PCard Purchases on Sponsored Awards

Purchases for projects funded by sponsored awards are frequently made using Tufts Procurement Cards (PCards). To charge the purchase to a sponsored award, the cardholder or their proxy allocates it to an appropriate sponsored award account in the PeopleSoft Procurement Card System after the charge becomes available within three to five days of the purchase. To avoid cost transfers, such allocation must occur timely as PCards are set up to automatically post to the default accounts in 21 days, per Tufts PCard policies and procedures.

Required Documentation

Per Tufts PCard policy, PCard purchases must be supported by at least one of the following backup documentation:

  • The actual sales slip
  • The cash register receipt
  • A copy of the order form
  • A supplier/merchant statement
  • Packing Slip
  • Online order confirmations (screen printout).

Uploading Backup Documentation into PeopleSoft

This backup documentation for all purchases charged to sponsored awards must be uploaded into PeopleSoft. If the backup documentation is not already uploaded into PeopleSoft and an expense that is initially posted to a non-sponsored account must be transferred to a sponsored award via a cost transfer, it is recommended that it would be uploaded at the time of submitting a cost transfer. Maintaining backup documentation in PeopleSoft facilitates providing information to external and internal audits and reduces requests from the departments at the time of audits.

In the PeopleSoft PCard application receipts can be added to a PCard transaction by clicking on the Justification Full Screen icon. The attachment can be added on either un-posted or posted transaction pages. Please see here for instructions for upload.

Please note that the system is only able to save one attachment per record. When multiple pieces of backup documentation are attached, they have to be merged into a single pdf document before uploading. If an attachment already exists, and additional paperwork is being added, it will overwrite the earlier attachment unless the documents are merged together manually before the upload.

Responsibility to Upload Documentation

PCard users or their designated proxy are responsible for timely allocation of expenses to appropriate PeopleSoft accounts. Receipts for the Required documentation should be uploaded either at the time of purchase or at the time of allocation of expenses. Local Research Administrators (LRAs) may be designated as proxies to assist in managing purchases on sponsored awards. Other positions may be designated as proxies per School/center decisions.

Schools/centers develop PCard workflows that maximize compliance with the university policy and balance their business needs with administrative burden and compliance. The Unposted PCard Expenses and Procurement Card Transactions reports in Tableau allow visibility into purchases that do not have attached backup.

Links and Resources