing on departmental org or fund: second signature by Department Chair
    • Chair card drawing on departmental org or fund: no other signature is required
  • You have to keep all records in a separate, clearly identified file for 7 years.

For faculty members:

  • You may ask your departmental assistant to help you prepare the statement package every month. Of course, this requires that you keep them well informed about all transactions on your card and that you make sure they get originals of all relevant documents.
  • If your departmental admin is storing records for your card, you also have make sure they have a copy of your card application and agreement form (both with all signatures). These two documents have to be stored with the monthly card files.

Internal and external audits are conducted at random campuswide. This is from the worksheet of the internal audit:

  • Are records in accordance with the Procard record keeping system requirements?
  • Are statements filed in a separate file cabinet drawer?
  • Are monthly statements in the file?
  • Has most recent Cardholder’s statement been reconciled and turned in to Controller’s office for journal reconciliation?
  • Have the individual Cardholder statements been reconciled to receipts?
  • Have individual Cardholder statements been signed & dated by the user?
  • Are appropriate receipts stapled to the statement?
  • Are all receipts accounted for?
  • Has Cardholder stayed within his/her transaction limits?
  • Is the card stored safely when not used?
  • Is the card used by only the Cardholder?
  • Have any of the charges been disputed? If “Yes,” have they been handled appropriately?
  • Does the Cardholder know the procedure to report a lost or stolen Procard?
  • Is a copy of the application and agreement form on file with the cardholder’s records and the procurement card office?
  • Has cardholder been reminded that all records and activity against card are open to review by internal and external auditors?
  • Has the Cardholder complied with the requirement not to purchase any of the restricted commodities?
  • Has Cardholder been informed of records retention requirements and needs to keep expense reimbursement reports on file if card is used for travel purposes?
  • Has card been used only for legitimate college business?
  • Has cardholder confirmed that no personal purchases have been made?
  • Do transactions appear to be dovetailed to avoid the per purchase transaction limit set on the card?
  • Have sales taxes been charged to the purchases?
  • Have credits have been handled appropriately?
  • Have returned items have been handled appropriately?

Food and Travel

The general rule is that the Procurement Card cannot be used for food and travel. See the Pro-card Policy for more details: http://www.smith.edu/purchasing/pcard.php

The following exceptions are granted the administrative staff at the Science Center:

  • Travel and food charges for non-Smith employees (e.g. students, job applicants, guest speakers) may be charged to your pro-card
  • Food orders brought on to campus, e.g lunch sandwiches or pizza may be charged to your pro-card

It still stands that any employee or faculty travel cannot be charged to the pro-card. Employees are responsible for paying for travel themselves and then submitting an Expense Reimbursement Request after their trip. If there is a long time between expenses are incurred and travel takes place (e.g. plane tickets bought 3 months in advance), the correct procedure is:

(1) Submit Accounts Payable voucher when the expense has been occurred. Check the “advance” box.
(2) Submit Expense Reimbursement Form after trip, list ALL expenses incurred, pull the advance back out (see middle section)

You can find the forms you need at the Controller’s Office web site (http://www.smith.edu/controller/Forms.php). The typical turn-around time for processing and payment on such forms by the Controller’s Office is now down to around 3 days as direct deposits are executed for employees twice a week.

Thank you for your help complying with this. If you have any questions about the expense reimbursement policy please contact Christian Lagier or Bill Sheehan. If you have any questions about the use of the procurement card please contact Christian Lagier or Linda Hiesiger.

Conference Fees

Conference fees are NOT considered a travel expense, i.e. falls under regular procurement card policy – you may charge it to your card as any other expense.