Ask HN: How much can you spend on IT w/o getting approval?

[esers]

A lot of people on HN are selling website subscriptions and/or software to corporations.

If we're selling directly to corporate users, it's important that the user be able to charge the purchase to their corporate credit card without having to track down someone higher-up with purchasing authority.

At your day job, what is the most that you can charge to your corporate credit card for an IT purchase without having to get approval from your manager?

I've being doing some Googling on "purchasing authority" and the max limit on buying IT products without approval seems to be either $500 or $5,000. Which one is it?

Thanks!

[whyme]

In my mind the question should also be how much can your manager approve via credit card without anyone expecting a business case to support the purchase.

In my case I regularly approve hundreds of thousands dollars for other people, but I generally have everything of mine approved credit card or not. What's important is that if I can justify if to my manager and if it's under 5k then it requires only a conversation, but over 5k I'm writing business cases and having all kinds of scrutiny and less chances to compete for budget $.

May seem strange, but using the 5k amount has always seemed like a loop hole. I've seen data vendors sell data for just under 5k every month otherwise the annual wouldn't even be considered. I generally find them and end up shutting them down or using the monthly costs as a business case to make data purchases in full just to save money.

[esers → whyme]

Great response. Thank you.

I was thinking of doing exactly that -- charging just under $5k/month for a data service.

It seems, however, like that might be a poor decision.

[whyme → esers]

I think it's a smart move to provide both options: a monthly under 5k and a discounted annual.

Good business decisions are up to the company doing the buying - it's your job to be flexible, supportive and upfront about what the options are.

IMHO

[esers → whyme]

Good point.

[_delirium]

Not sure if policies in academia are relevant to you, but it's $5,000 at Georgia Tech. More specifically, it's $5,000 per year per vendor for supplies/materials/services, and $3,000 per item for equipment (I don't believe the $5,000 yearly limit applies to equipment, so you can e.g. buy five $2000 computers from Dell without permission). From (http://www.admin-fin.gatech.edu/business/purchasing/0500218....):

  The PCard [credit card] may be used for:

    Equipment: Single units under $3,000.

    Supplies, Materials, and Services may be purchased for 
    less than $5,000. The Institute will monitor activity for 
    purchases for the same supplies, materials, or services 
    from the same vendor so as not to exceed $5,000 per year 
    unless competitively procured as detailed in DOAS 
    regulations and BOR policies and procedures.

[gte910h → _delirium]

You can't buy computers with the P-Cards there. You can buy computer parts, but not an entire computer in a single purchase.

Many people send multiple trips to GimComputers to accomplish the purchasing and construction of a computer when needed quickly (As the formal computer request procedure takes weeks).

[Encosia]

$0 here.

I can almost always get anything reasonable approved, but they want to approve it all.

[ams6110 → Encosia]

Where I work, everything.... EVERYTHING.... has to go through purchasing. Even a box of staples.

[esers]

How about paying for subscriptions to web apps with your corporate CC?

As an employee at a corporation, would you have an easier time charging $400/month to subscribe to a web-app or charging $4,800 up-front for a yearly subscription?

[gte910h]

5k most places I've worked.

[kls]

I think 5K is going to be the magic number for big co. I know most of the large corps that I have been at we (VP's, Directors)where allowed a max of 5k unapproved on the corporate credit card.

[wlievens]

I read on HN once that someone had figured out that the amount is typically $20k. But I can't recall the context, so this is probably nex to useless.

I don't have a corporate credit card :-)

[logic]

$2500 here for "procard" purchases. Anything higher requires budget approval.

Edit: "here" is federal government/DOE contractor.

[theBobMcCormick]

$500 at the bigco where I work. :-(