Coastal Pines Technical College
Per the State Accounting Office, the P-Card may be used as the method of payment for
•unplanned, non-routine, or urgent point of sale purchases under $1,000
•Purchases including PLANNED and ROUTINE under $5,000 that are preapproved and go through the P-Card requisition process prior to completing the purchase.
You MUST have a Pre Approved Requisition for:
•Planned Purchases
•Routine Purchases
•Purchases between $1,000 and $5,000
**A minimum of two approvers required before purchase is made (usually a supervisor and fiscal agent).**
Invoices/receipts must meet the following minimum requirements:
a) Complete supplier/merchant information (name, location)
b) Line item details, including quantity, description, unit price, and total price
c) Line showing no sales tax
Cardholders submit a copy of relevant documentation for the transaction
a) The invoice or receipt
b) Pre Approved Requisition (when applicable)
• If a cardholder loses a receipt and a duplicate cannot be obtained, the cardholder will need to use of the Lost Receipt Affidavit, Form SPD-PC005.
• Use of this form more than three times during a fiscal year will result in suspension of card privileges for a period of time.
Goods and services used in the furtherance of a State Entity's mission.
• If item is on mandatory statewide contract, item must be purchased from the statewide contract.
Equipment is governed by the State Accounting Office policies on Capital Assets.
• For colleges under the authority of the Technical College System of Georgia – Single units under $1,000 per unit, including freight.
• Data plans, software, or applications (apps) for non-State Entity issued devices, including, but not limited to, smart phones, laptop computers, and tablets.
• Memberships at wholesale warehouses and shopping clubs
e.g.
• Cash advances.
• Alcoholic beverages or products.
• Tobacco products.
• Fuel for State-owned or rental vehicles.
• Goods or services not directly related to job responsibilities or other official State of Georgia business (i.e. personal purchases).
Intentional use of or approval for the use of the card for personal purchases will result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination from State employment and criminal prosecution.
The Official Code of Georgia, Annotated (O.C.G.A.), §50-5-80 states that any person who knowingly uses state funds for personal purchases under $500 is guilty of a misdemeanor.
A person who knowingly uses state funds for personal purchases of $500 or more is guilty of a felony punishable by one to 20 years in prison.
Supervisors or other approving officials who knowingly, or through willful neglect, approve personal or fraudulent purchases are subject to the same disciplinary actions as those making the purchases.
O.C.G.A. § 50-5-69 requires competitive bidding for all open-market purchases anticipated to be $25,000 or more.
• Cardholders are prohibited from splitting a transaction in order to circumvent competitive solicitation requirements.
• Cardholders are prohibited from splitting a transaction in order to circumvent the Single Transaction Limit imposed on the card regardless of the amount of the STL.
• Two or more transactions on a single card number
• Two or more transactions on multiple card numbers
• Two or more transactions using the P-Card and a purchase order
• O.C.G.A. §48-8-3 exempts purchases made by Agencies, Universities, Colleges, and Technical Colleges from State Sales and Use Tax when payment is made with appropriated funds.
• Cardholders must present the Department of Revenue Sales and Use Tax Exemption, Form ST-5, to suppliers upon request.
• The requirement for out-of-state suppliers to charge Sales and Use Tax on shipments to purchasers in the State of Georgia does not apply to tax-exempt State Entities.
• In order to avoid confusion, the cardholder must provide out-of-state suppliers with a copy of the ST-5 prior to placing an order to be shipped into the State of Georgia.
• If the supplier refuses to remove taxes, the cardholder must make the purchase from a different supplier whenever possible.
Cardholders are responsible for ensuring that merchants do not charge tax or provide a credit for inadvertent charges.
• If taxes are charged, the cardholder must contact the merchant to obtain a credit to the account. Sales tax cannot be disputed with the Bank.
• Credits cannot be obtained by any other method, including, but not limited to, cash, gift cards, or store credit.
• Documentation of attempts to obtain credit for any State Sales and Use Tax charged in error must be maintained with the documentation for the transaction where the tax was charged.
Many suppliers charge a credit card processing fee or convenience fee for accepting credit cards including the P‐Card.
• These types of fees are strictly regulated by Visa and MasterCard.
• Convenience fees are allowed if they are being charged for a bona fide convenience of using an alternative payment channel outside the merchant's normal business practice.
Convenience Charges
• Must be clearly posted on the door and at point-of-sale for physical locations and on websites when sales are made via the internet
• Must be shown as a line item on the details invoice or receip
• Cannot be more than is 4%, the maximum allowable surcharge.
• Must not be greater than what the supplier pays to Visa.
• The Georgia Security and Immigration and Compliance Act, O.C.G.A. §13-10-91, requires suppliers to file an affidavit that the supplier and its subcontractors have registered and participate in the federal work authorization program known as E-Verify.
• All State Entities are required to obtain this signed and notarized affidavit from suppliers prior to entering into any service contract $2,500 or greater involving the supplier's physical performance of services within the State of Georgia. The State of Georgia Attorney General's Office has interpreted this to include one-time P-Card transactions for services.
Definitions of Violations:
• Minor violations are instances that are "accidental and without willful intent, or a delinquent submission of reconciliation documentation.
• Major violations are instances that show "willful intent" to disregard the established policy and procedures.
Examples include but are not limited to
• Failure to get two Pre Approvals for planned or routine purchases or purchases over the Single Transaction Limit of $1000.00.
• Using the wrong credit card when doing personal shopping.
• Immediately notify the Purchasing Card Coordinator or Administrator, and provide reimbursement within 5 business days of the personal purchase.
• Purchases within the card that should be made through the requisition system on a purchase order or by other procurement means
• Failure to get IT Approval prior to purchase of IT related items.
• Failure to provide appropriate detailed documentation or transaction receipts with monthly billing statement reconciliation.
Examples include but are not limited to:
• Purchasing unauthorized or restricted items
• Splitting transactions to avoid the single transaction limit
• Splitting transactions to avoid the bid limit of $25,000
• Allowing others to use your purchasing card
• Knowingly making personal purchases
Any major violations will result in immediate temporary suspension of the cardholder's privileges and notification of the cardholder supervisor.
Further investigation may result in permanent termination of cardholder privilege, disciplinary action, and termination of employment and/or prosecution to the fullest extent of the law, including financial restitution and criminal prosecution.
1. A minimum of two approvers required before a purchase is made (usually a supervisor and fiscal agent).
2. Separation of duties must exist between ordering cards, making transactions, and reviewing or approving transactions.
3. The P-Card Administrator cannot be a cardholder.
4. Cardholders cannot approve their own transactions.
5. Approvers cannot be subordinates of cardholders.
6. Sharing of passwords is strictly forbidden.
7. Delegation of the approver is unallowable. If an approver is on leave or otherwise unavailable to approve a purchase or transaction, another trained approver already assigned approver responsibility may assume those duties temporarily.
8. A self audit of the P-Card program must be submitted to DOAS no later than December 1st.
• The P-Card Program is the only charge card program authorized for use by State Agencies, units of the University System of Georgia, and technical colleges within the Technical College System of Georgia.
• Cardholders are limited to one active P-Card.
• An employee's supervisor, the Entity's Card Program Administrator and the Entity's Chief Financial Officer must approve a cardholder's application for a P-Card or other account as well as renewals of existing accounts.
• The Chief Financial Officer, Card Approvers and potential cardholders must meet all training requirements as described in this policy. Approver and cardholder training must be completed prior to receiving the P-Card or obtaining access to an account number.
• Neither cards nor accounts will be issued to employees of foundations associated with any State Entity, student employees, temporary workers (e.g. hired from a temporary staffing agency), or contractors (e.g. person hired for a pre-determined period of time for a specific project).
• Cards and other accounts will not be issued in the name of a Department or work unit (e.g. Facilities Maintenance) to be shared by multiple employees.
• Only the employee whose name is shown on the face of the card is authorized to make purchases with the card, either in person, on-line, or telephone.
• O.C.G.A. §50‐5‐83 requires criminal background checks on all employees hired for positions that are eligible for P‐Cards.
• Credit checks are conducted through a Statewide Contract through Human Resources.
• Credit checks must be ran before the time of card renewal. Cards will be suspended until new credit check has been approved by DOAS.
• Training is performed at a minimum, annually for cardholders, reconcilers, approvers and CFO's.
• Cardholders, approvers, reviewers, and CFO's are updated on issues and changes through the Cardholder's list serve.
(CLICK THE IMAGE TO BEGIN THE QUIZ)