Accounts Receivable

Accounts receivable is created in Grants Administration due to the many grants and contracts awarded to the university on a cost reimbursable basis. All letter-of-credit accounts are basically free of accounts receivable due to the fact that funds are requested on an as-needed basis.

Billing Procedures

Agencies awarding grants/contract on a cost-reimbursable basis usually designate whether they are to be invoiced monthly or quarterly. Each new award is reviewed to determine how it is to be invoiced. The award is then listed on the monthly or quarterly billing register. These registers are used to insure that all required invoicing is done.

Monthly invoices are prepared each month from the FBM092 reports and mailed to the respective agencies. Copies of these invoices are filed in an accounts receivable notebook by the month in which they are prepared. When payment is received, the invoice copy is removed from the notebook and filed in the account information folder.

The above procedure is also used for preparing and filing quarterly invoices.

The receivable's notebook is reviewed on a monthly basis to determine past due invoices. Another check to determine past due invoices is preparing succeeding invoices.

Past Due Accounts

Almost every past due account is the result of the project director not supplying the awarding agency with a project report or some other deliverable. In a few cases, the agencies involved are simply slow in rendering payment.

In dealing with a past due account, the first procedure is to contact the agency to determine the reason for nonpayment. If the agency is waiting for a report or deliverable from the project director, the project director is contacted and reminded to submit the item due. If the project director does not submit the deliverable within a given time, and payment is still not received, the Vice Chancellor for Research is notified.

If an amount is determined to be uncollectible, the department involved is contacted and asked to reimburse Grants Administration for the unpaid amount. The University Business Manual states that financial responsibility for any non-reimbursement by the granting/contracting agency of expenditures rests with the department or school having primary responsibility for the project.