Processing Invoices/Credit Memos

Did you know that our purchase orders (PO) instruct our suppliers to send their invoices directly to Accounts Payable ( accountspayable@ohio.edu )?  If the invoice requires approval before it can be paid (primarily services), the invoice will automatically route through BobcatBUY (BCB) to the PO owner for approval. 

The following object codes are set-up to require invoice approval (if the invoice is greater than $500):

What happens when invoices are not sent to AP? There are two possible outcomes:

1. Often, the PO preparer instructs the supplier to send the invoices to the department for review with the intention of forwarding them onto the AP mailbox.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t always happen, and then the supplier contacts the University for not paying their invoice within 30 days! 
2. Or the department does review and approve the invoice outside BCB.  When the invoice is entered by AP, the department is then asked to approve the invoice through BCB.  People in the departments are then frustrated by needing to approve an invoice twice.

By having invoices sent by the supplier to the AP mailbox, it minimizes the frustration for both the suppliers and the department contacts and ensures that our bills are paid on time.  In a time when the University needs to be more efficient in their administrative processes, this is one way to easily improve efficiency!

The same is true for credit memos.  The supplier should send all credit memos directly to Accounts Payable.  As the credit memos are entered, the department will immediately see the credit posted on their financial statements.  AP will then take care to apply the credit memo to any open invoices that we may have for the supplier.  NOTE: we enter all invoices and all credit memos in the system, so we have clear payment records.

Questions?  Contact Finance Customer Care at financecustomercare@ohio.edu