Office of Sponsored Programs Spotlight

New Operating Standard and Procedure

by Office of Sponsored Programs


Prepaid Cards and Procedure

The Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) is excited to release OSR Operating Standard 500.17 – Prepaid Cards and Procedure for 500.17 – Prepaid Card Request & Reconciliation. Both may be located via OSR’s website or directly from the links above. This operating standard and procedure detail the steps to request and reconcile prepaid cards related to a sponsored project.

The UNC Finance Division (Finance) procedures should be followed for requesting and reconciling prepaid cards for non-sponsored activities.

Expectations of Prepaid Card Management

  • All prepaid cards distributed within a calendar month must be reconciled by the 15th (or next business day) of the following month unless required sooner for reporting purposes.
  • Prepaid card use is strictly limited to the payment of study subject/participant incentives for sponsored projects. Only SHRA and EHRA employees are able to request and have access to the Bank of America Prepaid Administration Tool (PAT).
  • Funds reconciled from the prepaid card advance should not exceed the available balance in the prepaid card advance account code.

For questions, please contact ResAdminOSR@unc.edu.