The $1,200 Purchase Requisition
Purchasing policy: requests under $500 use form PR-1 and need supervisor approval. Requests from $500 to $4,999 use PR-2 with supervisor and department-head approval. Requests of $5,000 or more use PR-3 with supervisor, department-head, and finance review. Splitting one purchase into smaller requisitions to stay under a threshold is prohibited. Standard lead time is 10 business days after the final approval. Rush handling requires a written justification, adds a $75 fee, and typically ships within 5 business days of the final approval. Receiving must log deliveries within 2 business days, and invoices are paid 30 days after a correct invoice is received.
1. Priya needs a $1,200 environmental test chamber by Friday, April 18. Today is Monday, April 7. Her supervisor will sign April 8 and her department head April 10. If she files the ordinary way, which form and approvals apply, and when should she expect delivery?
Read the worked answer
Form and approvals: $1,200 falls in the $500–$4,999 band, so she uses PR-2, with supervisor and department-head approval. Finance review is not required below $5,000.
Delivery: the clock starts at the final approval, April 10, not at filing or at the supervisor's signature. Ten business days after April 10: April 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24.
Expected delivery lands April 24 - six business days past her April 18 need date. Filing the ordinary way misses the deadline even though she started eleven days early.
2. Priya asks whether she can submit two requisitions, one for $400 and one for $800, so the department head never has to sign. What should she be told, and what is her best compliant option?
Read the worked answer
She should be told no. The policy prohibits splitting one purchase into smaller requisitions to stay under a threshold. That is exactly what two requisitions for a single $1,200 chamber would be, and the prohibition applies to the intent, not to how the paperwork is labeled.
Best compliant option: file a single PR-2 on April 7 and attach a written justification requesting rush handling.
- Five business days after the April 10 approval is April 17 - one day before her need date.
- That assumes the department head signs on April 10 as promised. Slip one day to April 11 and the five business days become April 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 - delivery on April 18, with no buffer.
So she should tell her requester the rush path works only if the April 10 signature holds, accept the $75 fee as the cost of the shorter lead time, and flag the risk now rather than on April 17.
3. The chamber is delivered April 17, but Receiving does not log it until April 22. Did Receiving follow the policy? Does the late log change when the invoice is paid?
Read the worked answer
Receiving did not follow the policy. Counting business days from the April 17 delivery, the log was due by April 21 (April 18 is day one, April 21 is day two). April 22 is day three - one business day late.
The payment date does not move. The policy ties payment to receipt of a correct invoice, not to the Receiving log. The two clocks are independent, so the late log is a compliance issue to raise with Receiving's supervisor but not a reason to delay or accelerate payment.
One thing to watch: if the invoice is incorrect and must be reissued, the 30 days restarts on the corrected document. That, not the log date, is what could shift the payment.