Tracey Sopp Head of Accounting and Processing James Duncan, Deputy Chief Executive / Executive Director of Finance. Contents

Transcription

1 Standard Financial Instructions Practice Guidance Note Completion of an Invoice Request Form V01 Date Issued Planned Review PGN No: Issue 1 October 2014 Issue 2- October 2017 Issue 3 Apr 2018 Author / Designation Responsible Officer / Designation Oct 2018 SFI-PGN Part of NTW(O)51-Standard Financial Instructions Policy Tracey Sopp Head of Accounting and Processing James Duncan, Deputy Chief Executive / Executive Director of Finance Contents Section Description Page No. 1 Introduction 1 2 Completion of an Invoice Request Form 2 3 Action following the Invoice Request Form 5 4 Action following the Completion of an Invoice Request 6 5 Action following the completion of a Request to Raise a Credit Note 6 Fraud, Bribery and Corruption 8 7 Equality and Diversity Impact Assessment 8 Appendices listed separate to PGN 7 Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Appendix 3 Invoice Request Form Credit Note Request against Invoice Number VAT Guidance 1 Introduction 1.1 Where a department / location has provided goods/services to an individual or organisation, an Invoice Request - IR (see Appendix A - Form) must be raised by the department / location and sent electronically to the Accounts Receivable Section for an invoice to be raised for the relevant charge. It must be noted that this does not apply to internal recharges (i.e. a department / location supplying to another department / location within the Trust) and also where goods have traditionally been sold for cash. 1

2 1.2 The Invoice Request to be used can be found in the Corporate Information Section of the Trust s Intranet. Note: Under no circumstances should a department / location raise their own invoice. 1.3 The Invoice Request (IR) must be raised as soon as possible after the goods / services have been provided especially those involving large sums of money. This is important for a number of key reasons: The cash raised from IR s pays for expenditure The longer it takes to raise a IR the more difficult it may be to retrieve the outstanding debt Monies deposited in the Government Banking Accounts earns interest 1.4 Please note the following with regard to Equality and Diversity : If a version of this procedure or an individual form used in the procedure is required in a larger font-size, please contact the Author (see front sheet) to request; If any part or all of this procedure is required in a language other than English, please contact the Author to discuss your requirement. 2 Completion of an Invoice Request 2.1 When completing an IR it is important to note the points below. Failure to complete a field correctly could result in the Accounts Receivable Section being unable to raise the required invoice promptly and may result in the IR being returned to the originator. 2.2 Departments / locations must complete the following fields on their IR: Serial Number Each Department should set up an appropriate numbering system to allocate a unique eight character Serial Number to each Notification of Debt (NOD) which is raised. The composition of the Serial Number is as follows: The first four characters are a Department Code which must be the first four characters of the Department Name e.g. Plummer Court will be PLUM ; 2

3 The next four digits are a sequence number allocated by that Department (NB leading zeros must be entered) Department o At the start of a new financial year all sequence numbers must commence at "0001" Enter the name of the Department which is raising the IR Contact Name Enter the name of the individual from the Department to whom enquiries can be referred Telephone Number Enter the telephone number of the individual from the Department to whom enquiries can be referred Name and Address for Invoice Enter the full name and postal address of the recipient of the goods / service. It is essential that the correct debtor is quoted as any confusion between an individual and his / her organisation may result in a delay in payment and confusion over whether VAT is appropriate. For example, where catering is provided to a Drugs Company representative, the debtor is the Drugs Company, not the representative. However, the representative s name must be included in the body of the IR to assist the debtor FAO (For the Attention Of) Where the debtor is not an individual, enter the name of the individual from that company / organisation to whom enquiries can be referred Invoice Description Enter the full description of the goods/services supplied (including a Purchase Order reference or any other reference) and provide any back-up attachments which are required to be issued with the invoice. The description entered will appear on the invoice Financial Coding This consists of the following fields: Cost Centre (6 characters); 3

4 Subjective Code (6 characters). Note: The Subjective Code will normally be an Income Code unless the purpose of the invoice is to off-set expenditure already incurred in which case the Subjective code should be an Expenditure Code (e.g. a Salary Recharge). Sub Analysis 1 Code (4 characters); Sub Analysis 2 Code (4 characters). Please note that all four fields must be completed Amount Due Enter the amount to be charged for the goods / service(s) provided (Do not include any VAT in this figure) Value Added Tax (VAT) Decide whether VAT should be added (see Appendix B for guidance on when VAT is appropriate). If having examined the guidance you are still unsure as to whether VAT should be added, please contact the Accounts Receivable Section for advice If VAT is to be added, this must be entered in the VAT box in the Amount Due column. The Gross Total will be automatically updated to include the VAT amount entered Prepared By: The officer raising the IR must enter his / her name in this field Designation The officer raising the IR must enter his / her job title Date Prepared The officer raising the IR must enter the date that the IR was prepared The fields listed below must not be entered by the department / location. They will either be automatically calculated or entered by the Accounts Receivable Section. NET; Gross Total; Date Received 4

5 Input By; Invoice Number. 3 Action following the Completion of an Invoice Request 3.1 Having completed the IR, it must be sent (together with any back-up attachments) to the Accounts Receivable Section. 3.2 The IR should be sent via . However, this may not be possible in certain cases where back-up documentation is to accompany the IR. The following options therefore exist: IR without back-up documentation - Always send via (* see below); IR with back-up documentation - Where the back-up documentation can be scanned, send the IR and the scanned version(s) of the back-up documentation via (* see below); o Where the back-up documentation cannot be scanned, send the IR and the back-up documentation to the Accounts Receivable Section via post. 3.3 The address to be used is as follows: ARNTW@NTW.NHS.UK 3.4 The sender should ensure that a copy of the IR and the back-up documentation is retained (either electronically or paper copy as appropriate) within his / her department. The purpose of this is to: Enable queries to be answered; Provide back-up in the event of non-receipt of the by the Accounts Receivable Section; Assist in the checking of budgetary statements. 3.5 Upon receipt of the IR, the Accounts Receivable Section will raise the relevant invoice within a target of 3 working days, providing all fields have been completed in accordance with this procedure. Where it is not possible for finance to raise all invoices within 3 working days due to resource pressures or competing demands, priority will be given to more material invoices and all invoices in excess of 5,000 will be raised within 3 working days and the remainder raised as soon as practicable. 5

6 3.6 In the event of the IR not being completed in accordance with this procedure, the Accounts Receivable Section will contact the relevant department by E- mail to obtain the missing or correct information. The response will be filed electronically with the appropriate IR. 4 Subsequent Adjustments to an Invoice 4.1 There may be cases where an Invoice has been raised by the Accounts Receivable Section and action needs to be taken to cater for the following occurrences: Where the invoice raised does not cover the full amount owing to the Trust; Where the invoice raised is in excess of the amount owing to the Trust; Where the invoice was raised in error and needs to be cancelled. 4.2 The action to be taken in each specific case is detailed at 4.4 below. Each action involves the use of a Request to Raise a Credit Note against Invoice Number. (see Appendix A - Form). This is referred to as a Credit Request (CR) in the remainder of this procedure. The purpose of a C R is to reduce the amount due from an individual / organisation and may relate to part or all of the value of an invoice. 4.3 Where it is necessary to raise a CR, it must be raised as soon as possible (by the department / location where the IR originated from) to enable prompt processing. 4.4 The Credit Request to be used can be found in the Corporate Information Section of the Trust s Intranet. 4.5 Situations where a CR needs to be used: Where the invoice raised does not cover the full amount owing to the Trust In this case there are two options: o o Raise a CR to cancel the original invoice and then submit a new Invoice Request for the correct amount; Let the original invoice be sent out and submit an Invoice Request for the difference. 6

7 4.5.2 Where the invoice raised is in excess of the amount owing to the Trust In cases where the invoice raised is in excess of the correct charge (e.g. as a result of an error on the IR, goods / services only partially received / not received etc.), the adjustment can be actioned by raising a CR for the excess amount Where the invoice was raised in error and needs to be cancelled Where an invoice raised needs to be cancelled, raise a CR for the full amount of the invoice. 4.6 Completion of a CR The instructions for the completion of a CR are the same as for a IR with the following exceptions: In the heading ( Request to Raise a Credit Note against Invoice Number ) there is a space to enter the Invoice Number of the invoice being adjusted. You should not enter anything in this field as it will be entered by the Accounts Receivable Section; The "Serial Number" field is replaced by a field entitled "Serial Number of Original IR". Enter the serial number of the original IR which was submitted; In the "Amount to be Credited" column enter the amount by which the value of the invoice is to be reduced. Please remember to show the relevant VAT amount if applicable. 5 Action following the completion of a Credit Request 5.1 Having completed a CR, it must be sent via to the Accounts Receivable Section. The address is as follows: ARNTW@NTW.NHS.UK 5.2 When sending a CR, the following must be noted: The "Serial Number" field is replaced by a field entitled "Serial Number of Original IR". Enter the serial number of the original IR which was submitted; If the associated IR was sent via , then the IR must be sent from the same address as the associated IR; 7

8 If the associated IR was sent via post, then the CR must be sent from the same department and signed by the same authorising officer. Failure to do this will result in the rejection of the CR. 5.3 The sender should ensure that a copy of the CR is retained (electronically) within his / her department. The purpose of this is to: Enable queries to be answered; Provide back-up in the event of non-receipt of the by the Accounts Receivable Section; Assist in the checking of budgetary statements. 5.4 Upon receipt of a CR, the Accounts Receivable Section will ensure that all fields are completed in accordance with this procedure. 5.5 In the event of the CR not being completed in accordance with this procedure, the Accounts Receivable Section will return the CR to the sender (via ) with an accompanying explanation of the reason for rejection. 6 Fraud, Bribery and Corruption 6.1 In accordance with NTW (O)23 Fraud, Bribery and Corruption Policy and Response Plan, all suspected cases of fraud and corruption should be reported immediately to the Trust s Local Counter Fraud Specialist or to the Director of Finance. 7 Equality and Diversity Impact Assessment 7.1 This procedure has been assessed with regard to its relevance to equality and diversity. As a result of this assessment, no negative impacts were identified for any of the legislatively recognised equality strands, viz. Sex [including marital status and gender re-assignment]; Race [including colour, nationality, national origin, ethnic origin]; Disability; Sexual Orientation; Religion & Belief; Age. 8