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CHAPTER 7. PERSONNEL - GENERAL
The University of Texas at Austin Policy Memorandum 7.215 Office of the President March 16, 1992Subject: DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY TO SIGN
Signature authority is automatically assigned to University department heads, project directors, and other administrative officials for accounts which are directly under their supervision. To provide for the efficient operation of departments and other budgetary units, signature authority may be delegated by department heads to other employees by submitting a "Request for Authorization of Signature" form to the Director of Accounting or by entering appropriate automated security commands into the administrative computer.
Alternatively, a department head may designate an "office manager" to administer accounts for electronic documents processing by submitting a request to the Director of Accounting or by entering appropriate automated security commands into the administrative computer. By this means, the office manager is empowered to delegate signature authority for electronic document processing.
It should be noted that neither the designation of an office manager nor the delegation of signature authority relieves administrative officials of their fiscal responsibility and accountability for accounts under their control. Accordingly, careful consideration must be given to the selection of capable and reliable employees when delegating signature authority.
Electronic approval is considered the equivalent of a hand-written signature. For security purposes, each person with electronic-approval-authority must identify himself or herself to the computer with a unique logon/password combination. In consideration of the fact that a logon/password combination identifies the person who approves a document electronically, great care must be taken by each person to keep his or her password secret. An employee may not permit anyone else to know or use his or her password. The violation of this policy constitutes a serious offense against The University.