Corporate Credit Card Policy - University of Wollongong

UoW Corporate Card Policy1.0 Scope1. This Policy applies to all staff of the University of Wollongong who are assigned aCorporate Credit Card.2. Conditions set out in this Policy, the relevant Cardholders’ Responsibility statementissued by the Bank, the University’s Procurement Policy and, Delegations of Authorityand the Cardholder Agreement govern the use of any Corporate Credit Card.3. The University uses National Australia Bank Visa Corporate Card. NationalPurchaseBase software is used to process and report Visa Card transactions on adaily basis4. National Australia Bank is our exclusive supplier. The arrangements with the Bankcover all Faculties, Divisions and Business Units. No other provider’s card will beapproved for the duration of our agreement with the National Australia Bank.5. The majority of business expenses under $5000 are required to be purchased by thecardholder and paid for with their Visa Card6. Cardholders and their managers and supervisors are responsible for ensuring thatthey adhere to the Corporate Credit Card policy, thereby ensuring adequate controlsare exercised to minimise the risk that Corporate Credit Cards are used for fraudulentor corrupt purposes. Cardholders and their managers and supervisors are referred tothe University's Fraud and Corruption Prevention Best Practice Guidelines for furtherinformation on their role in relation to fraud and corruption prevention.2.0 Eligibility1. Permanent and temporary officers of a unit can apply for a Corporate Credit Card2. Officers seconded to another Unit or Department must seek prior, written approvalfrom their supervisor while on secondment to use their Corporate Credit Card duringtheir secondment.3. Staff are eligible to be issued with only one (1) Corporate Credit Card.4. To be eligible for a Corporate Credit Card, a staff member must meet one or more ofthe following criteria:• travel frequently in the course of his/her duties• travel overseas in the course of his/her duties• purchase significant volumes of minor goods and services for use bythe University• incur regular frequent expenses of a kind appropriately paid by creditcard5. Gold Visa cards may only be issued to Officers who both travel overseas in thecourse of their duties or regularly entertain University stakeholders for businesspurposes. Approval for these cards must include the normal Card application and acounter-signature by either the Pro Vice-Chancellor Operations or the Vice PrincipalAdministration.3.0 Limits1. Each Card will be limited to a maximum of $5000 and be for business expendituresonly. Exemptions to this limit will be made on a case by case basis by the ViceChancellor and in keeping with approved Financial Delegations.4.0 Conditions of Use

1. The Corporate Credit Card cannot be used:• To obtain cash advances.• For expenses other than those incurred by the assigned officernamed on the Card.2. The Corporate Credit Card is to be used only for official University business, notpersonal expenses. Purchasing Cards are supplied for genuine business expensesonly. Charging personal transactions to Corporate Cards is not acceptable under anycircumstance. Cardholder transactions will be scrutinised to ensure compliance withthis policy.3. Infractions of the conditions of this Policy will result in cancellation of the card andwithdrawal of Corporate Credit Card privileges.4. Breaching of this policy can lead to disciplinary action against the staff memberconcerned. In all cases of misuse, the University reserves the right to recover anymonies from the cardholder. Cardholders will be required to sign a declarationauthorising the University to recover, from their salary, any amount incorrectlyclaimed.5. Cardholders may not use their Purchasing Card to obtain cash advances from banks,building societies, credit unions nor automatic teller machines. This prohibitionsimilarly extends to cash equivalents such as bank cheques, traveller’s cheques andelectronic cash transfers.5.0 Monthly Corporate Card Statements1. Corporate Credit Card expenditures must be reconciled with Personnel and FinancialServices within 10 business days of the Statement Date (28 th of the month).Cardholders who have not acquitted their monthly expenditure within this period willbe asked to reconcile their monthly expenditure immediately to avoid having theircost-centre debited for the outstanding statement amount. This procedure will ensurethat cost-centre accounting records maintain an accurate and meaningful balance.2. Cardholders who do not acquit their monthly expenditures within 10 business days ofthe Statement Date will be sent a reminder of their obligations under this Policy.Continued or repeated non-conformance to this Policy will result in cancellation of theCard and such other actions as appropriate.3. If the Card expenditures are not reconciled or acquitted within 2 months of theStatement Date or a plausible explanation has not been received by Personnel andFinancial Services, the Corporate Credit Card will be cancelled and, the Cardholders’unit account debited for the amount outstanding. Note that further action may also betaken against the Cardholder.6.0 Cardholder responsibilitiesCardholders are responsible for the following security measures for the use of their Card:1. Cardholders must seek approval of their monthly statements from a more seniorauthority. Cardholders cannot authorise their own statements or have a subordinatecounter-sign for them. In the event that a more senior officer is not available, theCardholder must seek the countersignature of the Director, Personnel and FinancialServices or the Assistant Director, Financial Services.2. Cardholders must retain transactional evidence to support all charges. An acceptablereceipt for reimbursements of claimable business expenses on the Corporate CreditCard is an original receipt.3. Card purchases without receipts are ultimately the responsibility of the user andhis/her Unit. A failure to provide receipts or credible explanation for the unsupportedexpenditure will result in an automatic debit from the Unit’s housekeeping accountafter two months of the original Statement Date.

4. Reimbursement for return of goods and/or services must be credited directly to theCard account.5. Staff who travel may claim either a per diem travel rate or a Corporate Credit Cardexpense - not both. A per diem rate will be issued as noted in the University’s TravelPolicy. Travel expenses are claimed on one of either a travel expense claim, or actualcosts are submitted on a Credit Card Transaction Payment Form. There can be noduplication of the claims. Any travel-related claim made on a Corporate Credit Cardwill be checked to the Travel Absence Form to determine if a per diem or grant-in-aidpayment has been made to the traveller. Eligible charges incurred on Universitybusiness that are not covered by the per diem rate (eg. Accommodation) will becovered for the Cardholder.6. Lost or stolen Cards must be reported and cancelled immediately to the NationalAustralia Bank’s Lost/Stolen Cards Unit (1800 033 103). Personnel and FinancialServices must be notified within 2 business days of this activity, or in the instance ofloss or theft while conducting business overseas, must be notified within 2 businessdays of returning to the University.7. Staff members issued with a Corporate Credit Card are in a position of trust in regardto use of public funds. Improper or unauthorised use of the Card may result in theCardholder being held liable for expenditures, legal/disciplinary action being broughtagainst the Cardholder, termination of Card-use and/or termination from theUniversity.8. Cardholders are responsible for ensuring that their purchases meet the University’sOccupational Health and Safety purchasing criteria outlined in the University’sProcurement Policy.7.0 Management and Supervisory Responsibilities1. The cardholder’s manager or supervisor is required to verify all transactions eachmonth. In doing so the manager or supervisor is to ensure the transactions arebusiness related and the cardholder has supplied supporting documentation. Anyunusual transactions must be followed up with the cardholder immediately.Suspected breaches of policy must be referred to Personnel and Financial Serviceswithout exception.8.0 Goods and Services Tax1. The University is liable to pay GST and is also eligible in many instances to claim aGST input-tax credit. All credits claimed must be supported by documentation. TheCardholder must retain all original documentation (receipts and invoices) outliningany GST component of a bill in accordance with the University of WollongongCorporate Credit Card Policy. This is a key responsibility for all Cardholders.9.0 Records Management1. All documentation associated with the application for a Corporate Credit Card will bemaintained within the University’s CanoCentral electronic records managementsystem.2. Receipts for all Credit Card transactions will be retained locally within the Unit.Cardholders must be able to produce receipts on-demand for audit purposes. Whereelectronic document management systems are available to record receipts and/orother evidence of business transactions, this is the preferred medium for storage.10.0 Audit1. Random audit of cardholder purchases will occur on a monthly basis. In addition,Internal Audit and external auditors will carry out audits from time to time.

11.0 Appendix 1 - ProceduresApplying for a Corporate Credit Card1. Staff who meet the eligibility requirements of the Policy may seek anapplication for Corporate Credit Card through Financial Services.2. Staff may be issued one NAB Visa Corporate Credit Card.3. All Corporate Credit Card applications will be verified forcompleteness and accuracy within Personnel and Financial Servicesprior to the ordering of the card.4. All applications that have not been accurately completed will bereturned to the relevant authorisee or cardholder. Please make surethat you complete the Cardholder User Agreement and CorporateCredit Card Application Form. Please forward completedapplications to the attention of Jodie Lawer in Financial Services".Gold Card applicants must complete the Gold Card Application Formand Cardholder User Agreement.5. Gold Visa cards may only be issued to Officers who both traveloverseas in the course of their duties or regularly entertain Universitystakeholders for business purposes. Approval for these cards mustinclude the Gold Card application and a countersignature by eitherthe Pro Vice-chancellor Operations or the Vice PrincipalAdministration.Renewal of Cards1. Requests for individual lost or damaged cards are requested viamemo to the Finance Officer. The Bank normally organises animmediate replacement.2. Cards that are due to expire will receive a replacement in advance.Old cards must be destroyed and the replacement card signed by theCardholder.Reconciliation procedures1. The full amount of the statement is charged to the Corporate CreditCard Clearing Account.2. Cardholders will be responsible for querying the National PurchasingSystem to reconcile their monthly transactions within the 10 businessdays following the Statement Date (28th of the Month).3. Each Cardholder receives his/her own Statement electronically.Receipts1. A sales voucher authorised by the Cardholder must be retained foreach purchase to facilitate matching of transactions received fromthe bank. The Cardholder is to ensure that the goods purchased areadequately described on the sales voucher to also facilitate the entryof the purchase into the National Purchasing System. The description‘GOODS’ or "SERVICES" is not acceptable. Other documentationthat will require retention for matching against the bank transactionincludes invoices issued by the supplier or goods received notes forequipment purchases.2. Receipts for all Credit Card transactions will be retained locally withinthe Unit. Cardholders must be able to produce receipts on-demand

for audit purposes. Where electronic document managementsystems are available to record receipts and/or other evidence ofbusiness transactions, this is the preferred medium for storage.Disputed Transactions1. Disputed transactions must be resolved with the Supplier and theBank by the Cardholder. The Cardholder must notify the Bankimmediately for resolution and Financial Services should be informedfor noting.2. Any unapproved statements will be charged to the Unit’shousekeeping account, except for any disputed items informed toFinancial Services Branch.Internal Monitoring1. Transactions will be monitored monthly for a random group ofCardholders.2. Where a Cardholder holds an outstanding debt for the monthlyStatement, this information will be logged and forwarded to therespective Finance staff member for resolution.3. Cardholder account in arrears for greater than 2 months will bebrought to the attention of the Assistant Director, Financial Servicesfor further action. This action may include, but is not limited to Unitaccount debiting, disciplinary and/or legal action against theCardholder.Lost or stolen Cards1. Lost or stolen cards must be reported by the Cardholder immediatelyto the Bank.Termination of Employment1. Prior to departure or termination of duties, the Cardholder mustacquit all expenditures on his/her Card account.2. It is the responsibility of the departing staff member to ensure thathis/her account is settled prior to departure. Accounts in arrears willbe liable for legal action.3. The card must be surrendered upon termination of employment toPersonnel and Financial Services.Late Submission of claim1. See Cardholder responsibilities and Internal Monitoring proceduresabove.