Accounts payable guidance

Purchasing

Before making any purchases you must first ensure that you are using an appropriate vendor.  If you search the ‘Vendor Enquiry’ screen in Aptos (OP1G889) and can find a suitable vendor whose status is shown as available, then they are OK to use.  Otherwise, you should liaise with the Procurement team.

Once you have confirmed your supplier, you will then need to confirm your most appropriate payment method; this decision should again be made in liaison with Procurement Services.

Making domestic payments from the University’s supplier ledger

The role of processing domestic payments into Aptos lies with staff in the school/services from which the payment is being made.  To learn how to use Aptos to process payments and generate AP invoices you should attend an ‘Aptos – Accounts Payable’ training course; these are regularly scheduled and arranged by Academic Services.  More information on this can be found on the Aptos website

Invoices should be batched and entered into Aptos. Each invoice must have a unique document reference, it would therefore be useful to use an automatic numbering machine (available from Lyreco) to avoid duplication.

The Accounts Payable team will then check, log and file these batches, and payment will be made as part of the weekly payment run every Wednesday.

Audit checks are carried out on every payment run. Batches that have been scheduled for payment (SFP) must be sent to the Accounts Payable team to arrive in time for the weekly payment run each Wednesday. If you think the batches may still be in transit at this point it would be better to hold onto the batch until Thursday morning, documents that may be selected for audit can then be faxed or e-mailed to prevent the document being removed form the run and the consequent payment delayed.

Invoices will be paid as part of the payment run in the week they fall due for payment.  This is determined by the supplier terms that were entered onto Aptos at the point that the Vendor account was created.  For example, an invoice dated 01/01/2009 with payment terms of 30 days will be due for payment on 30/01/2009; if the invoice is entered before 30/01/2009 it will be ‘held’ on the Purchase Ledger until 30/01/2009 and if it is entered after 30/01/2009 then it will pull onto the next payment run as it will be overdue.

If the Accounts Payable team find that any of your invoices are not sufficiently authorised or that there is any other problem with your batches, they will contact you to rectify this issue, but this may result in your payment being withheld from the weekly BACS run until the issue has been rectified.

Making manual payments to domestic suppliers

Under certain circumstances, and always with approval from Procurement Services, the Accounts Payable team can make a manual payment to a supplier who is not on the University’s main purchase ledger.  This method of payment can only be used for payments that don’t include VAT. 

You should not go directly to the Accounts Payable team to request for a manual payment to be made but instead should liaise with Procurement Services to discuss whether it is the best option available; Procurement Services will then advise the Accounts Payable team if a manual payment should be made.

Manual payments are usually made by BACS and paid through the weekly manual BACS run which is run every Thursday (with payment therefore expected the following Monday); however, if the supplier’s bank details are not known then the Accounts Payable team will raise a manual cheque.

Foreign payments

All foreign payments are made by and processed by the Accounts Payable team,  To request a foreign payment use the Foreign Payment request form available in our forms section.

When completing the Foreign Payment Request form please note the following:

1. Payments to European banks must have a valid IBAN (International Bank A/C number) as the IBAN is the only valid means of identifying beneficiary accounts in Europe.
2. When a payment fails, the amount returned to the University is always lower than the original amount sent. This is because of conversion rates and charges that the banks apply for trying to allocate the payment. Colleges/Services will be expected to pick up these charges if the error arose because of incomplete or incorrect details being supplied either by the College or by the beneficiary.
3. Requests for payments to countries outside of Europe must include the full name and address of the bank, the bank account number and the SWIFT/BIC code as this code identifies the branch of the bank through whom the payment is to be made.
4. Payments to the United States will sometimes have a SWIFT, an ABA or a Routing code, which should also be quoted.
5. Payments to Australia require a BSB number.
6. Payments to Canada require a Transit number and a Bank Code.
7. Payments to Israel require an IBAN (even though this is not within Europe).
8. Payments to China, in Yuan, also require a beneficiary name (if different to the payee), a reason for payment and a contact phone number for the beneficiary
9. If payment is to be made via an Intermediary or Correspondent bank, please mention this on the form and include as much information as possible about this bank
10. Please note that this guidance is only advisory. Additional requirements may arise for particular banks, countries and/or currencies

When paying invoices, the Foreign Payment Request form must always be completed in the currency in which the invoice is made out, clearly stating the amount of the payment to be made in that currency.

For other payments, the Foreign Payment Request form must be completed either in sterling or in the currency in which the payment is to be made. Unnecessary currency conversions should be avoided, but where claims need converting to sterling or the payment currency please use this converter.

Electronic transfer payments to banks within Europe usually take around 5 working days to arrive at their destination, from when they are raised by Accounts Payable. Electronic payments to banks outside Europe can take up to 2 to 3 weeks to arrive, depending on the destination country and currency.

Cheque payments are usually despatched to us within 2 or 3 working days of them being raised. The cheque is then sent on to the beneficiary via Air Mail. Arrival dates are dependent on the relevant postal services. If an alternative delivery method is required, cheques may be returned to the College or Service requesting the payment, for that to be arranged.

Foreign payments are made using an online service provided by ‘Custom House’ (a division of Western Union). They generally charge £2.50 for each foreign currency transaction and you will need to specify the account code from which you want this charge to be paid on your Foreign Payment Request Form.

Purchase ledger write-offs

Debit Balances arise on the Purchase Ledger for a number of reasons but mainly when an invoice is received from a supplier and paid in advance of the receipt of an associated credit note. Other reasons include duplicate payments to suppliers or payments to incorrect suppliers. Prompt action is usually taken to off-set the credit against subsequent invoices from the same supplier or a refund is sought from the supplier. There are occasions when recovery of the funds is not possible (e.g. the supplier goes into liquidation) These amounts are usually small.

A write off list is prepared in advance of year end. The responsibility of the debt lies with the original Budget Centre and they are informed of any write offs before the list is passed to the Director of Finance for authorisation.