Creditor Invoice Procedure

Purpose

These procedures set out the mechanism for creditor invoice receipt, processing and subsequent payment actions. An explanation of related documents and their purpose is also provided.

Definitions

Accounts Payable Office

Team in Operational Finance with responsibility to administer the Creditor Invoice procedure

AP

Accounts Payable

Creditor

Person or organisation to whom money is owed by the University

Data warehouse

Holding ground for unreceipted invoices

Finance One

University Corporate Financial System

Supplier

Person or organisation whom an invoice is from

Content

1. Processing creditor invoices/credit notes

1. Creditor invoices must be sent to the Accounts Payable Office directly from the creditor for entering into Finance One. To reduce risk and minimise delay, all invoices and credit notes should be emailed, ideally in PDF format, to:
   Email accounts@otago.ac.nz
2. After receiving the invoice, an Accounts Payable Officer will check the invoice received is a valid tax invoice and contains a valid University of Otago purchase order number.
3. If the invoice does not contain a purchase order number, the invoice will be rejected back to the supplier unpaid to request a purchase order number.
4. If the invoice was received via email Accounts Payable will email the invoice to Kofax (data capturing scanning system) to be validated.
5. If the invoice was sent via post Accounts Payable will sort the invoices into appropriate batches and manually scan these into Kofax.
6. Once the invoices appear in Kofax the Accounts Payable team will validate the invoice by checking each field is pulling through into the correct area. For example, the total amount to pay equals the total amount on the invoice including GST.
7. After validating the invoices, the invoices will either appear:
   1. In the data warehouse. When an invoice goes into the data warehouse an automated email is sent to the individual who created the purchase order advising them to receipt the purchase order (a copy of the invoice is also attached to the automated message). It is then up to the individual to ensure that purchase order is receipt as soon as possible. If the purchase order is still not receipt after 8 days, the document will come into the Accounts Payable workflow pool and Accounts Payable will send this to the department’s workflow pool to action; or
   2. In Finance One workflow (could be either the department’s workflow pool if a manual purchase order has been provided or Accounts Payable depending on what action is required).
8. Invoices that have no been automatically matched will need a final visual check that all information has been correctly transferred from the invoice to the digital record before posting.

2. Overseas creditor invoices

1. Overseas creditors are paid twice monthly in the appropriate currency.
2. Cost Centres will be charged in NZ dollars using the spot foreign exchange (FX) rates on the date of the invoice

3. Querying an invoice

1. If an invoice should not be paid, the Accounts Payable Office must be notified immediately, and any correspondence relating to this must be forwarded to:
   Email accounts@otago.ac.nz
   This enables Accounts Payable officers to directly deal with any queries received from the supplier.

4. Creditor payment method

1. The preferred option for paying creditors is by direct credit. This system allows the University to pay creditors by Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT).

5. Creditor payment dates

1. A schedule of deadlines to return creditor invoices to the Accounts Payable Office and payment dates is maintained by Operational Finance, Shared Services.
   • Schedule of Creditor Deadlines

6. Invoices v statements

1. Payments to creditors will be made on receipt of approved invoices (not statements) addressed to the University of Otago. An approved invoice includes a legitimate purchase order number.
2. A statement is a summary of outstanding invoices and credits that are due for payment.
3. Statements are not treated in the same way as invoices and do not appear in Finance One. When the Accounts Payable Office receives a statement, a manual reconciliation is performed to ensure that all invoices and credits are processed. If there are any invoices or credits that have not been received, the Accounts Payable team will email the creditor to request copies.

7. Packing slips

1. Packing slips should be retained by Cost Centres as proof of delivery. Please note that a packing slip/invoice must be processed as a creditor invoice.

Related policies, procedures and forms

• New Domestic Creditor form (PDF)
• New Foreign Creditor form (PDF)
• Procurement Policy
• Procurement Procedure

Contact for further information

For further information, contact:

Accounts Payable
Tel +64 3 470 8730
Email accounts@otago.ac.nz