Financial Policy and Procedures

Accounts Payable
All departments are responsible for establishing and approving their invoices for payment, while
the Business Office disburses payments.
The department ordering the service or product is responsible for making invoices.

The individual ordering the item is responsible for validating the

invoice accuracy as the ordered items are received.

The individual approving invoices has implied approval for $500. (The amount is
scheduled to be raised to $1,000 in the future.) Invoice amounts greater than the implied
approval amount require higher level approvals. This secondary approval security feature
is not fixed. A department may tighten or loosen this security feature based on its own
needs. The department is responsible for understanding and applying this range of
approval options. For example, if the secretary has been given the ability to input
invoices or PO's and management has not established themselves in the approval chain
above the secretary, the department has, in essence, delegated full approval authority to
the secretary.

Accounts Receivable
Accounts receivable are processed on the Banner Student Information System (SIS). The
Cashiers Office bill and records all payments made on accounts, which reduce the affected
outstanding accounts receivable balance.

The Business Office has the responsibility for collecting on accounts receivable. Should
the accounts receivable be uncollectible,

The bad debt will be charged back to the department which established the accounts
receivable.

Oregon Tech normally establishes accounts receivable for tuition, room, board, and other
student charges. Departments with a large billing volume (i.e. Bookstore, Student Health
Service, Library, and Recreation Fitness) enter their charges directly into SIS. The
Business Office performs this billing function for the remaining departments.

Tuition and fees are due when registering, and generally must be paid by the end of the
first week of each term. If this is not done, a payment plan (revolving charge) is available

if at least one-third of the amount due is paid. Under this option interest and service
charges are incurred.

Accounts receivable is closely linked to cash receipts; refer to Cash Receipts for
additional information.

Cash Receipts
The Business Office is responsible for the receipt and timely collection of money owed to the
Company. The following criteria should be adhered to when processing cash receipts.

Cash receipts (including cash and checks) must be deposited within 24 hours.

The overnight retention of receipts within the department is strongly discouraged. Timely
and accurate deposits reduce the risk of losing or misplacing receipts, maximizes interest
earnings and creates a clear audit trail.

All gifts, grants and other receipts should be made payable to the company and be
transmitted to the Business Office. Do not accept receipts containing restrictive language
before you contact the Business Office.

Logs and records of cash receipts, gifts and revenue should be maintained and be
compared to the FIS accounting system by an individual not responsible for the cash
receipting process.

Petty cash funds are generally discouraged. In their place, procurement cards are
encouraged and may be obtained by contacting the Business Office. Should petty cash
funds be required, they may be requested from the Director of Business Affairs.

Permanent or temporary change funds may be requested from the Business Office.

Payroll
The Payroll office has the responsibilty to ensure that Oregon Tech employees are promptly and
accurately paid. Payroll disbursements represent the single largest expense category at Oregon
Tech. Therefore, administrators must remain vigilant about payroll issues.
Payday is the last working day of the month. Employees are strongly encouraged to request that
their paychecks be electronically deposited to bank (direct deposit). Salary advances are
permitted in emergency situations only.
Administrators play a key role in the payroll process. This role includes:

Ensuring that new employees are promptly and accurately entered into the payroll system

Verifying that employees are paid at the correct rate

Ensuring that terminated employees are promptly removed from the active payroll system

Purchasing
Our purchasing policy is to obtain all services, supplies, materials and equipment at the lowest
cost consistent with those standards of quality, performance, service, and availablility which will
best meet Oregon Tech's needs. In addition, it is the intent of this policy to promote competitive
purchasing practices to keep costs at a minimum and to give interested vendors an equal
opportunity to supply goods and services.
Please refer to the Oregon Tech Purchasing at a Glance Guide for procurement threshholds, link
below.

Travel
We reimburse employees for expenses while traveling on official work.
Travel expenses will be reimbursed provided the trip is approved in advance by CEO.

Transportation expenses incurred while traveling on official business may be reimbursed. The
transportation expense will only be reimbursed if the receipts of the expense are provided.
Personal expenses, such as private vehicle repair and maintenance, may not. The following
expenses may be reimbursed or paid directly:

Private-vehicle mileage allowance

Common carrier fare

Necessary fees for a taxi, shuttle service, or rental vehicle

Parking and garage fees

Meal expense will not be provided.

Month and Year End Cutoffs

To ensure the timely processing of transactions and to facilitate the timely preparation and
distribution of financial and management reports, it is necessary to specify dates by which
payment documents and journal entries must be processed if they are to be included in the
current period's report.

Purchases
o May 15 is the last day to prepare purchase orders for the current year. If the goods
bought are to be received by June 30, the end of the fiscal year, a current year
Purchase Order must be used. If goods are to be received July 1 or after, and it is
after June 15, use the next fiscal year on the Purchase Order.
o If the goods ordered on purchase orders cut on current fiscal year funds, are not
received by the end of the fiscal year, the purchase order needs to be closed out
and a new purchase order generated on the next fiscal years funds.
Payment Transactions

o Direct Pay requests and invoices related to purchase orders will be included in the
previous month's balances if they are received and processed by the fifth of the
next month.
Cash Receipts

o Cash receipts should be in the Cashiers Office by noon on the last day of the
month to ensure that they will be included in the current month financial activity.
Journal Entries

o Journal entries or requests for journal entries which adjust balances for the
previous month must be received in the Business Office by the 5th day of the
month if they are to be included in the previous month's processing.
o Journal entries or requests for journal entries adjusting balances at month end
must be received in the Business Office by the 5th of next month.