December 5th 2008

Introduction of Joe Labetti, Executive Director for Accounts Payable Operations

I am very pleased to announce that Joe Labetti started this week as the new Executive Director for AP Operations.  Joe comes to Columbia from the New York Mercantile Exchange, where he was Director of Operational Internal Auditing and prior to that Director of Financial Operations, where he was responsible for managing the Accounts Payable operation for the Exchange.  He brings extensive experience and skills in accounts payable operations, compliance, and financial management.  I want to thank Rich Mead, who has been serving as the Interim Director for Accounts Payable, for his terrific leadership and for his significant role in the improvements that have been achieved and sustained in AP.  Joe can be reached at JLabetti@columbia.edu and (212) 851-9701. Please join me in welcoming Joe to the University. 

Holiday Season Reminders

As we enter the holiday season, I share with you a couple of reminders:

Vendors sometimes seek to express their appreciation for the University's business, especially during the holiday season.  To avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest, and to demonstrate our commitment to the highest standards of conduct in relation to all vendors and potential vendors, employees of the University should not accept gifts of any kind from vendors.  Vendors can best convey their appreciation by continuing to provide high-quality goods and excellent, reliable services at the best possible prices.

Schools and departments at the University sometimes seek to express their appreciation to AP and Purchasing at the holiday season with gifts such as a box of cookies or chocolate or other types of gift baskets.    It is your appreciation that we value and that is best conveyed in a note, card or email, instead of a gift.  We truly appreciate such communications and will ensure that they are shared with the entire staff.

We thank you for your assistance and support and wish you a joyous holiday season.

Sincerely,

Joe Harney, Vice President for Procurement Services

 and the Procurement Services Team

June 2nd 2008

Leadership Transition in Accounts Payable

It is with mixed emotions that I announce that Jackie Erickson has decided to move on from her role as Director of Accounts Payable.  Although we’re sad to see Jackie leave the Accounts Payable team, we are extremely grateful for all of her contributions and happy to announce that she will be remaining with the University and taking on new challenges in the Finance division in her new role as Director of Endowment Compliance. 

While we conduct a search for a new Director of Accounts Payable, Rich Mead, Project Director within the Finance team, will be stepping in as Interim Director to manage the area.  In addition to his experience at Columbia as Director of Payroll, Rich also has a number of years of Accounts Payable experience from pre-Columbia roles. He and Jackie are working closely together to ensure a smooth transition of responsibilities. Rich will fully take over his Interim Director of AP role (and Jackie will move into the Director of Endowment Compliance role) effective July 1. 

New AP Service Center Manager

I’m thrilled to report that Ellen Fleming started recently as the new Manager of the AP Service Center.  Ellen brings a wealth of call center experience to Columbia from years of managing call centers for British Airways.  I will have more updates to share about the Service Center—and will give a fuller introduction to Ellen—in subsequent communications.

Electronic Document Management & AP Processing Update

As I hope you have all experienced, over the last several months the AP team has made great strides in reducing processing backlogs and achieving improved voucher processing times that are in line with the processing times that preceded the onset of the backlog.  We continue to work to find ways to bring those processing times down even further.  If you are concerned about the status of a voucher, once it has been submitted to AP along with the supporting paperwork, please contact the AP Service Center at apservice@columbia.edu so we can investigate.  We are reaching out to departments that have vouchers more than 20 days old in AP/CAR to obtain necessary paperwork and/or resolve any issues that are preventing final approval and payment.

One area we continue to work on is the functionality of the various fax lines coming in to Accounts Payable.  If you are experiencing problems with a particular fax line, please contact Deborah Bryant at db2297@columbia.edu and she will assist you to ensure receipt of the documents. We apologize for this difficulty and appreciate your assistance as we resolve this issue.

Reminder of key deadlines for Year End Close

The year-end close process is underway and there are a number of key dates for Purchasing, P-Card, and AP that can be found in the closing memo of April 21. The memo is also available on the web at the following URL:  http://www.finance.columbia.edu/controller/resources/FY08YEClosingGuidance.doc

Please review the memo and check with your school or department to see if they have earlier deadlines in place for any item.  If you have any questions on Accounts Payable items please direct them to the AP Service Center at 854-2122 or  apservice@columbia.edu. For Purchasing questions, please email purchasing@columbia.edu

Our thanks and best wishes to everyone.

Joe Harney, Vice President for Procurement Services

and the entire Procurement Services Team

February 22nd 2008

Hello,

As a form of internal control, Accounts Payable reviews vouchers that have already been processed to assure ourselves of the accuracy and completeness of the University’s internal review cycle. We call this work a “post-audit.”  Issues that we look for in a post-audit include accurate vendor name and address, invoice number, and dollar amount. If we do find an error after the payment is processed, we must remedy it just as we would if the error had been found prior to processing.  We are writing to inform you of a process we have developed for communicating to you if we find a post-audit issue in your area that requires a correction.

 Here is how the post audit issue resolution process will work:

• AP will be utilizing a “Post Audit Issue” form created by OnBase, our electronic document system, to document the issue, similar to the “Hold” messages you are accustomed to in APCAR in the pre-audit process.
• This form will be emailed to the departmental processor, copying the DAF, with the voucher number in the subject line, as an attachment to the email.
• Upon opening the form, please review the “Description of Post Audit Issue” box – this will provide the direction you will need to resolve the finding.  Your response can be emailed back to the AP auditor who sent the message to provide the audit trail.

You may begin seeing these at any point after today Friday, February 22, 2008.  Please note that you are still required to address any issues noted, just as you are in the pre-audit process. Your continuing attention to detail when entering data in APCAR can help us reduce our error rate, however, we do not anticipate significant post-audit issues given the rigor that is currently applied. 

As always, we welcome your questions and feedback – please email Jackie Erickson, Director AP, at je2015@columbia.edu.  We continue to appreciate your patience and partnership.

Best,

The Accounts Payable Team

January 16th 2008

To the AP community,

We appreciate and understand the severe frustrations with the payment and response time from Accounts Payable.  We want to directly address your most common concerns.

How long is it taking to get a voucher paid?

Invoice payments are taking an average of 6 weeks to be paid from the time that Accounts Payable receives the paperwork. 

Travel and Business Expense payments are taking an average of 2 weeks to be paid from the time that Accounts Payable receives the paperwork.

This is clearly an unacceptable turnaround time for us, for you and for your vendors.

What created the backlog?

This was created by a combination of factors including:

• The transition to the new EDM system
• Customary peak volume from October – December
• Even with AP staff working every day the University is open, overtime and   Saturdays, a loss of some processing days with the office move and holidays 

What are we doing to correct this?

Our staff is hard at work to process your payment vouchers.  We are working on solutions to not only work down the backlog, but also to pave the way for improved process in the future.  This includes:

• Reducing time to audit vouchers.  Solutions include faster computers, changes to AP/CAR and EDM to speed the searching, audit and review functions  for AP staff
• Revised work flows to improve processing time while maintaining appropriate review
• Focusing on payments that have been in the system longest
• Adding more temporary staff along with ongoing overtime and Saturday shifts.

We are working as quickly as possible, but we estimate that it will take us at least 4 weeks to reduce the turnaround time to an acceptable level.

What if it is critical to make a payment?

Please submit a rush request to Accounts Payable (http://www.finance.columbia.edu/forms/form_rush.html). We ask that you review rush requests and submit those that are absolute emergencies.  Rushes have been taking the entire day for the staff to audit.  In order to prevent our operation from only auditing on a rush basis, we must limit the rushes to critical payments to allow the team to work down the backlog.

We truly do apologize for the current delays and we appreciate your support and patience as we remedy this situation.

Best,

Jackie Erickson, Director, AP

Katherine Buchan, Acting Director, AP