Accounts Payable and Year End Cutoff

As fiscal year end approaches, it is important to clarify the procedures that we follow in processing invoices at the end of the year. The INVOICE DATE is used to determine which fiscal year that invoice is charged against regardless of the year of the PO creation. The invoice date is the date presented on the first page of an invoice that has been assigned by the vendor.

The university’s first close is set for Tuesday, July 5th. All invoices received by AP up to and including July 5th with an invoice date of June 30th or before will be processed in the FY05 accounting books. Invoices dated July 1st or later will be processed in the FY06 accounting books.

An exception to these procedures can occur in the case of service pre-billings. Software and communications contracts are examples of services that are most often pre-billed by vendors. Service pre-billings contain a clear statement of the service period in the body of the invoice. Expenses related to services should match the period for which the services are provided and as such may create an exception to the above stated procedures. If an invoice for a service pre-billing arrives near the end of the year and is inappropriately processed in FY05, please contact Accounts Payable at (812) 855-4004 and ask that that invoice be canceled from the system and reprocessed in FY06.

Goods, or merchandise, are rarely pre-billed. If you order equipment or supplies in the month of June and ask for a delivery of July 1st or later, the vendor may ship your product early and issue an invoice on the date shipped. In this case, the invoice will be processed in FY05. Please keep this in mind when placing orders for products that you do not wish to take delivery of until after the fiscal year end.