Approval

All transactions initiated in SAS departments must be approved by a Department Administrator, Supervisor or a designated SAS business person who ensures that transactions are:

Certain financial transactions require higher levels of signature authority within the SAS Dean's office by your designated business person and Dean.

The approver should review supporting documentation and investigate any transaction that seems problematic.  By his/her approval, the administrator accepts full responsibility for the transaction.

The approver of a transaction should not be the initiator/requestor of the transaction.  When this separation of duties is not possible due to limited resources, or when the transaction is a payment to the departmental approver, a SAS designated business person other than the authorizer should review and approve transactions.

 

Separation of Duties

Separation of duties provides necessary checks and balances to detect error and prevent concealment of irregularities.  In general, the approval function and the reconciling function should be separated among employees.  When these functions cannot be separated, a detailed review by a business manager is required as a compensating control activity.

 

Financial Review

Individuals with delegated budgetary authority are required to review actual expenditures compared to budget on a regular basis to assure fiscal accountability and solvency.   Departmental administrators must be satisfied that they have either documentation or specific knowledge to confirm that the transaction meets the following criteria:

  • Is reasonable, appropriate and necessary
  • Has been correctly charged to your account
  • Was properly authorized and approved by your department and in accordance with relevant financial, legal and contractual requirements.

If the SAS Dean's office or the SAS Business Manager is not satisfied that the above conditions have been consistently met, the employee's signature authority could be revoked.