Discretionary Expenditures Control Policy

Reason for Policy

The purpose of this policy is to help mitigate the financial harm to the University caused by the financial effect of lower enrollment and the change in learning modalities.

Who is Governed by this Policy

All academic and administrative staff with authority to approve expenditures on behalf of their departmental budgets.

Policy

Effective March 1, 2023, approval to expend funds deemed to be Discretionary Funds and therefore subject to this Policy is restricted to those items absolutely required to conduct the day-to-day operations of the University. This excludes restrictive funds governed by grant regulations as well as excluding purchase order encumbrances prior to March 1, 2023.

Also specifically excluded from this policy is Faculty Travel which is governed by their Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), Travel for the purpose of recruitment or fundraising and Athletics.

Definitions

Discretionary Funds

For the purposes of this policy the funds deemed to be discretionary in nature and subject to this Policy are listed in Attachment A to this Policy.

Procedures

Procurement, IT Procurement and Contract Management will continue to review all purchase and contract requests.

All purchase order requisitions, Staples orders, Amazon orders and PO requisitions entered in iBuy at the department level or submitted manually for credit card payment and ordering, will be reviewed in accordance with the terms of this policy.

Justification as to the value to be derived from such expenditure shall be included in the Business Justification of the requisition. If the items requested are not deemed necessary according to the terms of this policy, the requisition will be declined. If the department feels that their order is necessary, they can resubmit the requisition with written approval from their Dean (for academic departments) or the appropriate Executive Leader or Chief Officer (for non- academic departments) attached in the justification field of the iBuy requisition.

Email communications are acceptable forms of written communications required by this policy. Contracts submitted for review utilizing discretionary funds must include the following approval levels:

Academic Departments

Non-Academic Departments

These approval levels should be completed on the Contract Input Form when the contract is uploaded into the Contract Management system. Contracts will not be processed without the appropriate approvals being confirmed.

Goods and services should not be ordered or received prior to receiving authorization to purchase.

Check Requisitions, Travel Expense Reports and other payment requests should not be submitted to the Accounts Payable department for processing until the appropriate approval is attached in writing.

The standard University process for purchasing goods and services for reimbursements will be used for these matters.

Forms

• Check Requisition (PDF)
• IT Purchasing Request Form

Related Information

The University’s financial and administrative procedures can be found in the Financial and Administrative Reference Guide (FARG).

Document History

• Last Reviewed Date: March 30, 2023
• Last Revised Date: March 30, 2023
• Policy Origination Date: April 16, 2020