General Finance Policies
Art & Art History Finance Team
Director of Finance & Operations
The Finance Policies detailed in this menu are based on University-wide regulations and Department-specific practices and operations. University policy and guidance addresses many, but not all, scenarios. Where unclear or unusual circumstances arise, additional information, questions about financial policies or exceptional requests should be directed to the Department's finance team. In all cases, fiscal prudence and good judgment should be exercised.
All Stanford transactions are subject to review by Financial Management Services (FMS) as well as internal and external auditors for compliance with sound business practices, institutional policies and procedures, and any applicable laws and regulations. Processing and verification of expenditure in the Department of Art & Art History is streamlined by a set of intake webforms.
Stanford's fiscal year runs from September 1st through August 31st.
Reporting Responsibilities
When verifying expenses or submitting the AAH Webforms, faculty and staff must adhere to the following reporting responsibilities in order to comply with Stanford and Department-specific policies.
Reporting Timeframe
- Expenses must be submitted within 10 days after the expense date or the last day of travel to ensure there is sufficient time for the transactions to be verified and fully approved by Stanford's auditors before the IRS deadline.
- Per federal regulation, reimbursable expenses verified after 60 days will be reported to the IRS as taxable income.
Verification Documentation
All webform questions are necessary and required information to verify transactions within Stanford's financial infrastructure and to justify the business expense per IRS regulation. When completing webforms, be generous with information so staff can clearly document this business connection to the University, its mission, and the funding source.
Receipts must include the following information:
- Itemization of what was purchased
- Credit card authorization or proof-of-payment
- The names of all the participants and their titles or other information establishing their business relationship.
Writing A Business Purpose
A Business Purpose should be written so that someone reading it at a future time (e.g., an auditor reviewing the expense 2-3 years later) would have no questions about the activity. The Business Purpose must describe:
- Who (all attendees and Stanford affiliation)
- What (the purpose of the expense and the expected outcome)
- When (date and time for a meal, or inclusive dates of travel)
- Where (Restaurant/City, or all travel destinations and dates in each location)
- Why (descriptive connection to Stanford business)
Sales Tax & Use Tax
State sales tax applies to sales/purchases of tangible personal property that occur in the State. Sales tax is a vendor's liability and California vendors are responsible for collecting and remitting the state sales tax due.
Use tax is due on sales/purchases of tangible personal property when the property originates outside the State of California and is shipped in for "use" in California.
When Buying for Stanford from a Vendor Outside of California: If the vendor does not hold a California Seller's Permit and the goods that are provided are taxable, the purchase will be subject to use tax. We must accrue use tax, if the vendor does not assess use tax on the invoice, at the combined tax rate applicable to the county where the item is used.
Gratuity Guidance
Because of the upward trend in gratuities, the department would like to provide this guidance to ensure consistency with Stanford’s stewardship principle and reasonableness standards:
- Dinging / Table service: no more than 20% tip per general Stanford policy
- Counter service: no more than 10% tip
- Local delivery service (i.e. Instacart): no more than $15 driver tip for a local delivery (within 5 miles).
Please note that percentages should be calculated based on the pre-tax totals.