PCard Glossary

An expense, which legitimately may be charged to the PCard or submitted for reimbursement.

Reviews and approves charges made with a payment card in Concur. The approver responsibility is a formal delegation from the planning unit CFAO to approve the commitment or spending of university funds within the scope of their management authority. This type of authority is delegated in the Financial Approvers and Related Metadata (FARM) system. Approver authority does not include signature authority (the ability to sign agreements or contracts and make legally binding commitments on behalf of Ohio University).

Ohio University - Accounts Payable; 1 Oho University Drive; Athens, Ohio 45701

Billing Cycle is a calendar month, which runs from the first day to last day of the month.

A statement that adequately describes the expense as a necessary, reasonable and appropriate business expense for the University.  All expenses must support or advance the goals, objectives and mission of the University. When defining a business purpose, the 5 “Ws” (Why, What, Where, When, Why) can help you create a well-documented business purpose.

Defined as any item which meets the following criteria:

• An item of tangible personal property -and-
• An item having a useful life of 1 or more years -and-
• An item which is a unit acquisition costing $5,000 or more per unit -Or-
• A system/units that when assembled meets the criteria above
• Should be updated to the proper object code series 741XXX

This is the primary financial and administrative contact for each planning unit and has responsibility for ensuring that appropriate controls are in place for each planning unit’s pcard program.

An online system which allows you to make your travel arrangements, submit your travel expense reports, and update your PCard transactions.

A default cost center that a CFAO can assign within the Concur application that allows the cardholder to have the same cost center populate in the header of each Concur report each time a report is created. If the cardholder needs to use an alternative cost center, they can change that within their Concur report.

A delegate in Concur allows another person to prepare expense reports on behalf of a cardholder.

Refers to a charge placed on your PCard in which you have a dispute. This could be an item that was not received, was returned, was broken, charged in error, or duplicated, etc.

The reasonable steps taken by a person to satisfy a legal requirement, policy, and procedure, especially in buying or selling something.

To act in good-faith and in a manner that is reasonably believed to be in the interests of the university and its nonprofit or public purposes rather than their own interests or the interests of another person or organization.

A system used to streamline the management of financial transaction approvals across the University. FARM enables Planning Unit CFAOs and their delegates to centrally maintain who can approve transactions in various financial systems.

A charge placed on your PCard without your prior consent or knowledge.

An invoice, cash register receipt, sales slip, or packing slip which contains the following:

• Business/Vendor Name and location
• Date of Purchase
• Description of items purchased
• Price of each item purchased
• Total amount of purchase
• Method of payment (sometimes is included but not always)
• Attach the packing slip (if available)

The Master Service Agreement (MSA) is a contract in which two or more parties agree to the details and expectations of all parties, including any legal terms and conditions that will govern the contract.

Every transaction processed by MasterCard is assigned a merchant category code (MCC), a four-digit number that denotes the type of business providing a service or selling merchandise. MCCs are used by banks to categorize, track or restrict certain types of purchases. Vendors decide their own MCC with their bank – Ohio University does not control what MCC a vendor sets up with their bank.

Maximum amount per monthly bank cycle; card will decline if the monthly limit is exceeded; Monthly cycle is based on the calendar month.

The name given to a university issued credit card. The card is associated with the Ohio University account with the bank, but a cardholder or department is the named user on the face of the card.

Refers to the date the charge posts to the Concur system from the supplier via MasterCard. This is the first date that the transaction becomes visible to the cardholder in Concur.

Making one purchase but separating the charges into two or more purchases/transactions just to stay within the limits of the pcard. For example, if your single transaction limit is $1,500 and you attempt to purchase something for $1,800 your card will decline. If you ask the vendor to “split” the purchase into two $900 transactions, this is considered pyramiding and is a policy violation.

The process by which a reconciler attaches the necessary documentation to support an expense in Concur, reviews documentation to ensure it matches and supports the charges in Concur, allocates the expense to the correct account number and object code, and reviews the business purpose to make sure it adequately describes the nature and purpose of the expense.

An employee who is responsible for reconciling pcard transactions. Most cardholders serve as reconcilers for their own cards. However, some cardholders choose to use proxy/delegate reconcilers.

The legal right to execute contracts and other written instruments in the name of and on behalf of the University and to bind the University to an obligation or promise.

Maximum amount per purchase; typically capped at $1,500; card will decline if limit is exceeded.