Coeur d'Alene School District Purchase Orders

Finance Procedures ~ Purchase Orders

Use established vendors or get a W-9
A Form W-9 is an IRS form that requests the vendor's taxpayer identification number and tax filing status. Vendors who are not currently established in District 271's accounts payable system must first review and agree to abide by the district's financial procedures and then provide the district with a properly completed and signed Form W-9 before doing business with the district. It is the responsibility of the school/department to send the "Vendor Information Re: Accounts Payable" letter (see the Forms section of this manual) outlining our financial procedures and obtain the W-9s for the new vendors they wish to use. Route W-9s from vendors who agree to the district's terms to Accounts Payable to enter into Skyward as an approved vendor. Contact Accounts Payable if you have any questions about this procedure. Use the Form W-9 in the Forms section of this manual or download the current version from the IRS website at www.irs.gov.

Vendors requesting proof of the district's tax-exempt status may be provided with a copy of the district's Sales Tax Resale or Exemption Certificate (see the Forms section of this manual).

How to obtain a purchase order
Purchase orders begin with a requisition. A requisition is an UNAPPROVED purchase order. Requisitions are created using Skyward, the district's financial software. See the Forms section of this manual for step-by-step instructions regarding how to create a requisition using the Employee Access (also known as ERMA) application of Skyward.

Purchase order approval
Pre-approval is the most important aspect of purchasing. Purchases made without prior approval by Finance may become the financial responsibility of the purchaser.

Purchasing capital objects
An item or group of items are classified as capital objects (500 codes) if a single-item purchase is at least $300 (cost = price + shipping) AND is in use for more than one year. One exception to this rule is furniture. Regardless of cost, furniture is classified and coded as a supply object (410 code).

Any capital object purchased with a "500" series budget code needs to have a detailed item description (make, model, etc.) that CLEARLY identifies what type of equipment it is in order to comply with our fixed asset regulations.
Individual capital items must be purchased with a single budget code.

Purchasing gift cards/certificates
A pre-approved purchase order must be used to obtain gift cards/certificates for District employees and students. The gift card/certificate must always be documented by completing the Gift Card/Certificate Receipt form. This form must be retained as part of the accounts payable records. All gift cards must be purchased from vendors who do not allow the cards/certificates to be redeemed for cash.

Depending on who the gift is intended for, the following rules apply:

Gift cards for employees

Amount cannot exceed $25 per employee, per fiscal year.
ASB staff funds must be used.
Purpose of the gift must be for achievement or recognition purposes.

Gift cards for students

For recognition of student academic achievement, the amount cannot exceed $50 per student, per fiscal year.
For student appreciation that is not related to academic achievement, the amount cannot exceed $10 per student.
Both ASB staff funds and District funds are allowed for student gifts.
All gift cards for students must be purchased from vendors who do not sell alcohol or tobacco.

Contracts - exceeding $10,000 and/or one year in duration
(Excludes public works contracts which shall be processed according to Idaho State Code.)
1. School/department contacts at least (3) vendors for written quotes.
2. A requisition to the desired vendor is submitted to Finance with the following attachments:

All quotes obtained
Written justification, if the lowest quote is not selected
The proposed vendor contract (do not execute the contract until the PO is approved)

3. The requisition, quotes and proposed contract are reviewed by the bidding specialist and CFO/Treasurer for the following:

Completeness of documentation
Compliance with District procedures
Confirmation that fiscal prudence was executed

4. After review by the Finance department, the contract is submitted for Board approval.
5. After the contract is approved by the Board, the purchase order is approved and returned to the school/department as authorization to finalize the contract.

Open POs

Open POs are to be used when the purchaser is not spending more than $250 and does not know exactly what items will be purchased until they arrive at the store.

Not to exceed a total maximum amount of $250, including shipping, etc. Do not submit multiple POs of $250 in an attempt to circumvent the maximum allowable amount. If more than $250 is to be spent, a "regular" PO that itemizes the individual items must be used.
Open POs are only valid for 30 days; clearly state the PO expiration date in the line item description of the PO to alert the vendor.
Open POs may only be used one time at the store. The only exception to this rule is Super 1 grocery stores.
Unlike regular POs, "open" POs are not allowed to exceed the approved amount at all; not even by a few cents. The 25% rule does not apply to open POs. If a purchaser spends more than the approved amount on an open PO, they are personally held responsible for paying the unapproved expense.

Travel-related POs
Every travel-related PO (e.g., lodging, air fare, registration) requires the following information:

Name of the traveler
Name, date and location of the event
Attached registration form, if special check is requested

Special Check Requests
Travel-related check requests on purchase orders may be allowed in certain circumstances. Most commonly, they are for items that must be prepaid, such as registration or lodging, and are necessary when the vendor won't accept a PO. All POs that are requesting a special, travel-related check must be received in Finance at least 10 calendar days prior to the date the check is needed and must clearly state the date the check is needed by. If a travel-related check is to accompany the traveler on their trip, it is issued in the regular check fun prior to travel and distributed back to the requesting school/department.

Since special checks may be generated without an invoice, a receipt for the goods or services received must be obtained at the time of payment and returned to Finance within 10 days after the purchase. When returning the receipt to Finance, attach it to the "Special Check Receipt Request" form which is distributed with the check so that it will be properly accounted for. If a receipt is not received within 10 days after the purchase, no other special checks will be issued for that school/department until the matter is resolved.

Tracking POs
Use Skyward to look up the status-if the PO has "open" status, then it has been approved and sent back to the originating school/department via the inter-district mail.

Rush POs
When a true emergency arises and a purchaser cannot wait for the usual 24-hour turnaround on PO approvals, they have the option of contacting Accounts Payable to request a rush approval if the necessary Finance approvers are available.

Approving invoices for payment
Budget administrators or their designees must clearly identify the amount they are approving for payment. To summarize, please remember to:

Review items purchased;
Circle amount to pay on the invoice, sign and date it, or record all approval information on copy of PO;
Itemized receipts are required;
Staple all invoices to the PO;
Write each piece of equipment's serial number on the invoice for any equipment purchased with a "500" series budget code; and
Always obtain budget administrator's (not their designee's) written approval to pay the invoice if the amount due is more than 25% over the original estimated total of the PO;
Do not hold invoices back; approve them for payment as soon as possible. If you expect to have multiple invoices for one PO, send down partial payments. To submit partial payments on a PO, attach the invoice to be paid to a copy of the PO and mark it as a "partial" payment. Make sure to mark your last payment on the purchase order as "final." This procedure alerts Finance to close the PO after the final payment is made.

Questions?
If you have any questions regarding these procedures or need more information, contact the Accounts Payable department in Finance.

Finance Procedures

Please send comments to: Barbara King
Last Modified 10/22/2008