College of Charleston response (thanks to Wendy Williams of our
Purchasing Department who so kindly responded about this fairly new
system at our institution):
"S. Trumbull-Camber" wrote:
>
> Another quick Friday survey:
>
> 1) Do you use procurement cards on grants?
Yes, we use our cards to purchase against grant accounts.
>
> 2) If so, do you issue one card per grant, one card per PI, one card per department?
We issue one card per person (PI). There can be several cards within a
department but no individual can have more than one card.
>
> 3) If you issue one card per PI or department, what is the process to post the charges to the individual grants?
We can post charges in various ways. If the bulk of the purchasing done
by a PI is to be charged to one grant, we can have that card default to
that particular grant account. If a PI is purchasing for his/her
department as well as a grant, or multiple grants, we would ask the
individual to choose the account number that they purchase against most
frequently and assign that account as the default account. Then, when
they purchase something they want charged to a different account number,
they would send us a copy of that receipt requesting the charge be
posted against the account number they provide.
>
> 4) Have procurement cards been successful on grants? What challenges have you faced?
It may be a little early to judge the success of the card use for
grants. So far it has been working well. However, we've only been
using the cards since October 1998 and we have not been through a fiscal
year close yet. Since most of our grants close on a different fiscal
year than our state funded accounts, the only problem we anticipate is
that a PI may continue to use the charge card after the grant has
closed. We think we can control this by closing the account number as
it expires. At that point, if the grant rolls over, we would assign a
new default account. If the grant does not continue, the account would
be closed and if purchases were made subsequent to the expiration date,
they would have to be charged to a different account. But the
responsibility is with the PI to stay within his/her budget.
****
And my own concern--
PIs are responsible for keeping all of the backup documentation for
their card--receipts, monthly statements, etc. The thought of an
auditor coming through three years after the close of a grant looking in
a PI's office for all the documentation worries me greatly. I plan to
ask our grants accountant if we should collect those items when a grant
closes and move them to the "official" university file in the grants
office. Even then, I'll bet some of my PIs will have trouble coming up
with all the back-up documentation. Let's face it--these folks want to
be doing teaching and research, not pushing paper!!
Barbara
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
> Susan D. Trumbull-Camber Director
> University of Washington Grant and Contract Accounting
> 3917 University Way NE Campus Box #351122
> Seattle, WA 98105-6692
> PHONE: (206)543-8951 FAX: (206)543-0764
> """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
>
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--
==================================================================
Barbara H. Gray, Director
Research & Grants Administration
College of Charleston
66 George Street
Charleston, SC 29424
Office: 843-953-5673
Direct: 843-953-5885
Fax: 843-953-6577
e-mail: xxxxxx@cofc.edu
http://www.cofc.edu/~orga/
Campus Location: 407G Bell Bldg.
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subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available
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