Departmental P-Cards

The Welcome Center has departmental p-cards available to check out on a first-come, first-served basis. These are available to faculty, and students who have received permission and funding information from their advisor or department chair. FACULTY: Please DO NOT send a student to use a p-card without providing them with funding information (account name and number).

NOTE: Use of the p-card contrary to University policy and/or Welcome Center rules listed below will result in revocation of the individual's privilege to use the departmental p-cards.

  1. The person checking out the card is responsible for ensuring funding is available prior to purchase.
  2. Cards must be returned with tax-exempt, itemized receipt(s) within 1 hour unless prior arrangements are made with staff. If a receipt is not itemized or tax-exempt, the person who checked out the card is responsible for obtaining such receipt.
  3. Do NOT use the pcard to purchase these items without prior approval from staff:  items which may be available to purchase from a catalog/contracted vendor; anything from Amazon or Ebay; 2+ nights at a hotel; Airbnb or VRBO; international purchases; purchases over $3,000
  4. Do NOT save the p-card number in any way (writing down, saving to an account, etc.)
  5. Provide all necessary documentation (link coming soon!)

As an alternative to using departmental p-cards, you may request purchasing assistance from your designated staff contact or SSC accounting specialist.

Applying for a P-Card

If you would like to apply for your own p-card, review the p-card information on the Procurement Services website. Note the application requires your supervisor's signature.

Direct link to KU and KUCR p-card application (pdf) 

Receipts

When submitting receipts for p-card reconciliation, include this information for each receipt:

  • Who - Who used the p-card
  • What - what was the p-card used for
  • When - date and time
  • Where - where did the p-card get used
  • Why - explanation of business purpose (documents may include itinerary, conference registration, etc.)
  • How Much - Be sure that the total is easily identifiable.
  • Funding

Note: These are the things the SSC looks at when they reconcile the purchases made with KURES/Research funding:

  1. make sure the five questions WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, and WHY are answered or can easily be identified
  2. check the funding in OAC to make sure the cost center/project # and fund are correct and that there is money available for spending
  3. check to make sure the date of purchase/service/travel are within the dates of the project 
  4. check to make sure that the expense has a budget line and that it is a normal expense for that account
  5. check to make sure the correct account code for KUCR was used
  6. view the attachment to make sure it is legible
  7. make sure there is a signature on the invoice or an email for an electronic signature attached
  8. make sure that the description that will be in OAC makes sense for the purchase
  9. make sure the comments have all the information required: INV#, and description below it

Note to Faculty

Please DO NOT send a student to use a p-card without providing them with funding information (account name and number).