Corporate Card Policy

Policy Overview

The Corporate Card is a personal liability. Failure to comply with Corporate Card policy will negatively impact your personal credit history.

Obtaining a Corporate Card

To obtain a Harvard Corporate Card, the employee should read the instruction and fill out the electronic credit card application at http://vpf-web.harvard.edu/ofs/travel/security/ge_cardapp.shtml . The employee should fill in his/her reporting manager's name and address in the appropriate field. Once the form is submitted, the Manager will receive an e-mail notification and PIN to login to approve the application. The manager must forward the application to the local Financial Dean (Penny Kaligian penny_kaligian@harvard.edu ). The Financial Dean will receive an e-mail notification and PIN to use to login to approve the application. Please note that the Travel Office will reject any application which is not first forwarded to the Financial Dean.

The applicant should receive the card directly in the mail within 10 days. Inquiries as to the application status should be referred to the Travel Office. Applicants should immediately activate and sign the Corporate Card and keep it secure at all times.

Cardholder Responsibility

Upon signing the Corporate Card application, an employee agrees to be liable for payment to the credit card company of all amounts charged to the Corporate Card, regardless of purpose.

The credit card company requires that all payments be received upon receipt of the statement. Should your payment not be made on or before 30 days of the statement date, the credit card company will send you a written warning. If the bill goes unpaid for 60 days, the credit card company reserves the right to suspend your card privileges. After 90 days of non-payment, your card will be cancelled.

It is the cardholder's responsibility to ensure a local administrative process is in place to assure timely payments are made for all business expenses. It is the cardholder's responsibility to make sure the expense report and all original receipts are photocopied and retained prior to submission in order to ease processing in the event an expense report is lost in the mail. Cardholders are also responsible for making sure that all anticipated payments have been properly posted to their Corporate Card. UIS/OAS Finance recommends that card holders review their statements and/or on-line accounts on a monthly basis to verify that transactions are being processed as expected. Please contact Ahmed Ahmed if you see any improper postings to your account.

Credit Card Management

Delinquency Fees

The Corporate Cardholder is responsible for ensuring all transactions are processed within 30 days of the statement date. Cardholders must allow 10 calendar days prior to due date for processing and approving upon submission of Universal Expense Form to the Accounting Office (OAS users should submit receipts to Kate Arnold at least an additional 10 calendar days prior to due date, to allow sufficient time for internal processing and approving). All delinquency fees charged to the Corporate Card as a result of late payment are the responsibility of the cardholder. On an exception basis, delinquency charges may be paid by the business unit. This decision will be made at the discretion of both your manager and the Financial Dean.

Examples of delinquency fees that will be the responsibility of the cardholder are:

• Late processing fees due to vacation or business travel
• Late processing fees due to failure of local administrative processes
• UEF is lost in the mail (local copies must be retained)
• Untimely processing of expenses
• Delays in processing due to improper completion of UEF. Examples of common reasons for rejection of forms by the University Travel Office include:
• lack of proper receipts or missing receipts
• inclusion of faxed copies rather than original receipts
• inclusion of airline boarding passes rather than original tickets or on-line confirmation
• incomplete business purpose/description
• request for non-reimbursable expenses (see below paragraph on unallowable expenses)
• lack of inclusion of list of attendees at department sponsored events (e.g. retiree luncheon)
• expenses related to non-Harvard employees (e.g. spouse accompanied business trip – requires approval from Director and Financial Dean)
• Failure to receive a credit card statement (statements are available on-line or from the credit card company – statement is not required to complete UEF)

Unallowable Expenses

Transaction types or expenses that are unallowable and will not be reimbursed by the University are listed in the University's Financial Administration web site . The chart also identifies expenses that ordinarily are unallowable, but for which exceptions can be made in certain circumstances, and a list of reasons that may qualify for exception to the normal policy.

Closing a Corporate Card Account

An employee who transfers to another department may keep his/her existing Corporate Card; however , the employee must notify the Travel and Reimbursement Office and Ahmed Ahmed of the transfer in writing. Upon transferring, all future corporate card transactions should be processed by following the new departments process.