Procedures For Payment of Invoices

· Upon receipt of goods ordered or completion of services rendered a department must send the signed blue copy of the purchase order (P.O.) to Accounts Payable (A/P). A/P must have the signature from an authorized person in order to process the invoice when it arrives.

· Invoices received by any department within the University should be forwarded to the Accounts Payable Office (Box 5001) along with the signed blue copy. The vendor does not send an invoice to both the department and A/P. If a partial payment or blanket purchase order release is to be made, forward invoices and a copy of the signed blue purchase order marked “partial payment”. You should indicate items to be paid and total amount. To finalize the purchase order, forward the blue purchase order with the invoice and mark “close purchase order”.

· A/P will match the invoices mailed to this office by the company with the purchase order used to order the item(s). In order to accomplish this, a P. O. Number must be on the invoices. If the company has not included this on the invoice, we request that someone from the department ordering the goods do so. Invoices received in A/P with incorrect or missing

P.O. Number will delay processing since the backup documentation cannot be located.

· The majority of purchases must be made through the use of a purchase order (reference Purchasing Manual). If payment is not to be made from a purchase order, (e.g. travel reimbursement, periodical subscription renewals) a disbursement requisition must be prepared and accompanied by an invoice. This requisition, with all proper approval signatures, must be submitted to Dr. Steve Smith, Director of Business Affairs, at Box 5001. His approval is necessary in order for A/P to process the request. If approved, Dr. Smith will forward it to A/P for payment. There are certain things that the University does not reimburse such as sales tax and alcoholic beverages. If you have any questions concerning reimbursements, please call Dr. Steve Smith or Donna Tipps.

· Allow a minimum of 7 working days from the time an invoice is received by A/P for payment to be made. This also applies to disbursement requisitions. Please plan accordingly. A/P is unable to process items immediately unless Dr. Steve Smith, the Director of Business Affairs or Donna Tipps, Director of Financial Affairs, approves a manual check. This will only occur on rare occasions. Processing time for all disbursements may be longer during the first two months of Fall and Spring semesters as volume increases with preparation of student refund checks.

· The Business Office requests that departments not “promise” a check to a vendor or student by a certain time. We cannot guarantee that any check will be written within a specified time. If time is of the essence, please contact us before relaying disbursement information to anyone.

· You may contact Melissa Williams or Anita Holcombe in the Accounts Payable Office (4443) with specific questions concerning a disbursement or Dr. Steve Smith, Director of Business Affairs (4231) or Donna Tipps, Director of Financial Affairs (4720).

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