Budget Responsibility and Signature Authority (B5)

SUBJECT:
Budget Responsibility and Signature Authority

PURPOSE:
Define authority for assigning Budget Responsibility and define Budget Responsibility and Signature Authority.

POLICY:
Each University accounting function will be assigned Budget Responsibility for President/Vice President, Primary and Secondary levels. Those persons will have the responsibility of establishing and managing budgets for that function, according to the Financial Accountability policy. Those persons will also have Signature Authority for approving the expenditures for that function.

Each Vice President will authorize any Primary and Secondary responsibility persons for budgets in the Vice President’s area. Deans and Executive Director’s may be assigned as Primary, and department Directors/Managers will be assigned as Secondary. In many cases, the Vice President remains as Primary for the function.

Persons with Primary and Secondary Signature Authority may approve any expense under $1,000 from unrestricted resources. Approval by a Vice President is required for any expenditure $1,000 and over, and for any restricted expenditure. Per Board policy, all purchase orders and/or expenditures for $10,000 or more require the signature of any two Vice Presidents or the President and a Vice President.

Expenditures of Restricted Funds require both Secondary/Primary and Vice President signatures, regardless of the amount. In the case that the Vice President is the donor of the funds being spent, the President’s signature is also required. Requiring these levels of approval ensures that the employee with Signature Authority, who has donated funds with a restriction within their area of responsibility, is not solely controlling the expenditure of the funds.

When the person with Secondary responsibility is away from work (more than three days at a time), s/he may communicate with the Director of Accounting Services, prior to leaving, who in their area (one person only), may approve expenses in their absence, and when that absence will occur. Without any communication, it will be expected that the Primary/Vice President will approve expenditure items during the absence.

In the case of student account excesses, the Director of Student Accounts may sign for amounts up to $5,000, with the Director of Accounting Services signature added for amounts $5,000 and over.

In the case of returning scholarship or congregational funds, or grant aid funds, the Director of Financial Aid Services may sign up to $5,000 with the Director of Accounting Services signature added for amounts $5,000 and over.

In the case of payroll related payments for annuities, health insurance, etc., the Director of Human Resources may authorize payment for all amounts. Net payroll amounts (payroll or payroll corrections) are made by an electronic funds transfer, under the authority of the Director of Human Resources and the Administrative Assistant for Business Services.

In the case of payroll advances, the Director of Human Resources will approve advances for employees. The Director of Student Accounts, the Student Account Coordinator, or the Loan Officer will approve advances for students.

In the case of Library acquisitions purchased through the normal purchasing process for these items, the Director of Library Services may authorize amounts less than $10,000.

All signatures must be original and legible.

PROCEDURE:
Purchase Orders should include the necessary Signature Authority approvals at the top of the form. The Purchase Order is not valid until also signed by the Director of Accounting Services or the VP for Business and Administrative Services at the bottom of the form.

Invoices supported by properly authorized Purchase Orders do not need signatures, since the approvals exist on the Purchase Order. In the case where the Invoice price varies significantly from the Purchase Order price, the Accounts Payable Clerk will contact the person with Secondary budget responsibility for approval, and the person with Primary responsibility if necessary. Certain areas have requested to sign all invoices, regardless of previously approved Purchase Orders, and those requests will be honored.

Invoices not supported by properly authorized Purchase Orders must be approved by the necessary levels of authority.

Corporate credit card statements are to be approved by the employee’s supervisor as well as anyone having Budget Responsibility over the expense accounts being charged.

Expense Advances (non-payroll) are charged to the employee receivable, so therefore require the supervisor signature, but not any budget authority approval.

Expense reports must include the supervisor approval, and for budget authority, the necessary signatures for any budget numbers being charged (usually the supervisor is also a budget authority, but not always). (See Advances and Expense Reports Policy)

Check requisitions must include the same level of approval as purchase orders and/or invoices.

Any electronic process that is developed for payment requests will include a routing method so that all appropriate Secondary and Primary responsibilities are approving the payment request before the payment request reaches Accounting Services. Deans have authority to approve Adjunct Contract payments requested through the electronic process developed for that purpose.

Special requests for electronic bank transfers must be supported by a request instrument and include the same level of approval as purchase orders and/or invoices. Such requests will be made to the Administrative Assistant for Business Services.

Interdepartmental Charge forms (ICs) are internal charges between departments and require the signature of a department employee (can also be a student worker), but are not required to have a budget authority signature, even if the amount is $1,000 or over. Food Service may initiate an IC without a department signature.

Budget Revisions are to be submitted electronically so will not include original signatures. However, the routing process for approval should include all of the Secondary and Primary approvals for the budget lines involved, and the Vice President/President when needed. Any non-neutral budget revisions must have the approval of Executive Council.

All salary level and hiring decisions must conform to Human Resource, Faculty, and budgeting policies, with HR involvement as needed. Final decisions are confirmed using the appropriate HR web request form, which requires approval of the Dean or Vice President for the area, or the President for his/her area and for VP direct reports.

Accounting Services will maintain the system table for all Budget Responsibility levels, plus a Review Access level to allow all responsibility levels and designated faculty and support staff for the area to view account budgets, balances, and transaction activity for their areas. Instructions will be available on-line, and training is available upon request.

Accounting Services will also periodically distribute comparative year budget reports to all Budget Responsibility levels. These reports will contain the budgets and operating results for two fiscal years (past and current, or current and future) depending on the purpose for the reports. Distribution of printed reports will correspond with fiscal year and budget cycles.