17. Definitions
17.1. Affidavit for Lost Receipt*: The form that must be completed when a receipt is lost and cannot be obtained from the vendor or J.P. Morgan Chase.
17.2. Assistant P-Card Administrators: The Chicago State University employees from the Office of Financial Affairs (along with the P-Card Administrator) responsible for administering the P-Card Program for the University.
17.3. Cardholder:The Chicago State University employee who has been authorized by the Fiscal Officer and the P-Card Administrators to make purchases on the P-Card. This person is accountable for all charges he or she makes with that card.
17.4. Conflict of Interest Disclosure*: The form that must be completed to identify an actual or potential situation in which the personal interests of a vendor or employee are, or appear to be, in conflict with the best interests of the University.
17.5. Commercial Card Statement: A report available from J.P. Morgan Chase through PaymentNet™ detailing transaction activity for an individual card account number for purchases made during the monthly billing cycle.
17.6. Fiscal Officer: The Chicago State University employee who has been assigned responsibility for an account through an approval process. The Fiscal Officer has overall budgetary responsibility for the department's P-Card program and is responsible for following sound business practices. The Fiscal Officer assigns P-Card roles to employees within the department, balancing control and operating convenience in those designations. The size and organization of the department influences how this separation is accomplished. If a department is small, the Fiscal Officer might designate the same employee to perform two or more P-Card roles. However, to ensure maximum separation of duties, no one employee may function in all four roles (see below for explanation of each P-Card role).
The Fiscal Officer retains final responsibility for control of the program in his/her department. An essential part of this control is the Fiscal Officer's responsibility, or delegation of responsibility, for review and reconciliation of monthly financial reports and statements.
17.7. Merchant Commodity Code (MCC): The MCC is a four digit code assigned to every vendor that accepts MasterCard.
MCCs are assigned by the vendor’s bank. Chicago State University has no control over what MCC is assigned to a vendor.
17.8. Monthly Spending Limit: The total amount of charges allowed per card per month.
17.9. PaymentNet™: An Internet-based financial reporting system owned by J.P. Morgan Chase. The system is a secure web site, which is derived and maintained by J.P. Morgan Chase, using the vendor’s internal servers. Access to PaymentNet™ requires a secure password for the Cardholder and Approving Official in order to review, change and approve P-Card transactions. The P-Card Administrator sets up your password.
17.10. P-Card Administrator: The Chicago State University employee from The Office of Financial affairs is responsible for administering the P-Card Program for the University and acting as the main contact between Chicago State University and J.P. Morgan Chase.
17.11. Primary Approving Official: The Chicago State University employee within each Department who is primarily responsible for approving a Cardholder’s transactions for payment in the PaymentNet™ system. Sound business practices require that an individual other than the cardholder review all purchases made by the cardholder. To expedite operations, this review may be made after the purchase, but a review at some time is a critical part of maintaining internal control. Review of purchases in departments may be made in either of two ways. First, the Fiscal Officer should designate an employee other than the cardholder to reconcile and/or approve purchases in the PaymentNet™. Second, the Fiscal Officer should designate an employee with no P-Card roles to review and reconcile monthly financial reports and statements. Financial reports and statements contain a record of each P-Card purchase made during the month. Optimum control is achieved when both types of reviews are performed. Fiscal Officers must ensure that the employees who review transactions are familiar with business policies and procedures, so their review of P-Card expenditures is thorough and they are sufficiently informed to make determinations regarding appropriate P-Card expenditures.
Employees performing the reviewing function are expected to make inquiries regarding P-Card transactions regardless of their position in the Department relative to that of the P-Card holder. Primary Approving Officials have the ability to reallocate individual charges to multiple account numbers. A Primary Approving Official may oversee more than one Cardholder account, depending on how the Department elects to manage its accounts. The Primary Approving Official is also responsible for verifying that all charges against the Cardholder’s account for that Department are backed up by the appropriate supporting documentation.
17.12. Procurement Card (P-Card): A J.P. Morgan Chase MasterCard issued to an employee of Chicago State University for the purpose of making authorized business-related purchases on behalf of the University. The University will issue payment to J.P. Morgan Chase for charges made with the P-Card.
17.13. Purchasing Card Agreement*: An agreement form signed by the Cardholder and the Fiscal Officer, which verifies that the Cardholder has read and understands the guidelines set forth in the P-Card Program Policy and Procedures Manual and agrees to comply with them.
17.14. Purchasing Card Application*: The form to be completed by prospective Cardholders to obtain a P-Card.
17.15. Purchasing Card Maintenance Form*: The form that must be completed to update Cardholder information or to cancel a card.
17.17. Secondary Approving Official: Assumes responsibilities in the absence of the Primary Approving Official.
17.18. Single Transaction Limit: The total dollar amount (as determined by P-Card Administrators) allowed for a single purchase. The single purchase may include multiple items but the total dollars expended may not exceed the Cardholder’s limit.
17.19. Splitting or Stringing: Splitting or stringing purchases is the practice of processing multiple transactions with a vendor in order to avoid the transaction limit.
17.20. Supporting Documentation: A vendor-produced or non-University document that records the relevant details for each item purchased including quantities, dollar amounts, a description of what was purchased, the total charge amount, and the vendor’s name and address (i.e. sales receipt, original invoice, credit receipt, etc.).
17.21. University Account Number/FOAP: The Chicago State University general ledger account numbers assigned to a P-Card. FOAP is your Fund/Organization/Account/Program. Each P-Card will have a primary default account number assigned to it. All charges made with the P-Card will be posted to the default account number if the charges are not reallocated in the PaymentNet™ system by the designated deadline.
17.22. Vendor: One who sells goods or services.
*All forms can be can be found on-line at www.csu.edu/financialaffairs/pcard.
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