Heather Sloman, buyer in the purchasing department of southeastern University, was preparing for a meeting with her boss, Glen Meredith, for later that day. Two days earlier, on April 6th, Glen had received a phone call from Walter Charbonneau, manager of the university registrar’s office. Heather was surprised to learn from Glen that Walter had just bought a new piece of equipment for his department without following standard university purchasing policies. Glen asked Heather to look into the situation and get back to him with recommendation. Purchasing Department Southeastern University was one of the largest universities in the state, with total enrolment of more than 25,000 graduate and undergraduate students and approximately 3,500 staff. There were 12 faculties at the university, over 20 continuing education diploma and certificate programs and three affiliated colleges. Purchasing was centralized, and the purchasing director, Blake Hyatt, reported to the university’s vice president of administration. The purchasing department was responsible for negotiating with suppliers, signing contracts with suppliers, and supervising the execution of contracts. Small-value purchases those less than $100 could be handled out of petty cash. The purchase department had also recently introduced a purchasing card, which could be used to acquire legible goods and services with a value of less than $1000. The purchasing process began when a purchase request was submitted to the purchasing department. A clerk would stamp the requisition with the date and time received and checked it for proper signing authority. In some cases, it was necessary to forward the requisition to the research accounting section in the department of finance for account approval. Other information also was added to the requisition, such as tax and duty status, product