Accounts Payable

Calculate the whole leg of the trip: home address-to the location-to home campus-to home address minus your normal commute to your home campus.

If a registration fee is paid, a Per Diem Form should be submitted to Accounts Payable. The in-district miles can be claimed on the Per Diem Form. If NO registration fee is paid and a $0 Authorization for Travel is used, then claim the excess miles on the In-District Travel Report.

No. A travel Authorization is needed if an employee is performing job-related duties out of the office. If the employee is requesting any type of Per Diem or reimbursement, then the employee must submit an Authorization for Travel form to Accounts Payable. If the employee is NOT requesting any reimbursements and there is no registration fee being paid, then the Authorization for Travel is only required on a departmental level and Accounts Payable DOES NOT require a copy.

EXCEPTION: An Authorization for Travel and Per Diem must ALWAYS be submitted to the Grants Department for Grant Funded Programs and Endowed Chair Restricted Funds per the Grant Guidelines, regardless of the amount.

Add mileage from West campus to East Campus, then to your home and subtract your normal commute (example: West to East + East to Home - West to Home = Excess Miles)

There are few ways to pay (A) Use your P-card; (B) If it is being paid by a grant do a Check Request and have a check cut for that vendor; or (C) Pay it yourself and get reimbursed on your Per Diem Voucher.

There are a few ways to pay (A) Do a check Request to have a check mailed to the hotel prior to traveling; (B) Pay with a personal credit card and get reimbursed on the Per Diem Voucher; or (C) Pay using a P-Card (if the holder of the P-Card is not present, they will have to fill out an authorization from the hotel prior to the date of the travel for the charge).

There are few ways to pay (A) Use your P-Card; (B) If it is a Grant and there is no P-Card available, let Travel Max know and they will charge it to the college American Express; or (C) Pay with your credit card and get reimbursed on your Per Diem Voucher.

Pay with your personal credit card and get reimbursed on the Per Diem Voucher, however for rental car use advance approval from the appropriate vice-president, provost or designee is required. Valencia College has an agreement with Enterprise, so we STRONGLYrecommend you use Enterprise for all Car Rentals to save you the most on your travel. If you choose to use an outside vendor you will be responsible for all insurance, service charges, etc.

NOTE: Valencia College does NOT reimburse for any upgrades. All upgrades are considered a personal expense and you are responsible for all upgrade specific charges.

This information must be provided because not all reviewers, approvers, or auditors have access to all systems. The information must be provided in detail so there will be no questions regarding whether or not the item or service is an allowable expense.

The departure time on the Authorization for Travel form should be when you plan to leave your home. If flying, you are allowed to report two hours before your departure flight time and one hour after your returning flight time on your Authorization For Travel Form. On the Per Diem Form, you should report the ACTUAL time you left your home and returned home from your travel. Again, you are allowed to report two hours before your departure flight time and one hour after your returning flight time on you Per Diem Form. If any flight or travel changes occur that affect your departure and arrival time, please attach a memo to your Per Diem Form notifying Accounts Payable of the reason for the change.

Only if the vehicle is a rented vehicle for College use. (If you are using a personal vehicle, you are reimbursed through the per diem mileage rate) As with any P-card purchase, the gas receipt must be retained for supporting the purchase.

The instructions for completing a one-time contract can be found in Atlas under Valencia Forms under Contractors Services Agreement Instructions. The actual form is in a separate document called Contract Services Agreement Form. If you are using the Contractor Services Agreement Form from Atlas with NO CHANGES, have the vendor sign the contract and forward the contract to Keith Houck for the Valencia Signature. Once Keith has signed the contract, Patty Nicholas will send a copy to the necessary department and the original contract to procurement. If any changes are made to the document or a vendor sends their own contract for Valencia to sign, please send the contract to the Legal Department (DTC-4). The contract must be approved first through the Legal Department before any other actions can be taken.

Due to process changes effective September 1, 2012, Accounts Payable would like to clarify the Purchase Order and Invoice creation, approval, and payment workflow. College Policy 6Hx28:6-03.1 states that all purchases shall be made by requisition purchase order, purchasing card, or petty cash procedures.  A purchase order (PO) is a legally binding document that authorizes the supplier to ship and invoice for the materials and/or services specified. The president or a designee (Keith Houck for contracts and Ed Ames for purchase orders) are the only authorized employees who can commit the college to such expenditures. For these reasons, it is important to follow proper procedures when making purchases to protect you and the College from liability.

When making purchases, you MUST complete a requisition to have Procurement create a purchase order BEFORE receiving materials and an invoice from the vendor. A purchase order will not be created after goods, services, or an invoice has been received. Also note that Accounts Payable will not straight pay any invoices. Usually, a PO is created with a set quantity and price. However, if you are not sure how much the purchase will cost or how often you will receive invoices from the vendor, you can request an open purchase order by specifying a PO be open for the entire fiscal year, July 1 to June 30. An open purchase order is just a regular PO issued to a specific supplier for a specified time, up to 12 months, for recurring purchases/payments with an unknown dollar amount. You can estimate costs for the year by term, project, or previous fiscal year expenditures. Open PO's can be increased at any time throughout the fiscal year. This can also save your department time as only one PO needs to be requested per vendor per year. At the beginning of each new fiscal year, new open purchase orders should be requested.

There are two workflows used commonly throughout the college for requisition purchase orders. The first workflow is for general goods and services purchased through vendors, for example copier paper, which has a fixed quantity and price. The second workflow is used for Valencia Contractor's Agreements or recurring monthly expenses, for example art models. Below is a visual of both workflows.  Please note that an open PO should be requested at the time a Valencia Contractor's Agreement is signed. Also, if Fund 1 funds are being used, the Valencia Contractor's Agreement must be renewed each fiscal year. The Contractor's Agreements should be completed in detail with specific information on payment details, for example $15 per hour. It is strongly recommended that quotes be obtained for all purchases. This serves as written documentation from the vendor for your future purchases. If a purchase is above $5,000, a least three quotes are required. As you can see from the workflows below, both processes are very similar. Our goal is to help clarify these processes and assist all end-users in navigating these processes successfully. If you have any questions please contact Seher Awan, at extension 3379.

For General Purchases the Workflow is:

1. Department requests good or service & enters a requisition into Banner
2. Requisition sent to approval queue
3. Once approved, requisition is sent to Procurement
4. Procurement creates Purchase Order (PO)
5. PO is sent to vendor
6. Vendor delivers goods and services to Department
7. Vendor mails invoice to College
8. Accounts Payable (AP) receives invoice & sends to requestor for approval
9. Invoice is confirmed and approved by requestor
10. Invoice sent back to AP
11. AP confirms invoice and PO#
12. AP processes invoice and enters for payment
13. Check is cut and mailed to vendor on Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday

For Contractor Agreements & Monthly Recurring Expenses the Workflow is:

1. Department completes a Contractor's Agreement for a vendor for the fiscal year
2. Department creates requisition in Banner for the entire fiscal year (If recurring bill, create requisition on July 1)
3. Requisition sent to approval queue
4. Once approved, requisition is sent to Procurement
5. Procurement creates Purchase Order (PO) that is open for the entire fiscal year
6. Contractors/vendors bill the department hourly, monthly, or job (invoice or timesheet)
7. Department writes PO# on invoice/timesheet and sends to Accounts Payable for processing
8. Accounts Payable (AP) receives invoice and confirms invoice/timesheet and PO#
9. AP processes invoice and enters for payment

After receiving training, you can access this information in the account code reference guide called What GL (Account) Code Do I Use. This reference guide was developed in 2005 with descriptive explanations on the different account codes. This guide was recently updated in April 2010. The document can be found on the Procurement Web Site, under Faculty & Staff FAQ's or on the Atlas page under the Finance Tab within the Procurement Channel. Please note that this is a general use of account codes and sometimes there are special accounts that only apply to Grants. If you are unsure of the account code to use with regards to a grant, please contact the Grants Accounting Office at extensions 3305 or 3335. For general questions on which account code to use, please contact the Budget Office at 3306 or 3309.

With petty cash, this is requested within each department if necessary. You must complete the Receipt of Petty Cash Form. Submit the white copy to the Accounting/Finance Department at DTC. Return the yellow copy to the Business Office and keep the pink copy. Fund one funds CANNOT be used for food purchases. Also, petty cash CANNOT be used for any purchases with sales tax. The form must be signed by a Budget Manager. You MUST provide an original receipt with the form. If you do not have a receipt, you must submit a detailed memo about why there is no receipt and provide a detailed explanation of the purchase.

NOTE: You can only use petty cash for up to a $75 purchase. If the purchase is for more than $75, a Check Request must be submitted.

A Certification of Services is used to pay for services ONLY when the contractors/vendors do not provide invoices OR if the check is needed before the event or service. All other payments should be processed with the vendor invoice or as an advance.