Understanding After-the-Fact Purchases
What is an ATF?
An after-the-fact (ATF) purchase occurs when an employee agrees to a payment over $10,000.00 before the PSC issues a purchase order.
ATFs can disrupt workflows and lead to unnecessary stress of complications with the supplier.
By ensuring that your teams are aware of and regularly following purchasing procedures, you help maintain accountability, prevent errors, and ensure compliance with university policies by reducing the risk of costly and time-consuming mistakes.
What Causes an ATFs?
After-the-fact (ATF) purchases can be caused by authorizing a supplier to begin work before the final PO is issued, even if a requisition has been submitted. Additionally, obtaining goods and services required to be paid by a requisition, and submitting the invoice with a Payment Authorization or Payment Voucher form can also be considered an ATF. Sometimes emergency situations, vendor constraints or other unforeseen circumstances occur, and that’s okay! It is also important to be familiar with the ATF review process to ensure it goes smoothly.
The ATF Review Process
When an ATF is identified by the department or the PSC, here’s what happens:
When creating the Requisition, you will come across the question, “Has the supplier already delivered any of the goods or services?” Once answered Yes, the ATF Form should auto-populate below. This form requires details such as:
Explanation of how the ATF occurred.
Evaluation of pricing reasonableness.
Procedures implemented to prevent future ATFs.
Confirmation of funds availability.
Please take the time to give thoughtful, accurate, and detailed answers to these questions.
The Requisition will automatically route to the Controller’s office for Campus Approval. During this step in the process, we will evaluate your answers in the ATF form, determine if additional training is needed, and email you to either request training completion or if we have any questions. Once our investigation, review, and required trainings are completed, a Ratification memo will be added to the attachments alongside the approval of your Requisition.
ATFs exceeding $50,000 will require additional approval from the Associate Vice President/University Controller.
If approved, the PSC processes the ATF into a purchase order. After the PO is issued, invoices can be processed for payment.
If not approved, the department will need to resolve the issue with the supplier, including possibly returning the goods.
Preventing ATFs
The ATF process can be cumbersome and have serious consequences if the ATF is not approved for patterns of negligence, which is why it is necessary to ensure that university purchasing procedures are being followed consistently. Make sure to plan ahead and create a purchase order before making a commitment if a purchase is estimated to approach or exceed $10,000.00.
If the total is not known, it is best practice to submit a purchase order with an estimated total before the invoice with the final amount is received. If the estimated total is higher than the final total, no changes will be needed since it will pay out and any remaining encumbrance will release once the PO is closed. However, if the estimated total is significantly less than the final total, a change order request should be submitted via email to changeorder@cu.edu to increase the amount before submitting the final invoice for payment.
Additionally, communication is key! Making sure your team is up to date on fiscal procedures and procurement rules is a great way to promote awareness, maintain strong supplier relationships, and uphold the university’s financial integrity.
Questions?
If you have any questions, or need any clarification regarding the ATF process, please feel free to contact us at campus.accounting@colorado.edu. We are always more than happy to be of assistance in any way we can!