Manuals, Guides, and Procedures

• Pilferable Assets Template Example

Purpose: This template is an example of how to maintain important information about assets that are at risk of theft. Examples of pilferable assets that each department shall maintain include laptops, computers, data projectors and other pilferable assets costing between $1,000 and $5,000.   

Contact: fixedassets@charlotte.edu

Last updated: April 22, 2024

• Procedures for Other Payments to a Foreign National

Describes procedures for other payments to a foreign national.

Last Updated: November 13, 2014

• Procedures for Scholarship/Fellowship Payment to a Foreign National

Purpose: Describes how to process scholarship and fellowship payments made to a foreign national person. Examples of these types of payment may include but are not limited to the following: qualified scholarships for tuition; non-qualified scholarships for living expenses; travel award.

Contact Email: taxoffice@charlotte.edu

Last Updated: April 28, 2023

We recognize the critical role business officers and their associates play in the university’s financial operations, serving as the front line for transactions and ensuring compliance. As the university evolves and our teams grow, we are committed to providing enhanced professional development and offering updated and new training courses tailored to your specific needs. This includes targeted microlearnings addressing key financial competencies and common user issues. Training materials are readily accessible on this page and course registration is available through the Learning and Development Portal, unless otherwise noted.

Required System Training

For compliance and security purposes, some systems require training before access is granted.

• Merchant Training – This is a required training for all merchants that accept card information as a form of payment through point of sales, web, phone or paper forms to maintain compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). Learn more about Merchant Training requirements.
• Purchasing Card Program Training – Provides the purchasing card (P-card) accountholder training. A new on-demand user and biannual cardholder training will be available starting Wednesday, April 9, 2025. Learn more about the Purchasing Card Program Training.
• Offered by the Office of OneIT
  • Banner training required to gain access to Banner, the University’s administrative system of record. Both courses are on-demand self-paced classes.
    • Banner Finance Training – Log into Canvas using your NinerNET credentials, select the Course icon from the left side-bar menu and select Training-Banner Finance (the course list will vary by user).
    • IT Security Training – available in L&D Portal – learn more about IT Security Training

On-Demand Training

On-demand training provides convenient, self-paced learning that you can access anytime, anywhere. Available courses include:

• Navigating Finance Fundamentals – Ideal for employees new to university roles requiring finance and budget competencies or responsibilities, including business officers and business coordinators. Now available in the Learning and Development Portal!
• Sources and Uses of University Funds – Covers the broad categories of funding sources and some key considerations for the use of these funds. Learn more about the Sources and Uses of University Funds.
• Endowment Overview and Update Training – Includes the results of the annual spending calculation and provides a high-level overview of the University’s endowment process. Targeted to those who manage endowment funds for their department. Learn more about Endowment spending.
• Internal Controls presentation – A brief training on internal controls at UNC Charlotte. Learn more about Internal Controls.

Instructor-Led Training

Engage with expert instructors and fellow learners in our live instructor-led courses, offered throughout the year. View the schedule and register through the Learning and Development Portal.

• Charlotte’s Travel (everything you need to know about traveling for UNC Charlotte)
• Complex Payments and Tax Guidance – For employees who are responsible for submitting payment requests and interested in learning more about the tax implications of payments made by the University
• Employment of Internationals Workshop – Understand immigration, employment and tax requirements for on-boarding international employees
• Fixed Assets – This workshop will benefit asset custodians, inventory coordinators, department business service, or anyone involved with the annual physical inventory process, entering Fixed Assets eForms, and 49er Mart purchasers with account coding
• Purchasing and Accounts Payable 101 – Provides information on the University’s purchasing policies and procedures as well as procedures for invoice payments
• Purchasing 201: Solicitations and Contracts – Detailed training on the competitive solicitation and contract processes
• Hosted by OneIT Financial Systems Support
  • Concur for Purchasing Card Expense Report (Non-travel) – Covers purchasing card (p-card) reconciliation process in Concur for employees who reconcile their own p-cards or have been delegated responsibility for reconciling other employees’ p-cards
  • Concur for Travelers – A walk through of the travel request to expense report process for employees who travel on behalf of the university and are responsible for preparing their own travel-related processes

Microlearning Video Tutorials

Need a quick answer? Our microlearnings provide short, focused videos to guide you through a specific process in minutes. Available videos:

Banner & Perceptive Content Navigation

• How to access historical Treasury Services fund files in Perceptive Content
• How to determine how much the University paid to a vendor for any given year using Banner Finance
• How to look up a fund number in Banner Finance using FTMEELT

Banner Self Service

• How to access your electronic Form W-2 (current employees)

PATH System

• How to set up a process specific approver in PATH (e.g., Concur Cost Object Approver)

More video tutorials will continue to be added! Check back often.

Forums

Join the conversation! Our online forums, offered by Financial Services and partner offices, are excellent for knowledge sharing and connecting with subject matter experts and peers. Find a forum that suits your interests.

• Admin Forum – Monthly training and support for campus administrative staff; learn more about the Admin Forum and Admin Chat Room Group.
• Business Update Forum – Held periodically throughout the year, each session is customized for the needs of those individuals who lead and support the business operations within the University’s colleges and departments. Learn more about the Business Update Forum.
• Hosted by OneIT Financial Systems Support
  • 49er Mart Forum – Held the 4th Thursday monthly; forum information will be posted to the 49er Mart message board and in the Learning and Development Portal
  • Concur User Group Forum – Covers a variety of topics such as system updates, best practices, frequently asked questions and answers and discussion of experiences in Concur. You can find the most recent session recordings and slide decks on the Concur landing page. Forum registration (optional) is available in the Learning and Development Portal

Partner Office resources

In addition to the training resources provided above, we collaborate closely with several partner offices to offer a comprehensive learning experience. For specialized training with budgets, please visit the Budget Office website. For resources related to finance and human resources systems, including Banner Finance/HR Position Control/Accounts Receivable modules, related Report Central portals, 49er Mart (eprocurement), Concur (travel and expense), Kronos, Niner Research, Web Time Entry and other ancillary applications the Office of OneIT Financial Systems Support provides extensive online materials. We encourage you to learn more about offered sessions to further enhance your professional development.

additional finance resources

Reference the FAQs available in the Knowledge Base to find answers to common finance and system-related questions.

Last updated: April 4, 2025

Purpose: Below is a list of vendors UNC Charlotte has contracted with for promotional items. Reach out to them directly to obtain a quote.

Vendor Name	Contact Name	Contact email
4Imprint	Matt Dahm	Edu@4imprint.com
Action Plus	Alicia Rhodes	alicia@actionplusideas.com
Blink Marketing	Jenny McIntyre	jenny@blinkmarketing.com
Club Colors	Alexis Bittner	abittner@clubcolors.com
Promo Logic	Angie Johnson	angie.johnson@promologicllc.com

Contact Email: purchasing@charlotte.edu

Last Updated: August 13, 2024

• Organizational Encumbrance List

Purpose: Review open Purchase Order Encumbrances in Banner.

Last Updated: November 13, 2014

• Purchasing agent assignments by ORG Code

Purpose: This file contains a table of purchasing agents by level 5 organizational code.

Contact Email: purchasing@charlotte.edu

Last Updated: See date in workbook tab

• Purchasing Card Manual

Purpose: Provides general Information and detailed procedures for card issuance and card processes, purchasing guidelines and documentation requirements.

Last Updated: January 8, 2025

Purpose: To provide information on the required training for the University’s Purchasing Card (P-card) Program.

Important Training Update, effective Wednesday, April 9, 2025:

• A new on-demand P-card user and biannual accountholder training is now available in the University’s Learning and Development Portal.
• Action Required: All P-card accountholders are required to complete this training to comply with the UNC System Office’s mandatory bi-annual P-card training requirement.
• Refer to this article on the Financial Services website for more details.
• Please note that the instructor-led P-card user training has been discontinued. 

Reference the P-card Manual for general information and detailed procedures for card issuance and card processes, purchasing guidelines and documentation requirements.

Contact Email: purchasingcard@charlotte.edu

Last Updated: April 11, 2025

• Purchasing Card Reference Guide (PCRG)

Purpose: This guide is meant to serve as a one-stop reference for purchasing card (p-card) users and combines multiple resources into one document.

Last Updated: August 8, 2024

• UNC Charlotte Purchasing Manual

Purpose: The purchasing manual is an official guide for the departments, schools, divisions, offices, and other organizational entities of UNC Charlotte. These policies should be used for the procurement and handling of supplies, materials, equipment, and services as directed by the General Statutes of the State of North Carolina and as stated in University Policy 601.11, Purchasing Policy.

Please contact Purchasing office if your specific question is not covered.

As purchasing policies or procedures change, this webpage will be updated. Please bookmark this site and refer to it often.

Scott Brechtel, Director of Materials Management

Contact Email: purchasing@charlotte.edu

Last Updated: March 10, 2025

Overview

The Red Flags Rule (Rule) was issued in 2007 by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) after the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) added provisions to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) designed to improve the accuracy of consumers’ credit-related records and directed the FTC to issue guidelines for financial institutions and creditors regarding identity theft with respect to their account holders and customers. The Rule is actually three different but related rules, two of which apply to the University.

The Rule requires financial institutions and creditors that offer or maintain one or more covered accounts to implement a written Identity Theft Prevention Program (ITPP) designed to detect, prevent, and mitigate identity theft. Red Flags are suspicious patterns or practices or specific activities that indicate the possibility that identity theft may occur. The University’s ITPP was initially approved by the University’s Board of Trustees in 2009, and last revised in 2022. All departments, colleges, and units who are involved with handling Personally Identifiable Information (PII) in connection with the opening of covered accounts and with respect to existing covered accounts must comply with the University’s ITPP and develop reasonable processes and procedures to verify the identity of persons for whom services are being provided and to detect, prevent, and mitigate any instances of identity theft.

The Rule also requires a user of a consumer report to employ reasonable policies and procedures when the user receives a notice of address discrepancy. Therefore, to prevent identity theft regarding an employment or volunteer position for which a credit or background report is sought, University personnel shall take the following steps to assist in identifying address discrepancies:

• Require written verification from any applicant that the address provided by the applicant is accurate at the time the request for the credit report is made to the consumer reporting agency; and

• If notice of an address discrepancy is received, verify that the credit report pertains to the applicant for whom the requested report was made and report to the consumer reporting agency an address for the applicant that the University has reasonably confirmed is accurate.

Other links of interest

• Full text of the FTC’s Fair Credit Reporting Act FCRA 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681-1681x, as amended by the Fair and Accurate Transaction Act of 2003 (effective Sep. 1, 2011)
• Full text of the FTC’s Red Flags Rule FTC 16 CFR Part 681, as amended by the Red Flag Program Clarification Act of 2010 (effective Jan. 1, 2011)
• SEC and CFTC’s final Identity Theft Red Flags Rule rule (effective May 20, 2013)
• Other FTC resources:
  • Fighting Identity Theft with the Red Flags Rule: A How-To Guide for Business
  • Consumer Information on Identity Theft
  • Protecting Personal Information: A Guide for Business
• NACUBO Red Flags Rule resources
• IRS site on Identity Protection
• NC Identity Theft Protection Act of 2005, via S1048
• UNC System Guidance (Feb. 2009)

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UNC Charlotte Procedures and Forms

Red Flags Rule Annual Survey, to be completed by Key Areas (as defined in Procedures).

Red Flag Detection Form, to be completed if Red Flags are detected in the course of University operations.

Note that, while Key Areas must comply with the University’s ITPP, from a Red Flags Rule risk management perspective, all employees who are involved with handling PII must comply with the following procedures related to information security and fraud prevention.

Protection of Personally Identifiable Information

To further prevent the likelihood of identity theft occurring during the conduct of University business, the University will take the following steps with respect to its internal operating procedures to protect PII:

• Ensure that its website is secure or provide clear notice that the website is not secure;
• Ensure complete and secure destruction of paper documents and computer files containing individual account information when a decision has been made to no longer maintain such information;
• Ensure that office computers with access to PII are password protected;
• Ensure that laptops are password protected and encrypted;
• Avoid use of social security numbers when possible;
• Ensure the security of physical facilities that contain PII;
• Ensure that transmission of PII is limited and encrypted when necessary;
• Ensure computer virus protection is up to date; and
• Require and keep only the kinds of individual information that are necessary for University purposes.

Hard Copy Distribution

Each employee and contractor performing work for the University will comply with the following security measures related to hard copy files with PII:

• File cabinets, desk drawers, overhead cabinets, and any other storage space containing documents with PII will be locked when not in use, when unsupervised, and at the end of each workday.
• Clear desks, workstations, work areas, printers and fax machines, and common shared work areas of all documents containing PII when not in use.
• Whiteboards, dry-erase boards, writing tablets, and other writing surfaces in common shared work areas with PII will be erased, removed, or shredded when not in use.
• When documents containing PII are discarded, they will be placed inside a locked shred bin or immediately shredded using a mechanical crosscut or Department of Defense-approved shredding device. Label locked shred bins as “Confidential paper shredding and recycling.”

The following can be used to educate your staff regarding the Red Flags Rule and University’s ITPP:

• UNC Charlotte’s Red Flags Rule – ITPP Procedures include definitions and specific actionable items on how to prevent and mitigate identity theft, including a “Red Flag Identification and Detection Grid.”
• For information about data classification and handling, visit the Standard for Information Classification.

Last Updated: September 30, 2024

Origins

Campus divisions and departments are ultimately responsible for the accuracy and timely submission of personnel action forms including Personnel Distribution forms (PD7) and time records. Failure to do so may result in overpayments to employees, creating an unnecessary financial burden on the department.

Payroll Calendar & Due Dates: Each year, Payroll provides monthly and bi-weekly schedules for the upcoming year, including deadlines for receiving personnel action forms and time records. The Payroll Calendar is readily available on Payroll’s website.

Supervisors: All supervisors must communicate information about search postings, hiring recommendations, terminations, leaves of absence, pay rate changes, etc. to their department’s Business Officers in a timely manner. The supervisor is then responsible for ensuring that the information is submitted through the proper approval process (e.g., through the Graduate School, Office of Academic Budget & Personnel, Human Resources and/or Payroll) prior to the “Paperwork Due to Payroll” date (in Payroll Calendar). Since some of the personnel action documents must have multiple approvals before delivery to Payroll for processing, departments may need to anticipate review time or simply monitor the status of the personnel action to help prevent potential overpayments and ensure new/current employees are paid timely.

Overpayment & Collection Process

If the employing department becomes aware of a potential overpayment, Payroll should be contacted immediately, and this overpayment form must be completed. Upon notification, Payroll will:

• Gather the supporting documents and calculate the overpayment on a gross-to-net basis. The employee is only required to repay the net amount if repayment can be accomplished within the same calendar (tax) year. If repayment crosses the calendar (tax) year, the gross amount must be repaid.
• Send written notification to the employee, with a copy to the employing department, detailing the overpayment and the University’s expectation for collection. This includes notification of North Carolina General Statute 147-86.23 which outlines the University’s right to add interest & penalties to past due accounts. Effective January 1, 2015, the University will assess a one-time 10% late payment penalty and accrue interest charges at 5% annually unless payment is received or a payment plan has been agreed to by both parties within 30 days of the notification date.
• For Repayment Options: Contact Payroll (Note: Current employees will have their overpayment collected through a payroll deduction, unless other payment arrangements are made.)

Most of the time, individuals make repayment arrangements within 30 days of being notified; however,

• If Payroll has not received a response after 30 days, the overpayment is considered past due and a second communication is sent, indicating interest and penalties will begin unless repayment arrangements are made immediately.
• Students with a past due overpayment will have a registration hold placed on their account until payment is made. Once the overpayment is 30 days past due, the student will be denied readmission, transcripts, diploma, etc. until payment is made.
• If no response is received after 60 days past due, then the Controller’s Office notifies the State of North Carolina Attorney General’s (AG) Office of the debt. The AG’s office then sends a final communication to the employee for collection. The Controller’s Office will also refer the debt to the North Carolina Department of Revenue (NCDOR), under North Carolina General Statute 105A-3(b), to have it deducted from the employee’s State income tax refund according to the Set-Off Debt Collections Act (SODCA).
• If no response is received to the AG’s letter within 90 days, then the University may turn the debt over to a state-approved collection agency.

Once full repayment is received, the funds are returned to the department and updates are made to the employee’s gross pay, taxes, deductions, and benefit records. If needed, an amended Form W-2 is issued.

Contact Email: payrolldept@charlotte.edu

Last Updated: June 22, 2021

• North Carolina Sales and Use Tax Exemption Certificate (2025)

Purpose: To provide the sales and use tax exemption certificates on file with UNC Charlotte’s Tax Office. The University is exempt from North Carolina sales and use tax for qualifying purchases.

Contact Email: taxoffice@charlotte.edu

Last updated: February 27, 2025

Signature Authority Policy

Purpose: Clarifies the source of all University signature authority, the responsibilities of those individuals to whom University signature authority has been delegated, and the consequences of signing Contracts without the appropriate signature authority.

Last Updated: August 18, 2017

Payment method

The primary method for purchasing computer software is to use 49er Mart, but purchasing card (p-card) use may also be acceptable on a case-by-case basis. However, before moving forward with any software or IT-related purchase, it must be reviewed and approved by OneIT. To begin this process, employees must complete the Software & IT-Related Request Form available in the procedures list below and on the OneIT website. Once the form is submitted, OneIT will immediately begin their review. The Requestor and the Purchasing Office will be notified once their review is complete. If approved, the Purchasing Office will let the campus department know to complete the purchase.

Additionally, guidance is available on paying for mobile communication device (MCD) apps.

Rationale and other considerations

Orders are processed online through a web browser, depending on the type of supplier used. To begin, choose a supplier, select items and place them in your virtual shopping cart. After shopping, your cart proceeds to the checkout, where a requisition draft is created. Enter the appropriate accounting codes (e.g., fund, account) that your department will use for this order.

• Placing the order prompts the workflow process to begin. Approvers are notified via email that an order is pending. The level of approvals required depends on the purchase type and the dollar amount. The final approval generates a purchase order (PO).
• To receive the order, you must log in to 49er Mart. Receiving initiates payment to the vendor.

How to do it

1. Log in to 49er Mart
2. Click on the supplier’s logo (e.g., Dell, etc.)
3. If the vendor is a punch-out supplier, you will be directed to the vendor’s site to shop for your item(s)
4. Add the desired item(s) to your cart and click “Checkout” when finished ordering
5. If the vendor does not have a catalog, you will enter the items as non-catalog and select the appropriate supplier
6. Review the details of your order, and select “Proceed to Checkout”
7. Select the appropriate accounting codes for your college/department
8. Perform a final review and select “Place Order”

Questions?

Email Purchasing at purchasing@charlotte.edu or refer to the list of Purchasing contacts.

Last Updated July 26, 2024

• Sources and Uses of University Funds Presentation (slides)

Sources and Uses of University Funds Recorded Presentation [51-minute video from Oct. 2022 Legal Symposium)

Purpose: The University’s operations and activities are supported by a variety of fund sources, and each of these sources has its own spending characteristics and rules. This presentation covers the broad categories of these funding sources and some of the key considerations for the use of these funds. In addition, several of the key online resources available to departments to guide faculty and staff with their spending practices are highlighted.

Last Updated: May 1, 2023

See How to Pay Students and/or How to Pay Individuals guides. For additional questions, consult with the Tax Office.

Last Updated: January 10, 2017