Scope: The document below outlines the procedures that Library Technical Services serials staff follow when paying an invoice followed by the precautions you should take before sending an invoice to accounting for approval.
Contact: Joanna Cerro
Unit: Serials Management
Date last updated: 1/5/2021
Date of next review: January 2022
Preliminary information: Before processing an invoice, it’s important to note if an invoice is paid directly by accounting, or if we are paying from our vendor deposit accounts. We have deposit accounts with Harrassowitz and EBSCO, so if the invoice is from a vendor besides these two, it will be a non-deposit account invoice. In general, deposit account invoices need to have a deposit line at the end and will have a zero balance when done processing.
A. How to process a non-deposit account invoice
1. Look up the first title in acquisitions check-in
2. Click “view order”
a. Read detailed line item notes
b. If a PO# is listed on the invoice, check to see if it matches with what we have in acquisitions
3. Click the “History” tab in the check-in record
a. Check the claims history tab – do issues need reclaiming?
b. Check the problem history tab – if this area is populated, you will need to bring this to the attention of the Claiming Coordinator
c. Check the payment history tab –
1. Compare what is being invoiced to what we’ve previously paid for, paying special attention to possible duplicate payments or if a year or volume has been skipped. We want to ensure that we are paying consecutively.
2. Has the price increased from the previous year to the current year by 15% or greater? If so, either the selector will need to be notified or it will need to be brought to the attention of the Serials Unit Supervisor.
4. Read the check-in box notes and notes in the holdings record for special instructions or pertinent payment information
5. Repeat steps 1-4 for each title
6. Open the PO of the first title on the invoice
7. Click “Order” on the menu bar and select “Create Invoice”
8. Fill in invoice# to match what is on the invoice
9. Write the voucher number on the invoice
10. Change the date to match the invoice date
11. Fill in the invoice total amount
12. Change Bill to location to Endowed Accounting (type “ee” for a keyboard shortcut)
13. Check the vendor address to make sure it matches the remit payment to address on the invoice
14. Highlight the line item, click detailed line item
15. Fill in coverage in notes tab to match what’s on the invoice – it’s helpful to look at payment history tab to see how we’ve noted coverage in the past.
16. Type price into “actual price”
a. For a single line item invoice, we include shipping and service charges in the total
b. For a multi-line item invoice, the shipping/service charges should be paid separately by following these steps after clicking “save and close” to exit the detailed line item box:
1. In the Amounts section of the invoice, click the ellipsis next to “other charges”
2. Click “Adjust”
3. Click “Add”
4. Under “Charge Type”, select either “Postage & Handling” or “Service Charge” depending on what the charge is
5. Select “Amount” next to Application Method
6. Type the amount being charged for shipping or the service charge
7. Click the arrow next to the Ledger field to select FY##
8. In the Commit to Fund field, type 515 + enter for a service charge or 999 + enter for a shipping charge
9. Click OKAY
17. Compare the fund numbers to any “do not use” list we have, and correct the fund number to the provided replacement fund number when applicable.
18. Make sure the fiscal years listed next to the fund numbers are current
19. Double check your work, and save and close when done
20. Stamp with today’s date using the LTS stamp, write your initials and send up to accounting
B. How to process a deposit account invoice
1. Determine if you are processing a deposit account invoice
a. EBSCO deposit account invoices are stamped “PAID IN FULL” in red
b. Harrassowitz invoices say “Confirming invoice. Prepaid on deposit ####. Please do not pay.”
2. Follow steps 1-4 in section A of this procedure
3. Since deposit account invoice are typically loaded from EDI, the invoice number, date and price fields should already be populated – double check to make sure this information is accurate
4. Fill the Bill to location field to Endowed Accounting
5. The line items should automatically appear and match exactly what is on the invoice. Open the detailed line item for each title, fill in the coverage (for Harrassowitz EDI invoices, correct the coverage so it follows our typical format), click save.
6. Go to the price tab in the detailed line item box and make sure that the pricing matches what is on the invoice. Click CLOSE and SAVE.
7. Add deposit account line by following these steps:
a. Click Add Line from Order…
b. Type “p” in order to quickly select Search by PO number
c. For Harrassowitz, the PO number is Depositserials20 (or last 2 digits of current FY)
d. For EBSCO, the PO number is EBSCOdeposit20 (or last 2 digits of current FY)
e. Make sure the boxes next to “Invoice Against Any Vendor” and “Include Already Invoiced Line Items” are checked. Click “Display Line Items”
f. Highlight the deposit account line item and click “Detailed Line Item…”
g. In the price tab, fill the full amount of the invoice (including all shipping and service charges) in the Actual Price field in parenthesis to indicate the credit. For example, if we owe $250.00 in total, type “($250.00)”. Click Save and Close.
h. In the Amount field, type 0 to make the dollar amount change to $0.00
8. Follow steps 17-20 in section A
C. Before sending an invoice to accounting, you should ask yourself the following questions:
1. Does the “Amount” field in the Invoice section match the “Total Invoice Amount” field in the Amounts section of the invoice?
2. Does the date match what is on the invoice? Watch for the European date format.
3. Is your bill-to location “Endowed Accounting?”
4. Does the “piece identifier” field have the correct information?
5. Does our vendor data match the address on the invoice?
6. Is the fiscal year current and fund(s) correct?
7. Do you have a deposit line for “Paid in full” invoices?
8. Is your voucher number on both copies?
9. Are both copies stamped with today’s date and initialed?