a) The library is not allowed to initiate payments in Banner.  The invoice is forwarded to the Business Office with appropriate cost center information and they make the payment.

b) Sort of.  For databases that don't fall within the fiscal year they split the payment (internally for the library) across the fiscal years on a prorated basis which is a nightmare to track.  However, for periodicals they have THANKFULLY not requested us to do this.  I'm not sure why the difference; my only guess is that since they come out of 2 different funds and one must be tracked differently.  But, I also didn't want to ask for fear that they would change the policy for the periodicals and start the complicated accounting practice on that account as well.  Since only a few of our databases fall outside the window I didn't want to open a can of worms.

Nancy
________________________________________
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [SERIALST@list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of Diane Westerfield [Diane.Westerfield@COLORADOCOLLEGE.EDU]
Sent: Friday, November 18, 2011 12:08 PM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [SERIALST] Serial/e-resource subscriptions and the business office

Hi,

Apologies for cross-posting.

Question for those of you who get involved in invoice processing and vendor payment, if just peripherally:

a)      Does your institution use Banner?  If so, are library staff allowed to initiate payments in Banner? (The business office still technically issues the check).

b)      Does your business office require complicated accounting of all subscriptions that don’t fall within the fiscal year?  For example, if you’re on a July-June fiscal schedule and you have a subscription that runs January-December, does the business office want to split the payment for accounting purposes and get into pre-paid accounts and journal transfers?  (note that the vendor is paid in full; it’s only the business office and library accounting that sees the split payments.)

Thanks,

Diane Westerfield, Electronic Resources & Serials Librarian
Tutt Library, Colorado College
diane.westerfield@coloradocollege.edu
(719) 389-6661
(719) 389-6082 (fax)