3 ms·

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

• gte910h 16y ago
  5k most places I've worked.
• _delirium 16y ago
  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.html 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 16y ago
    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).
• theBobMcCormick 16y ago
  $500 at the bigco where I work. :-(
• logic 16y ago
  $2500 here for "procard" purchases. Anything higher requires budget approval. Edit: "here" is federal government/DOE contractor.
• Encosia 16y ago
  $0 here. I can almost always get anything reasonable approved, but they want to approve it all.
  • ams6110 16y ago
    Where I work, everything.... EVERYTHING.... has to go through purchasing. Even a box of staples.
• esers 16y ago
  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?
• whyme 16y ago
  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 16y ago
    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 16y ago
      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 16y ago
        Good point.
• kls 16y ago
  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 16y ago
  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 :-)