Glossary of Terms

Definitions:

Cardholder - LSUHSC employee whose name appears on the card and who is approved by his/her Department Head or Business Manager to use La Carte to execute purchasing transactions on behalf of the university. This person is accountable for all charges made with the card.

Cardholder Agreement Form - This form states that the cardholder has read and understands the policies and procedures of LSUHSC relative to the procurement card use and agrees to comply with all of these established procedures. This form must be signed by the cardholder prior to issuance of the card.

Cardholder Enrollment Form - This form contains pertinent cardholder information necessary for statement and mailing purposes, contact information, daily/monthly spending limits, and budgetary controls. This form must be completed for all prospective cardholders.

Card Issuer - Bank of America's services were contracted for by the State of Louisiana, to issue La Carte' Visa Purchasing Cards to State Employees, to provide electronic transactions and billing to the Agencies for all purchases made on the cards, and to collect payment from the Agencies.

Default PS Speed Type - The account code assigned to an individual cardholder's card. It consists of a string of numbers comprised of an employees Department, Fund, Program, Class and Project/Grant number. All charges made by the cardholder will default to this chart string until reallocated by appropriate personnel.

Memo Statement of Account - A listing of all transactions charged to the cardholder's account through the end of the monthly billing cycle. The Bank sends the statement directly to the cardholder, on a monthly basis for reconciliation purposes. This is not a bill.

Merchant Category Code (MCC) - Codes assigned by the Bank to suppliers that indicate their type of business. Each La Carte card is encoded with the types of MCC's that a cardholder is authorized to purchase from. Attempts to purchase at either prohibited or restricted suppliers will be denied.

Monthly Spending Limit - A maximum dollar limit assigned to the cardholder for the total of all charges made during the monthly billing cycle.

Purchasing Card - Louisiana La Carte purchasing card is a Visa credit card issued by Bank of America for use by authorized state employees for the purpose of making small dollar purchases on behalf of their department. Issuance of this card in no way affects established purchasing rules and regulations.

Single Purchase Limit - Amount set by the State Program Administrator as the maximum dollar amount (total amount of sale) allowed for any single transaction made with the La Carte card. This amount is $1,000 per transaction.

Split Purchases - Artificially splitting a purchase to avoid the $1,000 single transaction limit. For example, A cardholder wants to make a purchase for items totaling $1,200. The cardholder asks the merchant to split the transaction into two separate transactions of $600 in order to avoid the $1,000 transaction limit. This is splitting and is strictly prohibited.

Supervisor/Reviewer - Individual(s) within an agency who is responsible for requesting purchasing cards for Departmental employees who make official purchases. The Supervisor is responsible for verifying that all charges against the cardholder's account are authorized and made in accordance with the program guidelines and that the transaction is supported by adequate documentation.

WORKS- a wed-based card management and reporting system provided by Bank of America.