As an approving official (AO) in the department’s procurement card program, you control the program’s integrity by reviewing and approving the cardholders’ procurement card transactions. This includes:
- Ensuring that required documentation is provided for all transactions.
- Reviewing the documentation to verify that purchases:
- Are not personal purchases (employee fraud).
- Are appropriate for university use and are for valid business purposes.
- If being paid for by sponsored projects, they are within the terms of the sponsored project.
- Comply with procurement card policies. If you discover any violations of these policies, you should complete and submit a Violation Notice Form.
- Approving the monthly expense reports submitted to you by your cardholders.
- As an approving official, you are required to review receipts and verify that the required documentation is attached before approving the expense report. An audit trail is retained in Concur to identify who, if anyone, has reviewed the receipts attached to each report.
Valid Documentation
Valid documentation substantiates a purchase and allows the cardholder’s department to confirm that the items purchased are for university business and are compliant with university policies. Valid forms of documentation for a transaction may include any of the following:
- Itemized (detailed) receipt from the merchant
- Packing slip from delivery
- Forms for dues, subscriptions, registration
- Invoice
- Email confirmation from the merchant
The form of the documentation should include the following information:
- Merchant name
- Date of purchase
- Description and quantity of each item purchased
- Total cost or per-item cost of the order
Your role as an approving official is to lessen the risks by reviewing the documentation and taking appropriate action if a violation is found.
For every transaction as an AO, you should ask yourself the following questions.
- Could this be an inadvertent personal purchase?
- Is it appropriate for university use, and does it have a valid business purpose?
- Is it allowed to be purchased using the procurement card?
As an AO, you receive various email notifications to help you fulfill your responsibilities as an AO.
- Weekly Procurement Card Transactions: This email summarizes your cardholders’ transactions during the previous week. It is useful in monitoring purchase activity and protecting against card misuse or fraud.
- Monthly Past Due (Unsubmitted) Procurement Card Transactions: These are procurement card transactions that are more than 30 days old and have not been attached and submitted to an expense report. The report is useful to ensure the timely submission of expense reports.
- Report Pending Approval: This notifies you that a cardholder has submitted an expense report (procurement card or travel reimbursement) for review and approval.
- Report Still Pending Approval: This notifies the AO that they have not acted on an expense report, although it was submitted five days earlier. This is helpful for timely review and approval of reports (or a report can be returned to the cardholder).
Action Item: The Department of Psychiatry requires all Approving Officials to take the training annually. Below is the required course.
CU: Procurement Card Approving Official Training – a00025
If you have taken the required course within 12 months, you do not need to retake it, but please provide the certificates of completion to Stephanie Livingston. If it’s been longer than 12 months, you must retake it and email Stephanie Livingston the certificate of completion. It must be retaken by October 1, 2025.
