ProCard
DePaul University makes a ProCard available to university employees to provide them with the flexibility to quickly and easily obtain goods and services while allowing departments to maintain control over these purchases. The program streamlines small dollar-value purchases to improve efficiency and reduce administrative costs.
Obtaining a ProCard
Full-time faculty and staff are eligible to enroll in the ProCard program by filling out an application with an appropriate signature from their approving official. Additionally, applicants must submit to a criminal background check, in accordance with the Criminal Background Checks - Pre-employment policy, where prior felonies of a financial nature may disqualify the applicant from ProCard eligibility.
The three forms required are:
Once Procurement Services has approved and processed your application, a ProCard will be issued. All new cardholders must complete ProCard training (group session or one-on-one), before the card is released to the user.
ProCard application processing generally takes two to four weeks.
Rules and Restrictions
Acceptance and use of the ProCard requires that the cardholder abide by all rules and restrictions listed in the Procurement Card policy and in the Employee Acknowledgement of Responsibilities. These include restrictions on spend and transaction counts, purchasing restrictions, receipt retention requirements and proper documentation of transactions.
Spend and Transaction Counts
In general, the ProCard is limited to $2,500 per transaction and $10,000 per cycle and limits the number of transactions at 25 per day and 50 per cycle. These limits can be changed at the written request of the approving official and approval by Procurement Services.
Purchasing Restrictions
Restrictions relating to purchases placed on the ProCard include:
- The ProCard is only authorized for DePaul expenses and cannot be used for personal expenses
- Card sharing is not allowed
- Technology purchases (desktops, laptops, printers, networking equipment, software and related accessories) are limited to $500. Items above $500 require a requisition
- Gift cards or other taxable expenses (e.g. parking passes, club memberships, etc) cannot be purchased via the ProCard unless pre-approved by Accounts Payable
- Splitting purchases to circumvent transaction limits is not allowed
- Sales tax generally should not be applied to ProCard transactions as DePaul is a not-for-profit institution
- ProCards cannot be used for consulting services
- ProCards cannot be used for leasing expenses
- Cardholders may not purchase travel/entertainment items for their approving official's individual use
- Purchases that cross fiscal years must be reported to Financial Accounting via the ProCard Prepaid form available online
- Cardholders are not to use the ProCard to purchase items that will be charged against a sponsored program unless they are in accordance with the terms of that specific grant or contract
Additional details and examples of the above restrictions can be found in the ProCard Handbook.
Receipt Retention Requirements
Original receipts for all transactions must be kept on file for a minimum of seven years.
Proper Documentation of Transactions
All transactions on the ProCard must be properly documented in order to comply with DePaul policy and IRS rules. This includes documenting any credits/refunds and transaction fees. Some specific guidelines for documentation include:
- All transactions require a business purpose
- Travel, hotel stays and conference registrations also require the dates of the trip or event
- Meals and entertainment expenses also require the names/titles/company/DePaul affiliations for all attendees
Cardholder Responsibilities
The role of the cardholder is to make purchases according to the established restrictions listed above. The responsibilities of the cardholder include:
- Ensure all purchases are appropriate and fit the university’s needs
- Ensure all restrictions and appropriate policies are followed properly
- Ensure receipts are maintained in accordance with departmental procedures
- Contact the bank immediately if a card is lost or stolen
- Properly document all transactions within the Pathway system
- Review default allocation of transactions to the PeopleSoft chartfield combination and make appropriate changes
- Submit reports online to the approving official for review of transactions
- Submit receipts to the approving official when requested or when online supporting documentation provided by vendor is not sufficient to ascertain the nature of the transaction
- Surrender the ProCard upon termination of employment, whether for retirement, voluntary separation, resignation, or dismissal; ProCards are not transferable
- Protect and secure the ProCard just as any other asset. The ProCard exposes the university to liability for all transactions made up to the date and time it is reported lost or stolen
Approving Official Responsibilities
The role of the approving official is to ensure cardholder’s compliance with university policies and ProCard restrictions. These responsibilities include:
- Review and approve all forms with respect to the enrollment of the Procurement Card program by a cardholder
- Review submitted reports for proper documentation, appropriateness of expenses and proper chartfield allocation
- Review submitted reports for appropriate online documentation provided by vendor (or request receipts when online documentation is not sufficient to ascertain nature of transaction), proper documentation, appropriateness of expenses and proper chartfield allocation
- Ensure that cardholders adhere to the guidelines outlined in the Procurement Card policy and provide disciplinary action whenever necessary
- Follow up with cardholders who have not submitted their report for review
- Reject reports that do not meet these requirements and approve reports that do
- Report any suspected fraud to Procurement Services and Internal Audit
- Obtain the ProCard upon termination of the cardholder’s employment, whether for retirement, voluntary separation, resignation, or dismissal and notify Procurement Services within two business days
Responsibilities of Approving Officials for Cardholders on Leave
If a cardholder goes on leave (maternity, FLMA, military, etc.), the approving official is responsible for notifying Procurement Services so that the card can be temporarily suspended. Once the cardholder returns, the card will be restored to its normal privileges.
If charges occurred on the card prior to the leave, but before the cycle closes, the ProCard Coordinator will submit statements on the cardholder’s behalf so the approving official can enter comments and approve the statement.
Approval Timeline
All transactions should be submitted by the cardholder and approved by an approving official in a timely fashion. In general, this should take place within two weeks following the close of a cycle. Procurement Services regularly distributes deadline information and publishes these dates online as well.
Lost/Stolen Cards & Fraudulent Charges
To report a card lost or stolen, contact the bank immediately at (800) 316-6056. You do not need the card number to report a card lost or stolen, but you will be asked to provide the cardholder's name, as it appears on the card. For verification purposes, JP Morgan Chase may also ask you to provide the primary cardholder's social security number.
If a transaction is uncovered that the cardholder does not recognize, first contact the associated merchant or vendor and attempt to resolve the issue directly. If you are unable to resolve the issue directly within a reasonable period of time (generally, allow no more than two weeks), submit a Charge Dispute Form (available online through the Pathway system) directly to JP Morgan Chase. Charges can only be disputed within 120 calendar days of the transaction date.
Rejected Statements
Approving Officials who do not approve of any or all transactions on a cardholder’s statement should reject it. However, all statements must eventually be approved. To meet this requirement, one of the following scenarios should take place:
- The concern is fixed (eg comments are entered, expense is explained)
- The cardholder reimburses the university for an unapproved expense
- Disciplinary action is taken in accordance with Human Resources policies
Cardholders may be held liable for charges made on the card if it was not reported in a timely manner.
To cancel a card, contact the ProCard Program Administrator. Card cancellations for terminated employees should be submitted as promptly as possible.
Violation Consequences
A ProCard may be revoked for failure to adhere to the rules and restrictions outlined above or failure to comply with the cardholder responsibilities. ProCards may also be revoked at the discretion of the Associate Vice President for Financial Affairs at any time.
Cardholders may be held personally responsible for any inappropriate expenses and may be required to pay back the university. Misappropriation of university funds may also result in further disciplinary action which may include termination of employment.
Pathway System and Online Approvals
The ProCard system utilizes an online method for approvals by a cardholder's approving official. This system can be found at https://pwnet.procard.com/depaul/.
The Pathway system allows cardholders and approving officials to review transactions, enter appropriate documentation and run reports on spend data. Details on how to utilize the Pathway system and descriptions of the available reports is included in the ProCard Handbook.
Procurement Services regularly audits transaction data from Pathway to ensure that cardholders and approving officials are in adherence the rules outlined the Procurement Card policy.
Additional Information
More information on the ProCard can be found at:
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