University System of New Hampshire
Financial and Administrative Procedures

DOCUMENTATION AND RECORD RETENTION
Procedure 9-110
Issued By: Campus Purchasing Departments
Issued: 04/15/97

For all Purchasing Card transactions, the department account manager maintains the official record of the transaction. Unlike purchase orders, invoices, journal entries, etc., there will be no record of the transaction administered centrally. When audited, the department will be contacted to provide documentation supporting the business purpose of all Purchasing Card transactions under review. Lack of original documentation is a cardholder violation which could be viewed as a personal purchase and subject to the consequences of misuse as stated in Procedure 9-102, Role and Responsibilities.

Each month a statement of all purchases will be generated. The cardholder, account manager and business manager may each receive copies. Original receipts supporting each purchase shall be attached to the account manager's copy of the statement and filed. It is important to stress that the cardholder is responsible for assuring that proper documentation is submitted in a timely manner.

Each Purchasing Card transaction must be supported by one or more of the following forms of original documentation:

Cashier receipt

Supplier invoice

Credit card slip (with itemized pricing)

Copy of order form or application (that includes pricing)

Packing slips are allowed only when provided with pricing detail or in conjunction with one of the above

Substitute documentation is allowed in rare and unusual instances. However, lack of original documentation is a cardholder violation and may be misconceived as a personal purchase and subject to investigation. It must include the above information along with the following:

Explanation of why original documentation is not available
Vendor Identification (vendor name and address)
Cardholder identification (name and card number)
Cardholder's signature and date

Collectively, the documentation must contain the following information:

Description of what was purchased
Business purpose (can be hand written)
Date of purchase
Supplier name and location
Quantity and cost of each item purchased
Total cost of purchase

Reconciliations will be performed monthly. The Account Manager will receive a monthly summary of detailed transactions for each cardholder. Receipts and supporting documentation collected for each cardholder during the month, will be totaled and agreed to the total on the summary statement. Receipts and supporting documentation along with adding machine tapes or printed spreadsheets will be attached to the monthly transactions statement and filed in the cardholder's folder. Reconciliations will be signed by the Account Manager, or if the Account Manager is a designated cardholder, by their immediate supervisor. This signed reconciliation along with the attached supporting documentation will be filed within each Business Service Center by user then by date.

Periodic reviews of all cardholder activities will be performed during the month to ensure items purchased are allowable, within the cardholder's limits, customary for the department or project, supported with proper documentation, etc. The account manager is required to be aware of unusual transactions or patterns, such as a sudden increase in activity or purchases from odd suppliers. Should an item or series of purchases look unusual or be unsupported, pursue the issue with the cardholder immediately. Do not wait for the end of the month.

Account managers are responsible for filing the documentation supporting the purchase. Filing systems must be set up consistently in order to retrieve, upon request, the documents supporting any purchasing card transaction. Account managers must file reconciled statements with supporting documentation attached by cardholder then by date in order to retrieve, upon request, the source document supporting any Purchasing Card transaction.

Departments, institutes and centers are responsible for maintaining all documentation for all their Purchasing Card transactions in accordance with proper documentation procedures. Records must be retained for three years after the fiscal year end.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/a110/a110.html For grants and contracts (per OMB Circular A-110 subpart C.53), all supporting documentation for purchases made must be retained for a period of three years from the date of submission of the final expenditure report for the grant or contract. In addition, grants and contracts may have longer time periods specified in the award terms and conditions. Departments should ensure compliance with all other sponsoring agencies. These should be reviewed and noted at the time the award is made to ensure compliance. It is recommended that the retention timeline be reviewed periodically.

Audits will be conducted during the year by your Campus Purchasing Department, your campus Accounts Payable department, the Controller's Office and the Internal Audit Department, as well as the annual audit performed by external auditors. In addition, all purchases made on grant and contract accounts are subject to the annual A133 audit and any agency audits required for the particular grant. All audit requests should be conducted through the business manager of each area. The business manager will notify the account manager of requested items. The account manager will be expected to be able to retrieve the required data quickly and easily.

Distribution/Corrections

Any distributions or corrections should be authorized by the cardholder. His/her signature on the supporting documentation with the distributed/corrected information is appropriate. However, distributions/corrections should only be preformed if the funds being distributed/corrected are in the cardholder's area of responsibility.