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FY06 - March 2006 - ISSUE 6
University policy governs the use of Harvard's Purchasing Card (PCard). See Purchasing Card
Manual at http://able.harvard.edu/pcard/manual/.
The program was implemented in 1997 as a cost effective method to purchase and pay for small dollar transactions.
The intent was to pay vendors faster and reduce University administrative costs.
Best practices include:
Cardholders should:
- Attend training and sign a cardholder agreement outlining their responsibilities
- Keep the card in a safe location at all times
- Use the card for Harvard business purposes only
- Notify vendors of the University’s tax exemption
- Edit transactions in the settlement system each week by including business purpose and modifying general ledger coding
- Obtain receipts and submit them to the reviewer each week
- Review monthly statement from GE Capital and reconcile transactions
Cardholders should not:
- Share their card with other employees
- Make personal purchases
- Split transactions with vendors to avoid credit card single purchase or monthly limits
- Purchase restricted commodities including out of town travel and meals, unincorporated vendors, and gifts over $75
Reviewers should:
- Review all transactions prior to the weekly PCard sweep
- Ensure spending is in support of University business and in compliance with policies and procedures
- Ensure cardholders have provided adequate documentation to support business purpose
- Check general ledger coding for accuracy
- Compare detailed listings to the settlement system to detect unreviewed transactions
- Maintain receipts in compliance with University record retention policies
- Collect cards from terminated employees and notify/send cut up card to Tub and Central PCard Administrators
The University deadline for closing FY06 capital assets will be on
June 9, 2006. Please plan accordingly and be sure to:
- Complete and submit Form 1 to your Business Director for approval of each planned capital asset purchase
prior to purchasing equipment. The Executive Director’s approval is also required if cost of capital
asset is greater than $10,000.
- Please remember to leave enough time to order, receive, and pay for equipment by June 9th. Submit all
capital related invoices to Accounting with proper coding for payment prior to May 30th, which allows 10
calendar days for processing.
Note: The University can not close an asset by the deadline of June 9, 2006 unless all invoices
have been processed and posted to the General Ledger
- Confirm that all equipment is received and will be operational by June 30th
Forms and invoices for capital purchases received after the deadlines stated above will be processed
in fiscal year 2007. If you have any questions, please contact your financial partner.
Please note the following update to the Contract Review, Approval and Management policy that
was published in the February issue of the Financial Newsletter:
Any contract with an external vendor who works with Harvard confidential information, with credit
card information, or with financial information covered by the Gramm Leach Bliley Act must
have the appropriate contract rider associated with it. This applies to re-negotiated contracts as well
as new agreements.
Contract riders can be found at
http://www.security.harvard.edu/protected_files/contract.php
(pin login required). This security web site is also a source of guidelines for appropriate use of Harvard
data, both financial and confidential.
Equipment Coding – 6750 vs. Capital
Equipment is either expensed or capitalized at the time of purchase. To determine if your equipment must
be capitalized as an asset, both of the following statements must hold true:
- The equipment has a useful life of at least two years AND
- Each (stand alone) piece of equipment costs more than $5,000
If these requirements are met, the equipment must be capitalized. Contact your financial
partner prior to purchasing the equipment to complete all required asset forms, including the Executive
Director’s approval if cost of the capital asset is more than $10,000.
If the equipment being purchased costs less than $5,000 or has a short useful life, it should be
charged as a current period operating expense to object code 6750 - Computer Hardware <$5000, GENERAL.
We hope that this issue of the UIS/OAS Financial News has been helpful and
informative. If you have any questions, or would like to see a specific topic covered in a
future publication, please email us at uisfin_news@harvard.edu
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