In order to ensure the smooth running of its FlexCard program, your department should designate Back-Ups for the Cardholder and the Reviewer. Having Back-Ups is important when the Cardholder or the Reviewer is absent for an extended period of time, due to vacation or illness, or because he/she leaves the department.
Consequences of Not Having Back-Ups
If you do not have a Back-Up Cardholder, new purchases cannot be made until a new Cardholder is set up and a new FlexCard is received (even if training class has already been completed, the process will take at least 3 working days).
If you do not have a Back-Up Reviewer, and none is set-up within 14 days, no one will be able to review and allocate new transactions and all payments will default to the location-account-fund-sub-object code (LAFSO) associated with your FlexCard(s) and may need to be re-allocated the Transfer of Expense system. Overpayments of use tax may need to be reversed via processing of a Financial Journal. If your department goes without a Reviewer for an extended period of time, it risks losing its FlexCard purchasing privileges, since all transactions must be reviewed within 60 days.
Limits on Designating Back-Ups
FlexCard policy prohibits a Reviewer from being in a subordinate position to a Cardholder.
If you are a small department with insufficient personnel to designate back-ups while avoiding employee-supervisor conflicts, you may need to go outside of your department to designate Back-Up Reviewers and Cardholders. The FlexCard Management Module allows you to set up Reviewers and Cardholders in other departments.
If your department is able to avoid employee-supervisor conflicts, it can designate internal Back-Up Reviewers or Cardholders who back each other up (that is, a Cardholder who also fills the role of Back-Up Reviewer and/or a Reviewer who fills the role of Back-Up Cardholder); however, Separation of Duties must be maintained.