Reconcilement and Payment

Unlike personal credit cards, the P Card program is handled as corporate liability.  Your personal credit history has not been taken into account when a card has been issued in your name. Concordia’s Accounts Payable Department is responsible for paying the invoice each month. You are not responsible for direct payment of your account balance.

It is your responsibility, immediately upon receipt of your e-mail from the Commercial Card Expense Reporting (CCER) system, to sign in and reconcile your statement online. Please provide a business purpose for each transaction in the description box and place a check mark in the “receipt attached” box, indicating you are submitting a receipt for each purchase and verify that all expense coding is correct. When you have verified that everything is in order, select the “review complete” button at the bottom of the screen.  Then, send your statement and your original receipts to your approver. Your Approver will review your receipts, approve your statement (both the paper copy and online) and then forward them to the PCA in the Business Office for a final review and filing.

You are required to obtain original itemized receipts. For orders placed via phone, fax or mail, you must request a receipt, detailing merchandise price, sales/use tax, freight, etc., be included with the goods mailed/shipped. It is recommended you request the receipt be faxed to you, prior to the goods being shipped, to ensure you have a receipt for statement reconciliation. (Note: a merchant should not reject this request, as it is a Visa policy). It is extremely important to request and retain purchase receipts, as this is the only original documentation to substantiate the purchase as a valid business expense.

Acceptable Documentation

An original itemized receipt or substitute documentation must support each purchase as listed below:

  • Original itemized receipt or invoice from the vendor including the following: (1) vendor name; (2) transaction amount; (3) date; (4) itemized description of the items purchased and (5) for meals, include the names of individuals at the meal or the name of the group and the business purpose or reason for the meal--note: alcohol is NOT reimbursable.
  • A screen-print or order confirmation e-mail when making Internet purchases, or a copy of an order form that was mailed to a vendor to request an item.
  • If the employee is unable to obtain the above listed documentation, a Missing Receipt form must be completed documenting the transaction and verifying it was for official college business. 

Cardholder Responsibilities

  • You are responsible for the transactions identified on your statement. You must obtain original itemized receipts and document that transactions are college-related expenditures in accordance with Concordia's policy requirements. You will be required to reimburse the college with personal funds for any activity you are unable to properly substantiate as a business expense.
  • Ensure that sales tax is not charged on exempt purchases.
  • Review and reconcile your monthly statement online by verifying that all transactions are valid, legitimate purchases and are coded correctly. Thorough descriptions documenting the business purpose for each transaction should be entered in the description box.
  • Attach original itemized receipts or other required documentation for every transaction to your monthly statement and submit to your approver by the specified deadlines.

Out of Pocket Expenses
If you incurred cash out of pocket expenses or need to claim for mileage reimbursement, enter this information in the Out of Pocket expense section of the P Card statement and include a business purpose. Please select from the drop down menu the item that closely associates with this expense.

Online Features
Your new Wells Fargo VISA P-Card can be administered completely online! Input your company ID, user ID and password. The first time you log in you will need to change your password and agree to the terms laid out on the Web site. Mac’s are not supported by this system, so we recommend using a PC.

You can review and manage your transactions, including splitting charges, reclassifying to another unit or account, adding a description, disputing a charge or marking as receipt attached.  Changes to transactions will be passed to the general ledger, so please verify that any changes you make are coded correctly. You must provide a description for every transaction and always document the business purpose including travel destinations, names and positions of individuals for whom dining/entertainment expenses were paid, and any other pertinent information.

Current statements, previous statements (up to 13 previous months), and cycle-to-date transactions are all available for viewing. You may access your Purchase Card activity online at anytime. At cycle end, e-mail prompts will be sent to remind you to review your monthly statements if you have not done so already. After you have made all necessary changes and done a final review of your statement for the month, you will need to select the “review complete” option and it will be forwarded on for approval.

For additional guidance, after signing in select “Access online help for your enrolled services” under Online Training on the left side of the screen. Then under Commercial Card Expense Reporting select “Cardholder Quick Reference Guide.” Detailed instruction will also be provided at cardholder orientation sessions.

Online Approvers
Approvers have the same options as cardholders available to them when reviewing the cardholder statements, including reclassifying charges, disputing charges and adding descriptions. Approvers may also run various ad hoc reports based upon cardholder, dates, amounts, and/or status. The approver must approve or decline the cardholder’s statement based upon the rules in this manual. After reviewing the cardholder statement, the approver will forward the statement (with original receipts attached) to the Business Office for final review. If areas of concern or non-compliance are noted on the cardholder's statement, the approver will inform the cardholder and help resolve the issue.

Approver Responsibilities

  • Verify that expenses were incurred in the conduct of College business and in compliance with Concordia's policies.
  • Confirm that expenses are adequately documented specifying who, what, why, when and where in accordance with IRS regulations. The IRS's assumption is that improperly documented business expense reimbursements are compensation payments that must be reported and taxed as income.
  • Ensure that expenses are charged to the proper budget numbers (FOAPs) and within budgeted amounts.
  • Approve the monthly statement online after reviewing descriptions and reasonableness of purchases by specified deadlines.
  • Forward the statement (with original receipts attached) to the Business Office for final review. If areas of concern or non-compliance are noted on the cardholder's statement, the approver will inform the cardholder and help resolve the issue.

Billing Cycle
The automatic billing cycle ends the last day of each month, but it is strongly recommended that you review your statement throughout the month so errors can be detected immediately. Listed below are several important dates to remember when reconciling your monthly statement:

Day 1:

An email is sent to all cardholders that statement is ready to review.

Days 1-4:

Cardholder completes reconciliation of statement.

Day 5:

If cardholder has not completed the reconciliation process, cardholder receives e-mail indicating this.

Days 5-7:

Cardholder is given three additional days to complete statement reconciliation process and submit to approver.

Day 8:

Cardholder is locked out of statement. Approver has only access to statement.
Days 8-10:

Approver reviews and approves cardholder's statement.

Day 11:

Approver and cardholder no longer have access to statement to make changes.

Day 12:

Statement printout and supporting documentation are due in the Business Office.

Disputed or Fraudulent Charges:
If there is a discrepancy on your statement, it is imperative that the issue is addressed immediately. Depending on the type of discrepancy, you will need to contact either the merchant or Purchase Card Administrator Diane Aafedt to resolve the disputed transaction.

If you believe the merchant has charged you incorrectly or there is an outstanding quality or service issue, you must first contact the merchant and try to resolve the error or problem. If you are able to resolve the matter directly with the merchant, and the error involved an overcharge, a credit adjustment from the merchant should be requested and will appear on your next statement.

If the merchant disagrees that an adjustment is necessary, you may dispute this transaction online using Wells Fargo’s Commercial Card Expense Reporting or you should contact Purchase Card Administrator Diane Aafedt who will work with Wells Fargo to resolve the dispute. Wells Fargo will request complete details of the dispute in writing in order to research the item in question. The details of the disputed transaction should be reported on the Wells Fargo Bank dispute form or on the dispute screen available online.

Wells Fargo Bank must receive any charge disputes within 60 days of the transaction date. While pending resolution, Wells Fargo will credit Concordia’s account for the amount of the disputed transaction. Although Wells Fargo acts as the arbitrator in any dispute, you should never assume that a dispute will be resolved in your favor.

If the dispute is not resolved to your satisfaction, and you believe the merchant has unfairly treated you, please notify Diane Aafedt with the relevant details.  If the merchant is one of our preferred vendors, we may take further action.

Any fraudulent charge, i.e., a charge appearing which was not authorized by yourself, must be reported immediately to Purchase Card Administrator Diane Aafedt. Prompt reporting of any such charge will help to prevent Concordia from being held responsible. Please complete a declaration of forgery or unauthorized use form.

Information For:

current students
faculty and staff		 parents
alumni		 high school students
admitted students