Business Purpose

• April 1st, 2019
• in News

Each purchasing card transaction must be documented appropriately to ensure the allowability of the expense.  This documentation includes business purpose statements. A good explanation of the reason for the purchase is crucial in determining whether an expense is allowable, depending on the funding source. A good business purpose explanation will answer the following questions:

• Why was the purchase necessary?
• How does the purchase benefit the mission and goals of the University and the department?

The Expenditure Matrix on the Procurement website is a good resource to determine if a business purpose statement is required; however, if you anticipate any questions regarding the allowability of your purchases, it is always a good idea to include a business purpose. Good business purpose statements on your reports will ensure faster processing and fewer reports sent back to users.

P-Card Due Date Extension

• March 8th, 2019
• in News

P-Card transactions for the month are due in Procurement Services by 5 pm on the 18th of the following month unless the 18th falls on a weekend or holiday. If this is the case, expense reports are due by 5 pm on the following working day.

Due to the Spring Break holiday, the due date for February P-Card transactions to be reconciled in Concur has been extended to Monday, March 25, at 5 pm. If you have any questions or need any help reconciling, please email pcard@ua.edu.

Checking Available Credit on Your P-Card

• February 7th, 2019
• in News

Regions has an automated customer service number that can be used to check your available credit at any time, day or night. The fastest way to check the available credit on your P-Card is to call this number, which is listed on the back of your card (888-934-1087). Select option 1 for General Card Information, then enter your 16-digit card number. Next, you will be asked for your four-digit access code. This is the last 4 digits of your CWID. To hear your available credit and total credit limit on your card, press 2. If you are in need of a monthly or single purchase limit increase, please email pcard@ua.edu.

P-Card Suspension Date Extended

• January 3rd, 2019
• in News

P-Card transactions for the month are due in Procurement Services by 5 pm on the 18th of the following month unless the 18th falls on a weekend or holiday. If this is the case, expense reports are due by 5 pm on the following working day.

With the Christmas holidays ending, the date for card suspensions for outstanding November transactions has been moved to Wednesday morning, January 9. Budget Managers will receive a listing of outstanding transactions on Monday, January 7. All cardholders and their direct supervisors should have received a listing of their specific outstanding transactions on Thursday night, December 27. If you have any questions or need any help reconciling, please email pcard@ua.edu.

Fraud Prevention

• December 5th, 2018
• in News

To minimize the possibility of fraud occurring on a P-Card, we suggest not storing your card number in any online accounts, keeping your card in a secure location at all times, and reviewing transactions as they post to your Concur account. If you have not disabled email notifications in Concur, you should receive an email every time a transaction posts to your account. The earlier the fraud is found, the easier it is to correct.

Additional suggestions from our credit card provider, Regions, are below:

• When shopping online, check for lock icon and the ‘s,’ as in “https” in the website address. This means that the website is secure. If the ‘s’ is not there, do not enter your card number.
• Don’t use public Wi-Fi to shop online, whether it is by cell phone or laptop. Always use your data or your home/work Wi-Fi if you’re behind a firewall.
• Make sure your passwords are secure. Use a mixture of upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters.
• Trust your instinct. If the terminal you’re using looks funny, or the website doesn’t look right, don’t buy.
• “Dip your chip” when visiting an actual merchant. Data from chip transactions cannot be stolen.

If you feel that you have fraudulent activity on your P-Card, please contact Regions directly using the telephone number on the back of your card. If your card is canceled, please notify P-Card Services at pcard@fa.ua.edu so that our internal records can be updated and your new card can be ordered and received as quickly as possible.

P-Card Limit Increases

• September 4th, 2018
• in News

Need to spend more than $4,999 on a single purchase using your P-card? Our goal is to provide cardholders with the fastest customer service possible when it comes to processing single purchase limit increases. To expedite your increase requests, please keep the following in mind:

• All single purchase increase requests require a copy of an itemized invoice or quote and approval from a supervisory or budgetary approver.
• Are you purchasing through a contract vendor? If so, approval is not needed. If purchasing from a non-contract vendor, also provide UA buyer approval.
• Are you purchasing a single item over $5,000? Also include UA buyer approval.
• Are you purchasing promotional items, clothing or uniforms imprinted or embroidered with logos, UA artwork, or marketing and advertising materials? If so, you will need to provide a copy of the branding and licensing form.
• It is also important to include when the purchase will be made. Increases are typically in effect for a limited amount of time.
• If you also need a temporary or permanent monthly limit increase, please provide an amount and the length of time you need the monthly increase to be in effect. Monthly limits are set at the department level based on need. If you are unsure of your monthly limit or available funds, you can find out how to check this information here.

If you have any other questions, please contact P-Card Services at pcard@fa.ua.edu.

Important P-Card Transaction Deadlines

• July 19th, 2018
• in News

With Fiscal Year 2018 closing in a few short weeks, the P-Card deadline of reconciling previous month transactions by the 18^th day of the following month must be followed by all cardholders.  All transactions (travel and non-travel) with a prior month transaction date must be added to a report, submitted, approved by supervisor, budgetary and added approvers, and routed to either P-Card Services or Accounts Payable by 5 pm on the 18^th day of the following month.  To assist cardholders in reconciling outstanding transactions by this deadline, cardholders will receive a reminder email with a listing of all outstanding transactions on the 14^th of each month.  This email will be sent directly from the Concur system (autonotification@concursolutions.com).  If the transactions are not reconciled and received in either Accounts Payable or P-Card Services by 5 pm on the 18^th, an email notification will be sent out on the 19^th directly to the cardholder and will include the cardholder’s supervisor and applicable budget manager.  Failure to reconcile by the last working day of the month will result in card suspension on the first working day of the next month.

All transactions (travel and non-travel) that have a 6/30/18 or prior transaction date should have been reconciled, approved and routed to P-Card Services or Accounts Payable at this time.  All cardholders with outstanding transactions with a transaction date of June 30, 2018 or prior will receive an email notification today.  If these transactions are not received by P-Card Services or Accounts Payable by 5 pm on Monday, August 6^th, cards will be suspended first thing Tuesday morning, August 7th.  Reconciliation will be monitored on a daily basis and cards will be reactivated after all charges have been reconciled, approved and received by P-Card Services or Accounts Payable.  If you have any questions or need help with reconciling, please email pcard@fa.ua.edu.

As a reminder, at year-end, cardholders will have a much shorter window to reconcile September transactions in order to post to fiscal year 2018.  Transactions with a September transaction date must be reconciled by October 8^th at 5:00 pm.

Branding and Licensing Form Required

• May 3rd, 2018
• in News

Procurement Services has joined together with Strategic Communications and Trademark Licensing to help campus departments and organizations protect the University’s brand, image and reputation by ensuring that public-facing promotions adhere to approved brand standards.  To do so, a Branding and Licensing Approval Form has been created.  This form should be completed for promotional items and/or clothing with a UA logo and for Marketing and Advertising materials.  The approved form should be attached to the P-Card transaction in Concur as part of the receipt.  Also, if a single purchase limit increase is needed, the approved form should be attached to the email request, along with a copy of the invoice and approval from a supervisory or budgetary approver.  For additional information on this topic, please visit the Branding and Licensing section of the Purchasing website.

Duplicate Posting RESOLVED

• February 6th, 2018
• in News

The double posting issue has now been resolved.  If your card was affected by this issue, you should see credits for double posted debits and debits for double posted credits in your Available Expenses in Concur.  You are encouraged to reconcile these charges at your earliest convenience.  If a receipt is required for any of these transactions, please attach a copy of the email from Concur (concur@fa.ua.edu) as your documentation.

We apologize for any inconvenience this issue has caused and we are hopeful that this is a one-time occurrence.  If you have any questions concerning this topic, or do not see a credit/debit, please contact P-Card Services at pcard@fa.ua.edu.

Reviewing P-Card Transactions

• January 9th, 2018
• in News

Credit card fraud is an every-day occurrence in the world today.  To minimize the possibility of fraud occurring on a P-Card, we suggest not storing your card number in any online accounts, maintaining your card at all times and reviewing transactions as they post to your Concur account.  If you have not disabled email notifications in Concur, you should receive an email every time a transaction posts to your account.  The earlier the fraud is found, the easier it is to correct.

If you feel that you have fraudulent activity on your P-Card, please contact Regions directly using the telephone number on the back of your card.  The bank will review all recent authorizations and postings to your account to ensure that all fraudulent activity is found and disputed.  If your card is canceled, please notify P-Card Services at pcard@fa.ua.edu so that our internal records can be updated and your new card can be ordered and received as quickly as possible.