Instructions for Marquette University Purchase Log
The Marquette University Purchase Log must be completed every month by all P-card holders to
facilitate review and reconciliation of statements. A copy of the online completed Purchase Log
or a manually completed Log must be submitted to the Comptroller’s Office in an envelope with
the bank statement and all receipts within 30 days of the statement date. The Purchase Log must
be fully completed to include an explanation of the business purpose for each charge and must be
signed by both the P-cardholder and supervisor. See the Purchasing Department web site for
additional information on accessing the Purchasing Log forms.
All transactions on the credit card statement must be accounted for on the log. To verify this
occurs, enter the total from the credit card statement in the “total from statement” field. When
all transactions have been entered, the “variance of totals” field should be green and say “no
variance”.
1. Fill out the information on the top portion of the log; this includes the cardholder’s name
and extension, the approver’s name and extension, the cardholder’s department, the
statement end date (mm/dd/yy format – the statement will usually end on the 20th day of a
given month unless the 20th falls on a weekend) and total from the ELAN statement.
2. Enter one transaction per line on the log (include charges and credits):
a. Enter transaction date.
b. Select the appropriate business expense description from drop-down menu. If a
different description is more appropriate, select ‘other’ and enter the description
in the ‘explanation of business purpose’ column.
c. Enter vendor name (e.g., Target, Office Max, VWR, etc.).
d. Describe the transaction in enough detail in the column for ‘explanation of
business purpose’, so that a person unfamiliar with your departmental operations
would be able to determine what was purchased and the relationship to your
business operation. Product numbers only and generic descriptions such as
“food” or “travel” are not adequate. Examples of adequate information include:
i. Airline ticket for Bob Brown to visit recruit in Orlando, FL for men’s
basketball team.
ii. Dinner in NYC with donors after MU NCAA tournament game (list
names of donors/employees in ‘individuals involved’ column).
iii. Registration fee for ACL conference in Chicago, IL.
iv. Food for XYZ department’s annual holiday luncheon.
e. List names of all persons involved in transaction, if different than cardholder.
(e.g., employees, recruits, donors, students, groups, team names, etc.).
i. X, Y, and Z donors
ii. X, Y, and Z employees
iii. IT department staff and student employees
iv. Women’s Volleyball team
v. Sarah Miller – recruit
vi. John Anderson – faculty candidate
f. Enter dollar amount of transaction.
3. Use additional pages of log (tabs in Excel spreadsheet) if credit card statement contains
more than 15 transactions. Totals from the additional pages will automatically link to the
grand total on the first page.
4. Verify that the ‘variance of totals’ field is green indicating that the total from the credit
card statement reported in that field agrees with the ‘grand total’ field computed from all
transactions. If it does not, review the transactions and make appropriate corrections.
5. After confirming all transactions are accounted for on the log, print out all pages of the
form.
6. Sign and date the bottom of the log. Your signature indicates that you are representing
the information on the log to be complete, accurate, and appropriate for business use
according to Marquette University’s policies.
7. Submit the log to your supervisor along with the credit card statement and receipts. The
supervisor should review all line items on the log. The supervisor’s signature indicates
that he/she has reviewed the information on the log for accuracy, completeness of
receipts attached, and existence and adequacy of business explanations for all
transactions.
8. The cardholder is responsible for making sure the log is received in the Comptroller’s
office within 30 days of statement date. .
9. Log submission should be as follows:
a. Completed and signed log should be sent with all receipts in an envelope.
b. Organize receipts in the order they appear on the statement and place the receipts
and the log in the envelope.
c. The outside of the envelope should contain the name of the cardholder (Last
Name, First Name) and the statement billing date (example: 2/21/13 thru
3/20/13).
10. Blank envelopes can be purchased through our office supply company.