 |
 |
|
|
The University's Delegations have designated officers within the University who are delegated to approve the expenditure of funds. This includes:
signing contracts for goods and services, including the purchasing of consulting services;
signing purchase requisitions for goods and services and approving payment of accounts;
approving work related travel expenses (domestic and overseas); and
expenditure under the ANU purchase card (visa).
Agents of Delegates, who are duly appointed, also may exercise these delegations.
In approving expenditure, the approving officer must ensure that the transaction:
complies with the Purchasing and Contracts Policies and Procedures and other relevant financial and administrative policies and is for a proper University purpose;
is within the budget limit or any other budget restriction (eg available funds) that applies to the related Budget Unit.
Any officer who approves expenditure beyond the budget limit may be held personally accountable for that expenditure.
A delegated officer or agent of a delegate who can commit or approve expenditure must not approve any reimbursements or expenditure incurred by themselves in the normal course of duty. Such approval must be counter-signed by a position/person of at least SAO1, or HOD level within that officer’s Budget Unit. The counter-signatory need not be a position level higher than the officer for this purpose.
Upon the receipt of an invoice from a vendor, the Accounts Payable Officer must ensure that:
the goods/services in respect of the account have been received or satisfactorily rendered and the conditions of the contract or agency agreement have been satisfied (this may require separate clearance from the contract/project manager);
the expenditure has been approved by a delegated officer (a listing of delegates and agents can be found in the DAS System);
the expenditure is correct and is being paid to the correct payee;
the account has not been previously paid;
the expenditure is recorded against the correct account code;
the transaction is properly documented and substantiated;
all taxation obligations have been identified for appropriate action;
when payment is to be made in instalments, the terms and times of payment are included in the purchase order or contract document;
details of purchase orders and receipt of goods are recorded against the claim for payment in the ESP Accounts Payable system;
any credit notes received will be offset against the amount owing to the payee; and
all accounts are paid as close as possible to the due date, unless otherwise specified by the authorising officer.
Please note: if there is a credit note against a vendor, no payments will be made until the credit has been absorbed.
Claims for payment that do not meet any of the above criteria must not be created in the Accounts Payable system until the issue(s) has been resolved with the Approving Officer (delegate/agent).
A key factor in payment of accounts is that the payment is made to the legally entitled claimant. Sometimes a claimant may request that payment be made to another person. In most instances a request signed by the original claimant may be sufficient evidence for the payment to be made to another person. If you believe there is potential for problems, then please refer the matter to the Ledgers Section, Finance and Business Services.
When a claim for payment has been prepared, and is ready to be processed in the Accounts Payable ESP Financials System, the following steps need to be taken.
Search for the purchase order via the Purchase Order Voucher option. If it is a foreign currency purchase order, it will need to be processed as a non-order voucher using the Standard or the Express Voucher System.
Enter the voucher using the Voucher option or copy the Purchase Order to the Voucher using the PO Voucher option .
Run the Matching Process for purchase order vouchers.
Approval Process
If the voucher is against an order and the amount paid is the same as the order, then no further authorisation is required.
If the voucher is against an order and the amount paid is greater than the amount on the order, but less than the tolerance of 5% to a maximum of $50, then the voucher will not require further authorisation. If the amount is greater than the tolerance level, the voucher will need further authorisation by a delegate from the originating area.
All vouchers raised that do not have an order, must be authorised.
can be initiated from the voucher or done as an automatic background process; and
must be completed in order for the voucher to be paid.
Posting is scheduled to run each night.
Once an invoice has been authorised, it is available for posting.
To locate the original invoice or the voucher, you will need to know the journal or posting date of the voucher. To find out how to search for the posting or journal date you will need to access ESP and follow the path Go ® Administer Procurement ® Enter voucher information ® Inquire ® Voucher Accounting Entries
When you have obtained the journal or posting date of the voucher, you will be able to search for the original invoice in the voucher register which is located in the Finance and Business Services Division, on the ground floor of the Chancelry 10c Building. The invoices are filed in Business Unit order. Hours of access are 9-12.30 - 1.30-5pm.
See the flowchart on Invoice Processing and the Concepts section under Payable Fundamentals in the ESP Library for further assistance.
Recurring voucher contracts can be established for invoices that:
are paid to the same vendor;
have the same amount due;
have the same scheduled date for payment; and
are paid from the same account.
Template vouchers can be used to save on keying for vouchers that are created for the same vendor, charged to the same account and are for a similar amount.
To learn more about creating a template, follow the path in the ESP Library (Financials ® Accounts Payable ® Peoplesoft Payables ® Entering Vouchers ® Data Entry Procedures ® Voucher Template Information ® Entering). When using the ESP Library, please note that headings on the left hand side of the screen that have a + (plus symbol) indicate that there is more information contained under those headings. Double click on the heading to access the information.
Vendor Codes & Vendor Maintenance
Cheque Presentation, Stop Payment, Voiding Payment
Payments - EFTs, Cheques, Drafts, and Telegraphic Transfers
