Expense Approvals and Purchase Orders

Approval Methods

EMU requires written approval for any expense to be paid with university funds. Acceptable approval methods include original handwritten signatures, electronic signatures through an approved signature software (AdobeSign or PandaDoc), or an email message from the approver. Unacceptable approval methods include verbal approval, copied and pasted signatures, and signatures typed into a document without the use of approved signature software. These requirements exist so that the business office can verify and prove to auditors that the proper reviewers have approved the expenses.

Approval Limits and Purchase Orders

Effective February 1, 2024, program directors may approve individual expenses up to $5,000. Directors may delegate approval authority to others within their programs by emailing accounts.payable@emu.edu to provide the name of the person who may approve expenses and the limit on individual expenses that the delegate may approve.

Purchase orders are required for any order over $5,000, to obtain pre-approval from the program director and any other necessary approvers. Purchase orders are routed electronically through PandaDoc, and should be requested by emailing accounts.payable@emu.edu. If other people should be able to view the progress of the PO, but do not need to sign the PO, please provide their names and email addresses. Please include as an attachment any supporting documentation (quotes, estimates, etc.) that should accompany the purchase order.  Note that reviewers may decline to approve the purchase order if sufficient justification for the purchase is not included. 

The business office will create a purchase order through PandaDoc (EMU’s electronic document routing/approval software). The requester will receive an email message from PandaDoc with a link to edit the document. When the document is opened, the software will direct the requester to fill out several sections of the document including:

• Vendor Name and Address: name and address of the vendor
• Ship To: name and contact information for the vendor’s EMU contact
• Description: a short description of the goods or services needed
• Account Number: the internal EMU account to be charged for the goods or services
• Project Code: an optional field, mainly used for capital expenses
• Unit Price and Quantity: optional fields to be used as needed
• Total Price: amount to be charged to the account number listed in the same row
• Purchase Order Total: at the bottom of the total price column, the grand total for the purchase order

When the requester is finished entering information in the purchase order, and clicks the “Finish” button, the document will automatically be forwarded by email to the necessary reviewers for electronic signatures, using the following approval levels:

All capital expenditures over $5,000 must be approved by the respective division head and the VP for Finance. For this purpose, capital expenditure is defined as a purchase of furniture, fixtures, vehicles or equipment with an estimated useful life of one year or more and costing more than $5,000.

When all approvals for the purchase order have been granted, the business office assigns a purchase order number to the PO, and the document is complete. All requesters, signers, and other viewers will receive an emailed PDF copy of the completed purchase order. When the purchase order is complete, the requester may contact the vendor to move ahead with the purchase.

When an invoice for the goods or services approved with the PO are received, please forward the invoice to the business office when delivery of goods or completion of services are confirmed. If the business office receives the invoice first, the requester will be contacted for confirmation that the invoice may be paid using approval from the PO.

If an invoiced amount is higher than the amount approved with the purchase order, the invoice will not be processed until the difference has been resolved. The requester may need to reach out to the vendor to determine why the invoiced amount differs from the estimate that was approved. If the vendor shows that the goods or services provided were beyond the scope of the purchase order, a new PO must be completed to gain approval for the expense.

Revised 01/24