Seton Hall University Credit Card Program
JPMorgan Chase (“Chase”) MasterCard
Policies and Procedures

1) Introduction:

1. A Chase MasterCard provides Seton Hall University users with an alternative payment method when making small purchases as well as the opportunity to streamline procedures for procuring goods and services. The program reduces the volume of accounts payable transactions and the associated administrative costs by eliminating vendor invoices and consolidating multiple vendor payments into one monthly payment to Chase. Vendors are paid directly by Chase. Management information reports from Chase will assist in maintaining control over purchases and payments.
2. The program is administered in Procurement. The program administrators are as follows:
   
   Jennifer Hilyard, Compliance Accountant, the primary program administrator
   Martin Koeller, Director of Procurement
   Don Kuhrt, Assistant Director of Procurement

2) Eligibility and Obtaining a Card:

1. Any Seton Hall University employee eligible to approve expenditures of $1,000 or higher (as a Cost Center Manager, Budget Center Manager, or Division Head) is eligible to obtain a Chase MasterCard (“card”) sponsored by the University.
2. To obtain a card, the applicant must have his/her supervisor e-mail the primary program administrator in Procurement (see above) with authorization for the applicant to have a card. The requestor must indicate if he/she wants the applicant to have the card for commercial spending only, for travel and entertainment (T&E) spending only or for both. The applicant must complete and sign the Cardholder Agreement (see Exhibit 1).
3. Once the e-mail approval authorization has been received in Procurement, the application is submitted to Chase, and the card arrives in Procurement within about a week. Cards are issued with the name of the cardholder and Seton Hall University on it, along with Seton Hall’s logo embossed on the front. Procurement arranges a meeting with the applicant that includes card training, policies and procedures review and card distribution.

3) Credit Card Use:

1. Cardholders must use their cards for Seton Hall University business only. The use of the cards for personal expenses is strictly prohibited.
2. The monthly cycle for cardholder spending is from the 23rd of the month to the 22nd of the next month.
3. Cardholders must procure from University preferred vendors whenever possible. As such, all cardholders are strongly encouraged to check the latest list of University preferred vendors by visiting: http:// admin.shu.edu/procurement.
4. Cardholders authorized for only commercial spending are blocked from T&E related spending and vice versa.
5. Generally speaking, Cost Center Managers are authorized to procure goods or services up to $1,000 per transaction and up to $10,000 per month. Budget Center Managers are authorized to procure goods or services up to $2,500 per transaction and up to $10,000 per month. Division Heads are authorized to procure goods or services up to $5,000 per transaction and up to $20,000 per month. Procurement will review the per transaction limit for any cardholder based on written appeal from the cardholder’s supervisor. Monthly limits can be raised (or lowered) on a month-by-month basis or permanently.
6. Cost Center Managers are not allowed to request that any vendor split a transaction so as to keep the order total under their per transaction limit of $1,000. While not encouraged, Budget Center Managers and Division Heads who, because of circumstances, must split a transaction from a preferred vendor will be allowed to do so. For a Budget Center Manager, the total of all amounts charged for the transaction must not exceed $10,000.
7. Purchases $2,500 and above not made from preferred vendors must have bid information from winning and losing vendors attached to cardholder statements submitted to Procurement as per University bid policy.
8. Cardholders required to spend grant funds (one or more grants) must request from Procurement a Grant card. No grant spending is permitted on the standard card issued for all other University card transactions. The Grant card is a declining balance card, i.e. once the spending limit of a Grant card is reached, the ability to spend with it terminates. The spending limit of each card will be set by Grant accounting. Any requests to adjust the spending limit of a Grant card must be directed to Grant accounting.
9. Cardholders must remind vendors that the University is exempt from sales and use tax in various states (contact Procurement for a current list). Cardholders should request from Procurement the appropriate state’s exemption certificate so as to avoid paying unnecessary tax on purchases of goods or services.
10. Cardholders cannot obtain a cash advance using their cards.
11. Cards cannot be used to purchase services from an individual who is not incorporated and who would normally be issued an IRS Form 1099 at year-end.
12. Authorized use of cards is limited to the person whose name appears on the face of the card. Cards must not be loaned to another person without express written request and permission from a program administrator in Procurement. The card should be kept in an accessible but secure location. The account number on the card should not be posted or left in a conspicuous place. If a card is lost or stolen, the cardholder must immediately notify Chase and Procurement.
13. Cardholders must retain all documentation pertaining to their purchases. When the vendor delivers the order, documentation of the purchase (such as a sales receipt or packing slip) should accompany the order. This documentation must be kept on file by the cardholder for reconciliation to their monthly statement and submittal to Procurement as described below.

4) Cardholder Responsibilities:

1. Each cardholder is responsible for retaining documentation of monthly purchases and returns. This documentation should be used to reconcile to cardholder spending activity on Chase’s PaymentNet website. It must be attached to the cardholder’s monthly statement, which may be printed off the Chase website beginning on the 23rd of the month, and must be signed and submitted to Procurement by the 10th of the next month for auditing.
2. Cardholders with a Grant card must submit their signed statement and documentation to Grants Accounting in Bayley Hall (rather than to Procurement) by the 10th of the next month. Grant cardholders are also reminded that they can only use their cards to purchase merchandise allowable under the terms of their respective grants.
3. Cardholders have access to Chase’s PaymentNet website via a user ID and password (see Exhibit 2 – PaymentNet Cardholder Guide). Each cardholder is responsible for reviewing all charges according to University policy and procedure as described herein.
4. In PaymentNet, cardholder transactions have a University budget number (financial system account number) assigned to them by default in a drop-down box. In addition, a second drop-down box assigns a University financial system subcode to the transaction based on the merchant’s industry category code. All cardholders must review both the budget number and subcode for propriety. If the cardholder has the authorization to charge spending to other accounts, the budget number drop-down box contains more than just the default account number. The subcode drop-down box contains the University’s spending subcodes to allow the cardholder to make a change to a more appropriate subcode, based on the transaction.
5. In addition, while reviewing transactions in PaymentNet, cardholders must document the IRS business purpose of T&E transactions in the transaction notes field, in accordance with paragraphs 10 and 11 of the University’s Travel and Receipt Policy 105.5.
6. Once the process in D and E above is complete, cardholders must check off the “Reviewed” box for each transaction and click “Save” in order to have it posted to the University’s financial system. Card charges reviewed are posted individually to the University’s financial system twice a month. Any charge not reviewed by the cardholder or his/her designee is not posted until reviewed. If this review is not done, cardholders are sent a weekly e-mail by Chase as a reminder. In addition, Procurement reminds cardholders and/or his/her supervisor of the need to review the charge(s).
7. It is the cardholder’s responsibility to contact a program administrator in Procurement to request that additional financial system account numbers be made available in the PaymentNet budget number drop-down box. In addition, the cardholder must contact Procurement to eliminate account numbers from the budget number drop-down box, especially when the cardholder is no longer authorized to charge spending to specific account numbers.
8. As noted above, card charges reviewed are posted to the University’s financial system twice a month. Such postings are on an item by item basis. Information posted will include the vendor name, amount, posting date and cardholder name, along with an indication that it is a “Chase” charge. Charges posted to PaymentNet from the 23rd of the previous month until about the 8th of the current month represent the first posting. Charges from about the 9th of the current month until the 22nd of the current month represent the second posting. The second posting is done on or about the 29th of the month to allow for cardholders to complete their review of all transactions. All transactions must be reviewed by the second posting of the month.
9. Card charges that have been reviewed but not yet posted to the University’s financial system can still be viewed for purposes of changing the budget number and/or subcode (using the appropriate drop-down boxes), or for purposes of completing the transactions notes field for the IRS business purpose of T&E transactions. Any changes/additions made must be saved again by clicking “Save.” However, once reviewed transactions have been posted to the University’s financial system, no further changes are possible on the web.
10. Each cardholder that incurs T&E spending must print their SHU T&E Report at the close of each monthly cycle. It should be reviewed to ensure the necessary IRS business purpose is present for all transactions and that all receipts are included with their monthly cardholder statement. It should be attached to their monthly cardholder statement, supervisor T&E signature approval must be obtained and the entire package must be sent to Procurement by the 10th of the next month. If a cardholder has erroneously omitted the IRS business purpose of a transaction and the transaction has been posted to the University’s financial system, no further change can be made via the web on the SHU T&E Report. In this case, the cardholder must manually write the IRS business purpose of the transaction on the SHU T&E Report.
11. Each cardholder should document on receipts the business purpose of spending when the vendor name and/or documentation associated with the spending in itself raises the obvious question as to the business propriety of it. This does not apply to T&E spending that appears on the SHU T&E Report which must reflect the IRS business purpose thereon.
12. The monthly process outlined above is depicted in the Monthly Card Process Flowchart (Exhibit 3).
13. Duplicate or erroneous charges showing up on any cardholder’s transaction activity should be resolved directly with the vendor in question. If not resolved within the same month, the cardholder must review and post the charge to their designated account number (getting overcharged for one month). The cardholder then should work with the vendor (or Chase and/or Procurement, if necessary) to have a credit issued in the following month, which would then be reviewed and approved by the cardholder to the same account number overcharged previously.
14. In addition to the aforementioned SHU T&E Report, cardholders are able to view other detail and summary reports in PaymentNet that reflect their spending by transaction and by vendor. These reports should be viewed by the cardholder for informational purposes and for accuracy periodically. Report queries can be run by the cardholder to show activity over various periods of time. Supervisors with cards can view hierarchy reports that reflect their spending, along with the spending of all those who report to them either directly or indirectly.

5) Payment to JPM/Chase:

1. The University monthly pays Chase a consolidated total of all cardholder charges during the monthly cycle (from the 23rd of the previous month through the 22nd of the current month). Cardholders do not individually directly pay Chase for any monthly charges.

6) Program Administrator Responsibilities:

1. Program administrators in Procurement issue, cancel, and distribute all University cards. They are also the liaison between Seton Hall University and Chase.
2. They perform all card program maintenance, which includes maintaining financial system accounts by cardholder, adjusting spending limits, maintaining the system hierarchy, etc.
3. They perform all cardholder training.
4. They provide cardholders with e-mail communications related to program policies and procedures. They also assist cardholders with disputed billing issues.
5. They monitor cardholder compliance to plan policies and procedures.

7) Audit Review of Cardholder Activity:

1. All cardholder activity is subject to audit review by program administrators, the University’s internal and external auditors, or, in the event of an IRS audit, an IRS field agent. It is therefore essential that all University policies and procedures indicated above are adhered to by each cardholder.

8) Compliance Program:

1. Procurement will maintain card program policy and procedure compliance history for all cardholders and will notify cardholders of violations. Uncorrected and/or continual violations will result in communications to a cardholder’s superior and eventual spending limit reductions or card revocation. T&E reporting violations could, in accordance with IRS rulings, lead to the assessment of taxable income to the cardholder.
2. In the event that any cardholder uses the card to make a fraudulent purchase, card privileges will immediately be revoked and a determination as to whether taxable income should be assessed will be made. In addition, the incident will be reported to Human Resources, Security, Internal Audit and Legal Counsel, along with the cardholder’s supervisor. A decision will be made by management regarding whether termination of employment is warranted.

9) Card Cancellation Procedures:

1. In the event that a cardholder’s card must be cancelled due to change or termination of employment, the cardholder or his/her supervisor must notify a program administrator in Procurement. The cardholder or supervisor should submit his/her card to Procurement for destruction. Procurement should be notified of any need to cancel a card with as much notification as possible so as to aid in the prevention of potential fraudulent use of the card prior to cancellation.