1. Acceptance of credit cards (which involves a banking relationship) must be approved by the Office of Controller and Treasurer. Contact the cash manager of Treasury Services, (859) 323-1585, if your department is interested in using credit cards. The fees charged by the bank are the responsibility of the department.
   
   
2. MasterCard, Visa, American Express and Discover, where specifically approved by the office of Controller and Treasurer are the only credit cards that may be accepted. Fines may be imposed by them or the privilege of accepting credit cards may be revoked for not complying with the following regulations:
   
   
   • No minimum transaction amounts may be set.
   • No surcharges to cover processing costs may be placed on credit card transactions.
   • You must accept a credit card as payment unless the transaction cannot be authorized.
   • If you require additional information, such as a driver's license or phone number, do not record the information on the sales draft.
   • Refunds for purchases made by credit card must be made by crediting the card, not by cash or check.

   These rules have been put in place by VISA U.S.A., Inc., MasterCard International, Inc., American Express Jeavel and Discover Financial services not the University’s bank, and are the same for all University departments, regardless of which bank you are using to process credit card deposits.
   
   

3. Nearly all locations now use electronic data capture (EDC) to process credit card sales and deposits. The University’s financial institution will give you instructions on using the equipment and completing sales.
   
   
4. Credit cards may be accepted for mail and telephone orders, subject to authorization from the credit card company. Clearly state on the signature line of the sales draft that the sale was by mail or telephone.

When a department receives payments by mail (other than on accounts receivable), they should be listed immediately on the cash transmittal form, showing the amount, date, payor, and nature of the payment. A copy of the listing should be maintained by the department, and the payment should be forwarded to Treasury Services as part of the cash transmittal.

When a department receives payments by mail on accounts receivable, an individual receipt should be prepared for each remittance. A remittance advice (such as a fee assessment card) if enclosed with the payment, may serve as a receipt. The receipt should show the date, amount, and payor, and indicate what the payment was for. The employee who opens the mail, prepares receipts, and makes deposits should not be involved in recording or adjusting accounts receivable. A copy of the receipt or remittance advice should be used to record payments on accounts receivable.

The following standard practices should be observed in counting money received and in making change:

1. All money received should be counted and the amount verified before it is placed in the cash drawer.
   
   
2. Currency for which change will be given should be placed in view of both the cashier and customer until the transaction is complete.
   
   
3. All change given on a transaction should be counted out to the customer.
   
   
4. If an interruption occurs during the counting/change making process, the process should be started again from the beginning.

For some departments (e.g., Hospital, Dental Clinic, Student Billing Services), the Office of Controller and Treasurer has authorized lock box arrangements through a local bank. In these cases, cash goes directly to the bank and is processed there. The bank forwards a deposit slip and copies of all checks, envelopes, and correspondence to the respective department. Treasury Services will be responsible for posting lockbox receipts to University departments on a daily basis based on reports from the University’s financial institution.

Some departments are authorized to summarize cash and prepare a bank deposit slip. In such instances, the cash and deposit slip (two copies) are placed in a sealed money bag or envelope and forwarded with a cash transmittal form to Treasury Services. A third copy of the deposit slip should be attached to the cash transmittal form.

Student financial aid checks are generally only for the excess of the amount of aid over the amount owed the University. These may be cashed by the student in the same manner as any other check. (See Section E-2-5-C-1 of this manual.) See Section E-2-4-E-2-e-(2) for procedures on jointly payable financial aid checks.

Securities may not be accepted as payment for goods or services provided by the University. Securities may, however, be accepted as gifts to the University. Any securities received by a department or unit should be transferred immediately to the campus Development Office, which will acknowledge the receipt. The department or unit transferring the securities should obtain a receipt for the securities upon transfer. Contact Endowment Services for securities delivery instructions.

1. According to the University of Kentucky Administrative Regulations, ARII-1.2-1, only restricted gifts may be deposited to ledger 5 accounts. These include:
   
   
   • Gifts for specific program objectives. The account must be restricted only to the program objective specified by the donor. An example would be a gift which comes to the College of Medicine for a scholarship. This gift would need to be deposited into a ledger 5 account established only for granting medicine scholarships.
     
     
   • Gifts designated for discretionary use by a specific organizational unit. Gifts which are accompanied by documentation that they may be used at the discretion of a unit and gifts for a particular unit that have no restrictions attached to them by the donor may be placed in discretionary accounts. However, the discretionary account must be in the name of the unit for which the gift is intended.

     For example, if the math department received a gift not designated for any particular purpose, it would have to be placed in a math discretionary account, not an account for Arts and Sciences.
     
     

   • Fund raising events sponsored by the University. All fund raising events must be approved beforehand by the area Development Office.

     The portion of the ticket which is a contribution should be listed when the event is advertised. That component of the payment should be deposited to the appropriate ledger 5 account and acknowledged as a gift by the Development Office. The part that is to cover the expenses of the event should be deposited to a ledger 5 account (may be discretionary) using revenue code 0464, ticket sales. The associated expenses should also be charged to this account.

     If the fund raiser is taking place to raise funds for the college or department for no specific purpose, the entire amount may be deposited to the same discretionary account and only be segregated by revenue code. However, if the event is for an explicit objective such as scholarships or a building, the gift portion cannot be deposited to a discretionary account but must go into a restricted gift account established for that particular function.

   
   
2. The following are examples of cash which may not be deposited to ledger 5 accounts:
   
   
   • Funds for research when the investigator is expected to report the results back to the donor. These should be handled as grants and contracts by the Office of Sponsored Projects Administration.
     
     
   • Payments for goods and services, even though the gift account may have been used to purchase the items that were sold. Sales of brochures, cards, and computer searches are examples of inappropriate items that have been submitted by departments for deposit to ledger 5 accounts. The account numbers on these deposits were changed to general fund income accounts.
     
     
   • Donations by the person responsible for the account. For example, a doctor can't give a gift for research to his own account.
     
     
   • Payments for dinners, athletic tickets, etc. when the event is sponsored by student organizations. An agency (ledger 9) account (see E-17-14) should be established and all receipts and disbursements should run through that account.

     For example a student organization could sponsor a "Fun Run" for $10.00 per person and deposit all funds to the ledger 9 account. The supplies, t-shirts, etc. would be purchased from that account. Any funds left over could then be donated by the organization to the University and deposited in the appropriate ledger 5 account.

   
   
3. Gifts should be immediately transferred to the Development Office so they can be recorded and acknowledged. A receipt should be obtained from Development when the transmittal is delivered to them.

   The Development Office is required to deposit all gifts within twenty-four hours or the next working day after it receives the gift.

   Gifts received by out-of-town locations should be deposited daily in the local bank. A copy of the cash transmittal with supporting documentation must be forwarded to the Development Office and the original sent to Treasury Services.

All foreign funds received should be immediately forwarded to Treasury Services using a separate cash transmittal form with the amount column left blank. Treasury Services will submit the funds to a depository bank for exchange. When exchanged funds are received from the bank, Treasury Services will record the appropriate amount on the cash transmittal form and send a copy of the form to the responsible department.

Foreign funds include all currency issued by a non-U.S. government and all checks written on non-U.S. banks or for non-U.S. dollar values. If you are unable to determine if a check is foreign, call Treasury Services at (859) 257-1447 for advice.