Financial

This Guide Memo contains policies on Blanket Purchase Orders.

This Guide Memo provides an overview of the procurement process. University departments are encouraged to contact Procurement early in the acquisition process. Procurement buyers and Contracts Specialists can help develop technical specifications and provide product descriptions, estimates of cost or price and lists of suppliers.

This Memo describes the policies that apply to equipment loans. Only Procurement and the CFO are authorized to execute documents that commit Stanford to a loan obligation.

This Guide Memo describes policies that apply to equipment and real estate leases. Capital and operating lease liabilities utilize the University's debt capacity. All uses of debt must comply with the University's debt policy and require prior approval. The only parties authorized to execute documents that commit Stanford to a lease obligation are: the Director of Procurement and the CFO for equipment leases; the Vice President for Land, Buildings & Real Estate; the Managing Director, Real Estate; and, the Provost for real estate leases. For relevant policies, see section 1 in Administrative Guide Memo 5.1.1: Procurement Policies. Approvals, requisition processes and reporting requirements are included.

This Guide Memo contains general policies concerning the University payroll. SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC) currently applies the applicable policies contained herein. SLAC departments should consult SLAC Business Services Division for SLAC procedures.

This Guide Memo describes or references procedures for authorizing payment for services to the University by individuals who are not University employees. SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC) currently applies the applicable policies contained herein. SLAC departments should consult the SLAC Office of the Chief Financial Officer website for SLAC procedures which differ from those set forth below. For information about faculty honoraria, please see Chapter 5 of the Faculty Handbook.

This Guide Memo sets out policies and procedures for expense allocations and salary distribution offsets, which are a form of cost transfer.

This Guide Memo sets out policies and procedures for transferring already incurred costs from one expenditure account (Project-Task-Award) to another. Cost transfers may also be called transfers of expense.

The University's Oracle Financial system has two core accounting applications: Grants Accounting (GA) and General Ledger (GL). The GA subledger records all detailed expenditure transactions and then summarizes them in the GL. The GA module has five segments: Project (P), Task (T), Award (A), Expenditure types (E) and Organization. A Project (P) is an activity or event with a single purpose. A Task (T) is a further breakdown of the project; every project has at least one task. An Award (A) is a funding source for a particular project or task. Find further information on the University's Chart of Accounts at Stanford's Gateway to Financial Activities.  This Guide Memo describes the various kinds of expenditure accounts or PTAs (the intersection of Project, Task, and Award) within the University's accounting system.

This Guide Memo outlines policy on travel undertaken for University business. It should be used in conjunction with travel procedural information, resources, and forms, which outline the application of this policy and may be found in the Travel section of the Gateway to Financial Activities website (Fingate).