Roles and Responsibilities

The University offers guidance for cardholders and those individuals who function as allocators and approvers.  Click on the bullet below that matches your area of accountability.

• Cardholder

  • The Cardholder initiates purchasing card purchase transactions in accordance with University policies, procedures and the cardholder agreement, and School or Center specific internal requirements. All Cardholders will have a 'Cardholder' role in the online transaction management system, PaymentNet. As a Cardholder, you are responsible to comply with the following:

    • Adhere to Purchasing/Fleet Card Policies and Procedures (2303).
    • Purchase items in accordance with the proper method of payment as indicated in the BEN Financials Commodity Matrix.
    • Retain all receipts of your purchases as supporting documentation.
    • Resolve all purchasing transaction disputes with the supplier.
    • Review purchasing transactions in PaymentNet and if applicable, submit disputes via PaymentNet after exhausting all other options for resolution with the supplier.
    • Track all outstanding purchasing card transaction credits, interact with the supplier to ensure that all outstanding credits are processed and received in a timely manner. Ensure that the purchasing card transaction credits received are applied against the appropriate budget account number. Contact the Card Program Administrator regarding any issues related to the timely receipt of outstanding supplier credits.
    • Document the business purpose of the purchase.
      • NOTE: Cardholders will have until Friday at 5 pm of every week to enter "Notes" reflecting business purpose directly into PaymentNet.
    • Print the monthly Statement of Account from within PaymentNet.
      • NOTE: The cardholder has three ways of documenting the business purpose:
        1. Enter business purpose in the transaction notes field in PaymentNet.
        2. Write the business purpose on the receipt.
        3. Write the business purpose on the monthly Statement of Account.
      • NOTE: Entering the business purpose for the transaction in the transaction notes field in PaymentNet is the preferred option for documenting business purpose.
    • Attach original receipts and supporting documentation of transaction to the monthly Statement of Account for approval and retention.
    • Sign and date the monthly Statement of Account.
    • To assure that transactions are charged to the appropriate accounts, the Cardholder provides the person performing the reallocation (Reallocator) with the appropriate fund and object code numbers.
      • NOTE: If Cardholders are not sure of the appropriate fund or object codes, it is recommended the Cardholder consults with their Transaction Approver to obtain the appropriate information.
    • Submit the monthly Statement of Account with supporting documentation to the Transaction Approver.
    • Make a copy of all original receipts and supporting documentation and the monthly Statement of Account and retain for your records.
    • Submit Statements of Accounts with original receipts and supporting documentation to the Transaction Approver.
• Reallocator

  • The Reallocator role is assigned to individuals who reallocate purchasing charges from the default account number to the correct fund and object code within the University's BEN Financial system. This role is not a role within the PaymentNet application. As a Reallocator, you are responsible to comply with the following:

    • Receive transaction information referencing the appropriate fund or object code to which the transaction charges should be reallocated.
    • Log onto the BEN Financials system to perform the journal reallocation on a weekly basis.
    • Enter adjusting journal entries for transaction reallocations which were already posted as a result of missing the weekly reallocation cut-off.
      • NOTE: Per University Purchasing Card best practice guidelines, it is recommended that Cardholders should not reallocate their own purchasing card transactions, to sufficiently segregate duties. Also, the Reallocator role and the Transaction Approver role, defined below, may be assigned to the same individual.
• Transaction Approver

  • The Transaction Approver role, previously akin to the Reviewer role, is assigned to an individual who has financial responsibility for the purchases made by one or more cardholders. The Transaction Approver is also a role within the PaymentNet application. As a Transaction Approver, you are responsible to comply with the following:

    • Receive a signed monthly Cardholder Statement of Account along with all supporting documentation on a monthly basis following the end of the Purchasing Card billing cycle.
      • NOTE: The purchasing card billing cycle is the 27th of the month through the 28th of the following month.
    • Review and confirm the monthly Statement of Account and supporting documentation for each Cardholder complies with University Policies and Procedures such that:
    1. Supporting documentation is in compliance with the Purchasing Card's Policy and Audit Guidelines
    2. The Purchasing/Fleet Card was the appropriate business tool used for the transactions (refer to the BEN Financials Commodity Matrix)
    3. No transaction appears to be for personal use
    4. No split charges exist
    5. The business nature of the transaction is documented in the transaction notes field via PaymentNet, on the receipt or on the monthly Statement of Account. Contact the Cardholder for an explanation for the business purpose if a transaction is found to be questionable.
    • • NOTE: Both the Cardholder and Transaction Approver will need to initial any changes to the monthly Statement of Account in the case a transaction was voided.
    • Sign, date and file each Cardholder's monthly Statement of Account after you have confirmed the use of the Cardholder Purchasing/Fleet Card was in adherence to University Purchasing Card Policies and Procedures.
    • From within the PaymentNet application, the Transaction Approvers have the ability to:
    1. Run various reports in the PaymentNet application to monitor Purchasing/Fleet card activity.
    2. Enter Cardholder transaction notes.
    • • NOTE: The Transaction Approver is authorized to enter "Notes" directly into PaymentNet on behalf of the cardholder reflecting the transaction business purpose prior to the weekly transactions being exported into BEN Financials.
        • Print a monthly Statement of Account for any Cardholder within their responsibility
• Manager

  • The Manager role is reserved for individuals who monitor purchasing activity across their organization. The Manager role is also a role within the PaymentNet application. As a Manager, you are responsible to comply with the following:

    • Ensure the Purchasing Card program for your area of responsibility is conducted in compliance with University Purchasing Policies and Procedures.
    • Maintain supervisory and operational oversight of the purchasing card program within your area of responsibility.
    • Leverage the transaction reporting and query tools available through the PaymentNet application for the purpose of monitoring and auditing Purchasing/Fleet card activity.
• Application Approver

  • The Online Application Approver will be notified of any pending Purchasing Card applications via email
    

    • To approve an application, the Approver will log into PaymentNet and--using their "Application Approver" role add default account number and submit to second approver(BA) for final department review from drop down box.
• Auditor

  • The Auditor role allows the individual to see information for ALL Cardholders, Transaction Approvers, and Managers throughout the University for purposes of program oversight and general management. Please see the Purchasing Card Audit Guidelines for Schools and Centers for full description of responsibility