Billing and AR in FAST

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Billing and AR in FAST
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Billing Is Used For Two Purposes
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The Commercial Stream

• It all begins with an approved EBA
• Educational Business Activity (EBA) approval by
  UCO is required
• It gives authority to conduct a business activity
  and helps USF comply with UBI (unrelated business
  income) requirements
• It defines what you are selling, your customer
  base, your costing, your management structure
• Controllers Office will create a unique
  auxiliary fund to which you deposit revenue and
  pay expenses
• Find EBA information on the Controllers Office
  web site or on USF Business Processes
  www.usf.edu/businessprocesses

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The Commercial Stream

• Commercial (external) customers include
• All DSOs like Moffitt, USF Foundation, USF
  Research Foundation, and the Sun Dome activities
• Plus all private businesses, state universities,
  state agencies, counties, cities and individuals
• Hint
• The billing module is not for billing other USF
  departments
• Use a journal entry form for interdepartmental
  billings

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The Billing Process
1 Department makes the sale to the
customer
Disbursement
7 USF accepts cash, checks, or bank cards
2 UCO creates the customer ID
6 Collect the money from the customer
3 Departments create the customer invoice
4 Overnight processing occurs
5 UCO prints the invoice and sends to
Customer
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Who Does What Task?
Who Does What Task?

• Departments
• Request EBA authority
• Find the customers
• Provide the service
• Request customer setup
• Create the billings
• Pursue collection from customers
• Reconcile billings, payments, and AR balances
• Request refunds and write-off

• University Controllers Office
• Creates and modifies customer records
• Manages nightly processing
• Prints and mails invoices to the customer
• Creates all credits
• Assists with collection from customers
• Provides training

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New Customers and Customer Updates?

• Complete a simple one page request form
• To request a new customer record
• To request an update to an existing customer
  record
• Mail the form to ARCUST (find it in Outlook)
• We handle the request through Service Now
• We will notify you when the customer is setup
• Find the form on the Controllers Office web
  site click About UCO, then click Billing and
  AR Forms

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About Invoices

• Invoice Ids are standardized
• They begin with the department billing source
• The bill source is a three letter prefix
  representing your auxiliary
• Bill source is followed by a dash
• Dash is followed by a five digit number
• Auto-assigned by FAST beginning with the number
  00001
• Example of an IT invoice number
• ITS-02000

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About Invoices

• Invoices are printed on plain paper
• Invoices have everything the cashier needs to
  identify the payment (customer ID, invoice
  number, and amount)
• Customers paying by check are asked include a
  copy of the invoice with their payment to a USF
  lock box

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Cornerstones

• The customer is the basis for billing
• Customers have IDs based on the department
• Always the bill source followed by four digits
• The digits are auto-assigned beginning with 1001
• Example of a customer ID for IT
• ITS1007 Information Technology Services customer
  1007

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Cornerstones

• Charge codes identify what you sell to the
  customer
• They appear on the invoice
• They begin with the three letter bill source
• The bill source is followed by a dash and a
  description
• Example of a charge code for a USFSP auxiliary
• CAC-COMREV
• This is the charge code for Campus Activities
  Center revenue

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Cornerstones

• Distribution codes are the chart field strings
  that drive the accounting entries
• They are attached to every charge code
• The chart fields
• Operating Unit Required field
• Fund ID Your auxiliary fund ID
• Account Must begin with 44
• Department ID Required field
• Product Must be populated but may be 000000
• Initiative Must have 7 zeroes

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Cornerstones

• Distribution codes begin with the billing source
  ID followed by an alpha/numeric description
• For example Campus Activities Center has charge
  code for services they offer this is the
  distribution code behind it

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Cornerstones

• Hint
• Always use only your departments billing source
  for
• Customer ID
• Invoice ID
• Charge code ID
• Request new charges codes and distribution codes
  and updates to existing codes from
  mdevore_at_.usf.edu
• Find the form at www.usf.edu/business-finance/cont
  roller

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Revenue Budgeting

• You must forecast your revenue through the Budget
  Module (Commitment Control)
• Budget by individual chart field string
• This includes billings to outside customers and
  billings to other USF departments

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Revenue Budgeting

• There are consequences
• You can finalize the billing, print it, and send
  it to the customer
• But it will not post to the GL
• Cashiers will be unable to post payments against
  the invoice
• If billings fail budget checking
• You will receive an email to remind you to make
  the necessary budget adjustment
• The email will have the accounting information
  that you need

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Sales Tax

• Your customers may or may not be subject to
  Florida sales tax
• In order to exempt a customer from sales tax, you
  must obtain a copy of that entity's "Florida
  Certificate of Exemption" which is Form DR-14.
   That is the ONLY way we can extend to anyone an
  exemption from Florida sales tax.  If we have no
  Form DR-14, the default is to charge sales tax on
  the sale of tangible personal property or rentals.

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Sales Tax

• Some of what you sell may be subject to Florida
  sales tax
• It is a complex set of law that can have profound
  impact on USF
• Visit the Controllers Office web site (click
  Payroll Tax Services) or contact Michelle
  Verdisco (813.835.2264 or look for her in
  Outlook)

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UBI (Unrelated Business Income)

• To ensure compliance with our non-profit status,
  we must correctly identify all unrelated business
  activity
• It is a complex set of law that can have profound
  impact on USF
• Record amounts of UBI for each line on the Line
  Misc Info page
• Visit the Controllers Office web site (click
  Payroll Tax Services) or contact Michelle
  Verdisco (813.835.2264 or look for her in
  Outlook)

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Customer Notes

• To help your customer and provide them the
  information they need to expedite payment, use
  customer notes
• Add a header note or individual line note
• Provide information like
• The customers PO number
• Date of service, type of service
• Names of individuals

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Collecting Accounts Receivable

• USF AR is aged
• 20 day grace period
• 0-30 days, 31-60, 61-90, 90 days and over
• During the first 90 days of aging
• Department attempts collection
• By calling customer
• By e-mailing customer
• By sending a copy of the invoice to the customer

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The AR Office Can Help You

• When the debt reaches 90 days
• The AR Office reviews 90 day AR items
• AR Office contacts the department to discuss
  options
• Consider using our contracted collection agency

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AR Reporting

• AR aging tools include
• An AR aging report in the AR module (pdf format)
• An AR aging report that UCO sends out quarterly
  (Excel format)
• Public queries

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Professional Collection Is An Option

• If you use one of our contracted collection
  agencies
• The agency charges a percentage fee contingent
  upon actual amount collected
• You may pass this fee on to the customer only if
  adequate advance written notification has been
  given to the customer prior to the sale
• Otherwise, the department must pay for the
  collection fee from sources of your choosing

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Correcting/Adjusting Invoices

• Customers may need to be issued a credit due to
• A duplicate billing
• An incorrect billing (wrong amount, quantity,
  etc.)
• Only the UCO AR office may create credits
  Separation of duties issue
• Prepare credit requests on the billing correction
  form
• Find it on the Controllers Office web site
  click About UCO, then click Billing and AR
  Forms

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What About Bad Debts?

• Write-off should be considered only after all
  collection efforts have been unsuccessful
• Departments should carefully document collection
  effort
• Use the standard format for requests (contact UCO
  AR Office)
• Submit write-off requests to the UCO AR Office
  Manager

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What About Bad Debts?

• With the request, include
• List of all invoices with invoice ID and Customer
  ID
• Customer name
• Invoice date
• Original invoice amount
• Amount to be written off
• Description of collection effort

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Write-off Entries

• The UCO AR Office will review the request and
  obtain the required approval of the USF
  Controller
• The UCO AR office will create the write-off
  entries
• You will be notified when the write-off action is
  completed

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How Can The Customer Pay

• Customers are asked to return a copy of the
  invoice with check payments directly to the USF
  Lock Box
• The Lock Box address is
• University of South Florida
• Commercial Accounts
• PO Box 864568
• Orlando, FL 32886-4568
• Only a USF Cashier Office may handle payments
  made in person at USF

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Alternate Payment Methods

• Customers may also pay by credit card
• We accept VISA, MasterCard, American Express or
  DiscoverCard
• Customer may pay on-line (preferred method)
• The web site address is www.usf.edu/commacct
• Customer will need to identify the invoice number
  and customer ID
• This is for invoices of 10,000 or less
• Invoices over 10,000-customer should consider
  EFT or check format
• Customer may pay at USF Tampa
• Pay at the kiosk in the cashier lobby using the
  commercial account portal
• Customer will need to identify the invoice number
  and customer ID
• This is for invoices of 10,000 or less

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Alternate Payment Methods

• Customers may also pay by EFT
• State agencies, government units, and other state
  universities should pay by either EFT or check
  they should not pay by credit card
• To setup a customer for EFT/ACH
• Find the EFT/ACH Authorization Form on the
  Controllers Office web site click Accounting
  and Reporting, then click Forms

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What if you receive a payment in the mail?

• Take the payment immediately to the cashier
  office
• Do not send to the cashier by campus mail

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What if Customer Payment Does Not Clear?

• If the customer check is returned NSF by the bank
• All returned checks are managed by the UCO
  (Controllers Office)
• Amy Murray is the key person
• A new receivable is created
• A series of letters are sent to collect from the
  customer
• Customer is charged a flat 25 fee

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Applying a Payment To An Invoice

• To apply a payment, Cashier must have
• A customer ID or
• An invoice ID
• Cashiers apply the payment and close the invoice
• Payment application automatically closes the
  invoice
• The cash will be added to your auxiliary fund

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If The Cashier Cannot Identify A Payment

• The Cashier will research to the best of their
  ability
• If a check can not be identified, it is recorded
  by journal entry to suspense fund 18570, GL code
  12120
• When the check is finally identified, it will be
  corrected and correctly applied
• Unidentified payments, both checks and EFT, may
  be viewed on the UCO web site under Library of
  Resources

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What About Customer Refunds?

• Customers may overpay or pay twice
• Departments request customer refunds from AR
  Office
• Before requesting a refund, determine that there
  are no other open (unpaid) invoices for that
  customer
• Use the customer refund form on the UCO web site
• Be sure to correctly identify the original
  deposit
• Submit refund requests to aradj_at_admin.usf

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Dont Forget To Reconcile

• Reconcile invoices/billings
• Confirm that everything that should have been
  billed, was billed
• Confirm that the billing amounts were correct
• Confirm that billing adjustments have posted
  correctly
• Reconcile customer payments
• Confirm that the payments were applied to the
  correct invoices
• Do this monthly

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Where Do You Find Information

• In Finance Mart
• The Balance Sheet has deposits and customer
  payments
• Financial Report Summary and Revenue Detail have
  billing info
• In the Billing module
• Billing/Review Billing Information/Details for
  detail invoice information
• In the AR module
• Accounts Receivable/Receivables Analysis/Aging
  for AR reports
• Accounts Receivable/Customer Information/Item
  Information for invoice payment details

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Common GL Accounts in Billing

• 10011 Payment made by cash or check
• 10061 Payment made by credit card
• 10091 Payment made by EFT
• 12010 Commercial Accounts Receivable-FAST
• 44 Commercial revenue account series

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Common Journal Masks

• ARB Invoicing accounting
• A debit to accounts receivable and a credit to
  revenue
• ARP Customer payment accounting
• A debit to cash and a credit to accounts
  receivable
• ARC Customer payments no FAST invoice
• A debit to cash and a credit to revenue
• ARM Maintenance entries made by AR Office

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Lets Get To Work !