Clearing of Aging Transactions

Clearing transactions in a timely manner, ensuring expenses are appropriately allocated, and conducting reconciliations and reviews as needed are critical activities at the department level. These best practices help mitigate fraud, waste, and abuse and support financial stewardship excellence for the university. The quarterly clearing process, managed by Stanford Financial Management Services (FMS), represents an additional control in this process, ensuring that transactions are cleared and identified for management review and further reinforces the department-level activities. The quarterly clearing process is based on fiscal quarters within the fiscal year.

Stanford’s policy for Travel Cards and Purchasing Cards requires transactions to be verified and approved within 60 days of the completion of travel (for TCards) or the SU Credit Card Posted Date (for PCards). Advances must be cleared or returned within 60 days of their expected clearing date.

FMS will force clear transactions aged beyond 60 days to the card’s guarantee PTA (for PCards and TCards) or to the org’s AP Default Account (for advances). Budget units will be charged $35 for each transaction that is force cleared. For current fiscal year deadlines and reminder dates, see the aging transactions clearing deadlines below.

When an expense is force cleared, it is still critical to create and store supporting documentation for audit per Admin Guide 3.1.5 Retention of Financial Records as well as move charges to an appropriate PTA and expenditure type if the force clear PTAE was not appropriate.

Individual PCards or Travel Cards with transactions that are force cleared in two different quarters within a 12 month period may be suspended for 60 days. Learn more on the Purchasing Card and Travel Card policy pages.

For more information on viewing, monitoring, and clearing aging transactions, and responding to force cleared transactions, visit Topic Overview: Managing Aging and Outstanding Expense Transactions.