To support best practices in financial stewardship on specific types of purchases, departments are required to review and complete additional steps depending on the purchase type or amount to confirm that the goods and services have been received. The below invoice types have the following requirements:
- For capital equipment, receiving is required.
- For subawards, Principal Investigator (PI) approval is required.
- Currently, for invoices $5,000 or greater, department approval is required. This invoice amount requires that these invoices be placed on a department approval invoice hold until confirmation by authorized approver releases the invoice hold.
What changed
Effective July 15, the invoice amount that requires department approval has increased from $5,000 to $10,000. This means that department approval is only required for invoices $10,000 or greater.
While department approval is no longer be required for invoices between $5,000 and $9,999, they will be placed on a temporary hold for five (5) business days to allow for department review. Preparers will have the option to:
- Take no action and the hold will be automatically released after five (5) business days
- Release the hold immediately through the invoice hold notification email
- Extend the hold to provide more time for department review. The invoice will not be released after five business days and the email notification will be resent every seven (7) days until it is released. After 28 days the email notification will be sent to the financial approver as well.
Please note: All invoice hold notification emails, including the new temporary hold notification email, are initially sent to the preparer, and uploader (if applicable) and to the financial approver after 28 days.
In instances where the notification emails are unable to be sent to the preparer or uploader (e.g., they are no longer in the role), the hold will become a department approval invoice hold and AP will send the hold notification email to the financial approver after 28 days.
If there are other holds on the invoice aside from the temporary invoice hold, those holds will need to be resolved separately.
The table below outlines the new process for invoices based on purchase amount:
| Invoice Amount | Future State |
|---|---|
| $0.01 to $4,999 | No change. Department approval is currently not required and there are no corresponding AP holds. |
| $5,000 to $9,999 | Changing. Department approval is no longer required but invoices will go on five (5) day temporary hold and unless action is taken, the hold will be automatically released after five (5) business days. |
| $10,000 or greater | No change. Department approval is still required. |
What is not changing
The department approval invoice hold continues to apply to all invoices regardless of invoice submission method (e.g., mailed, emailed, or uploaded - unless uploaded by those with approval authority. See upload instructions below).
If the below actions are taken before the invoice is processed by Accounts Payable, the invoice will not be placed on a department approval hold.
- Before the invoice is submitted for payment: Departments can leverage the receiving process to proactively indicate approval, or,
- Upon invoice submission:
- When the requisition preparer or authorized approvers upload invoices, they will see a checkbox noting Invoice approved for payment which serves as department approval.
- If someone other than the requisition preparer or authorized approver uploads an invoice, the checkbox is not visible and uploaded invoices would then be placed on hold for department approval.
Please note that taking any of the actions described for Capital purchases or Subaward invoices also meets the department approval requirement, so additional action would not be required in those cases.
Why it changed
This change better balances risk reduction and administrative efficiency. By increasing the invoice amount that requires department approval, nearly 50% of these invoice holds will be eliminated. In FY22, Accounts Payable placed a department approval hold on 8,857 invoices. Increasing the invoice amount to $10,000 would have eliminated 4,428 of these invoice holds. The new temporary hold will allow the department the opportunity to continue to review invoices between $5,000 and $9,999.
Invoice monitoring tools to support efficient hold resolution
Invoice holds are generally sent to the preparer of the requisition, the individual who uploaded the invoice on behalf of the supplier, and the financial approver. In cases where any of these individuals do not receive the invoice hold notification email (e.g., they are no longer in the role) or cannot promptly take action to resolve the hold, transaction preparers, PTA owners, and approvers can check invoice and payment status in real-time with the following tools:
- OBI Dashboard: Procure to Pay Dashboard and Reports (P2P):
- The Procure to Pay at a Glance report shows On Hold invoices in one section and Pending invoices (both On Hold and No Hold) in a different section.
- The Purchase Order and Related AP Invoices report shows AP Invoice payment status and hold status for all invoices related to a selection of Purchase Orders.
- Drilling on an AP Invoice Number in any P2P report displays details about status.
The Procure to Pay at a Glance report will now display those invoices between $5,000 and $9,999 that are on a five-day temporary hold.
- Oracle Inquiry Tools: Requisition and PO Query: Images of uploaded invoices (but not electronic invoices), payment status, and invoice hold status can be viewed using the Requisition and Purchase Orders Query tool to search by requisition number or purchase order number and then scrolling to the Invoice Payment Details section on the PO Details page. For instructions on using this tool, refer to How To: View Requisitions, Purchase Orders or Invoices.
- Pending Transactions: Powered by Incorta, provides a consolidated, integrated tool where users can obtain information in one place about all of the pending purchasing and business expense transactions related to them and in certain situations, to take action. Learn more on the Pending Transactions reporting page.
Resources
Several resources on Fingate will be updated to support the change to the invoice amount that requires department approval, including:
- Refer to the Topic Overview: Purchase Order Invoice Processing, which provides best practices to support invoice processing and now includes clarified information on the types of invoices that require confirmation that the goods and services have been received.
- View Resource: Managing Invoice Holds, which provides an at-a-glance table of the most common invoice hold notifications and actions required. This Resource page was updated to describe the three new invoice hold notifications related to the new temporary hold and the updated department approval hold notification of the increase to invoice amount from $5,000 to $10,000
