Accounts Receivable Invoice Issues

Purpose

This document identifies issues and related requirements necessary to correctly generate an Accounts Receivable (AR) invoice. Information provided can be used to determine why an invoice is not generating or why a transaction is not included on an invoice.

Invoice Generation

The following table lists issues that affect generation of an invoice:

Issues

Requirements

Award Manager

The award must have a valid award manager defined.
Review the following:

  • the start date of the employee who is the award manager is earlier or the same as the start date of the award, and
  • the employee is active in the Human Resources (HR) module of the RF's business system.

     

    Note: The start date of the award manager must be the same or earlier than the award start date, or the invoice will be rejected when transferred to the Accounts Receivable module of the RF's business system.

Award Status

The status on the award must be "Active" or "On-Hold."

Billing Cycle

Review the billing cycle in comparison to the bill-through-date on the invoice.

Important! Award start date and first billing offset days should be reviewed in conjunction with the billing cycle.

Billing Distribution Rule

Review the billing distribution rule established on the award. The billing distribution rule determines "how" invoices will be generated. Either based on cost incurred (cost) or based on a fixed schedule or completion of a milestone (event).

If the Billing Distribution Rule is “Event,” a valid event must exist. Events must be set up within the award start and end dates to successfully generate and transfer to AR.

Note: This field can be changed after an invoice has been released; therefore, the Billing Distribution Rule should be reviewed in conjunction with the actual award terms since both cost and event invoices may exist.

First Billing Offset Days

Check to see that the offset days has a value in the field and that the value is correct based on the award billing cycle and the start date of the award.

The First Billing Offset Days determines the number of days between the award start date and the generation of the first invoice. For more information, refer to: First Billing Offset Days-Functionality and Use.

Award Budget

Must be at least $1.00 and the budget must be baselined to generate revenue and invoices.

Note: Standard Projects functionality prevents revenue and invoice generation for $0 revenue budgets.

Final Invoices

To ensure all expenditures are captured in the final invoice, final invoices should be regenerated with a "Date Through" value of the current date. For more information on regenerating invoices, refer to the Regenerate a Sponsor Invoice process help.

Invoice Date

Review that the Invoice Date is equal to or greater than the Award Start Date.

Note: Invoices produced before the start date of the award will be rejected when transferred to the Accounts Receivable module of the RF's business system.

Hard Limit Flag

Check to see if the hard limit box is enabled (checked.) The hard limit functionality is only recommended for use on Letter of Credit (LOC) awards, which have additional monitoring by the Finance Office at central office. If the Hard Limit box is checked on an award other than LOC, uncheck the box in the Award Management form. The system will regenerate the invoice in the overnight processing to include any additional expenditures.

Project Status

A project must be in "Approved" or "Pending Close" status to allow invoicing.

Task Manager

Review the following:

  • the start date of the Task Manager is the same as the start date of the Award Manager, and
  • the employee is active in the HR module of the RF's business system.

Zero Dollar Invoices

Invoices produced for $0 will be rejected when transferred from the Grants Management module to the Accounts Receivable module of the RF's business system.

Transactions Not on Invoices

The following table lists issues that may cause transactions to not appear on invoices:

Issues

Requirements

Award and Installment Close Dates

The close date on the award and all active installments must be a date in the future in order for unbilled items to post to an invoice.

Award and Installment Start and End Dates

All active installments must have start and end dates the same as the start and end dates of the award. These dates must be the same to ensure revenue and invoicing runs correctly on the award.

Award Status

The status on the award must be "Active" or "On-Hold."

Billable

The billable flag on the expenditure must be set to "Yes."

To verify the billable status:

  1. Go to Expenditure Inquiry > Actuals.
  2. Enter the project, task and award number.
  3. Select Find.
  4. Select Folder > Show Field > Billable. Review the billable flag to determine that the check box is checked for each item. If an item is not marked as billable, change the flag, and then regenerate invoice.

Billing Hold

The billing hold status must be set to “No.”

To verify the billing hold status:

  1. Go to Expenditure Inquiry > Actuals.
  2. Enter the project, task and award number.
  3. Select Find.
  4. Select Folder > Show Field > Billing Hold.
  5. Review the billing hold field. If the value displayed is other than "No" the hold must be released. To release the hold, highlight item(s), select Special > Release Hold X, and then regenerate invoice.

     

    For more information, refer to: Placing Expenditures on Billing Hold.

Expenditure Item Dates

  1. Expenditure item date on the transaction must be prior to the award and installment close date to generate an invoice.
  2. Only transactions with an expenditure item date prior to the "Date Through" of the invoice will appear on the invoice.

    Effects of Invoice Regeneration on Items Included in the Invoice:
    Invoice regeneration may result in picking up backdated items that have been posted to the award in the next month and therefore the associated F and A has an item of the next month. The example below explains this situation:

  • You have regenerated an invoice with a "Bill Through Date" of 28-FEB-05.
  • After a review of the invoice you find that a transaction processed with an item date of 02-FEB-05 is missing the applicable F and A charge.
  • Upon research, you determine that this item was posted to the award on 04-MAR-05.
  • Therefore, the F and A for that item is included in the F and A that was posted on 04-MAR-05 and is missing from the invoice dated 28-FEB-05.


    For these situations, the direct cost item should be place on a "One-Time Bill Hold," so it will process in the next invoice with the associated F and A. For more information, refer to: Placing Expenditures on Billing Hold.

Funds Checking

Only transactions that have successfully passed funds checking are cost distributed and available for invoicing.

Hard Limit Flag

Check to see if the hard limit box is enabled (checked.) The hard limit functionality is only recommended for use on Letter of Credit (LOC) awards, which have additional monitoring by the Finance Office at central office. If the Hard Limit box is checked on an award other than LOC, uncheck the box in the Award Management form. The system will regenerate the invoice in the overnight processing to include any additional expenditures.

Project Status

A project must be in "Approved" or "Pending Close" status for a transaction to appear on an invoice.

Change History

 

 

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