FAQs

Can a customer pay his/her bill in person?
Does Central Accounts Receivable accept credit card payments?
What happens when I make a duplicate payment against my account? Will I receive a refund?
I received an invoice/statement billing me personally for charges that should be paid by my department, what should I do?
If I have trouble entering transactions (invoices, credit memos) to whom should I call?
If I complete an invoice transaction on Monday, when will my customer’s invoice be printed and mailed?
Is there a minimum billing amount required to process an invoice?
When should a local unit start to collect on an invoice?
How can I help my customer understand the invoice or statement they received?
I can’t complete my invoice/credit memo. What should I do?
I have received several emails asking me to complete or delete my “incomplete” invoices. What are incomplete invoices and is there a way I can query for them on my own?
What should I do if I receive and deposit a check through cash receipts for an invoice processed through Central AR?
How do I know if a payment has been received after an invoice is written off to bad debt?
What do I do if I keep getting error messages when I’m trying to enter an invoice or credit memo?
How do I change or setup new default coding for my transaction type?
If invoices are printed and mailed out from Holyoke Center, how can I attach backup documents to my invoice that my customer needs in order to make payment?
On my detail listing, the journal category listed is ‘miscellaneous receipts”, do I call Central AR to get information about this transaction?
How do I search for customers in the Central AR database? Can I do a query on an address line or contact name?
Where can I access information about Central AR training courses?
How long do I need to keep the supporting documentation regarding the invoice billed by my unit?
When are invoices charged back to bad debt expense?

1. Can a customer pay his/her bill in person?

Yes, customers can make payments in the Accounts Receivable office at 1033 Massachusetts Avenue, 2nd Floor; cash or check payments may be made during normal operating hours.

Back to Top ^

2. Does Central Accounts Receivable accept credit card payments?

At this time, Central Accounts Receivable does not accept credit cards. However, customers should contact the local billing unit to determine if they accept payment by credit card. Local units accepting a credit card as payment, also need to enter a credit (in Oracle AR) against the applicable charge(s).

Back to Top ^

3. What happens if my customer makes a duplicate payment against their account? Will he/she receive a refund?

When a customer makes a duplicate payment, it is placed “On Account”(an Oracle term) indicating the amount is due to the customer. The credit is available for the customer to use against future invoices or to apply to the net balance reflected on their monthly statement.

An AR cash applicator reviews the customer’s account each month to determine if the “on account “ credit has been or may be used against current charges. If, at the end of three months, the credit has not been applied to any charges, the amount will be refunded or held for another thirty days. The decision whether to hold for an additional amount of time is made by the applicator and is dependent upon the likelihood of new charges being incurred. The cash applicator determines this likelihood by reviewing historical account activity. Note that this policy applies only to individual accounts. If a corporate account issues a duplicate or erroneous payment, AR will refund it immediately.

Back to Top ^

4. I received an invoice/statement billing me personally for charges that should be paid by my department, what should I do?

You may have an authorized signer (for the account to be charged) sign the invoice or statement requesting us to charge the account. Please write down the 33 digit account number to be charged and return the invoice/statement via university mail. You may also fax the request to (617) 496-5632. Please remember to include a legible signature and a contact telephone number so that Central AR may contact you for further information if needed. Remember that the authorized signer cannot be the individual incurring the charge.

Back to Top ^

5. If I have trouble entering transactions (invoices, credit memos) to whom should I call?

You should contact the UIS helpdesk directly at 496-2001 and tell them that you are having trouble with an Accounts Receivable transaction. By contacting the helpdesk rather than staff in Central AR, you will help us track the numbers and types of calls received thereby helping us identify common user problems.

Back to Top ^

6. If I complete an invoice transaction on Monday, when will my customer’s invoice be printed and mailed?

Accounts Receivable prints completed invoices each Wednesday morning at 9:00am. Therefore, in your case, your invoice would be printed and mailed on Wednesday. All completed transactions are posted to the General Ledger at approximately 6 p.m. each business day.

Back to Top ^

7. Is there a minimum billing amount required to process an invoice?

No, there is no set minimum. However, please keep in mind that it costs the University over $10.00 to create and mail an invoice. Local billing units should assess the return on investment when invoicing customers for small dollar amounts.

Back to Top ^

8. When should a local unit start to collect on an invoice?

Payment terms are net 30 days. Once an invoice is 31 days old, local units may contact their customers regarding payment status. Staff performing collections on behalf of their local unit, should be assigned the collection responsibility in Oracle, which will enable them to record calls made. When an account is 61 days old, local units may want to check in Oracle AR to see if an AR collector has not been assigned to the account to make sure that there is no duplication in effort and that state and federal collections laws are followed. There are also several AR reports available in CREW that provide the AR collector name if one has been assigned. In order to be assigned a collection responsibility, the staff member will need to attend the appropriate training as outlined in the Local Unit Handbook.

Back to Top ^

9. How can I help my customer understand the invoice or statement they received?

Invoice and Statement examples are available in ABLE. You may also download the Local Unit Handbook, which describes in more detail, the different information provided on both documents. Local billing units also have the ability to reprint invoices locally.

Back to Top ^

10. I can’t complete my invoice/credit memo. What should I do?

Initially, you may want to consult the original materials you received during training. The next step would be to consult ABLE to see if you can find a solution. Your next step would be to call the helpdesk at 496-2001.

Back to Top ^

11. I have received several emails asking me to complete or delete my “incomplete” invoices. What are incomplete invoices and is there a way I can query for them on my own?

When you finish entering an invoice or credit memo, you must click on a button in the lower left hand corner of the transactions form. The system will check that all the required information has been entered and that the transaction is in balance. The button name will then change to Incomplete and a check will appear in a box in the upper right hand corner of the screen.

If you fail to click on the Complete button, your invoice/credit memo will not be processed nor posted to the GL.

Local Billing units should be checking prior to month end for invoices or credit memos that may be “incomplete” by:

Go into Transactions, then choose Transactions Summary

Click on flashlight icon in toolbar, this will bring up the Find Transactions form.

From the pick list in Transaction Type choose your transaction type( HCL-WIDENER) - ( HCL-WIDENER CR). This will find both incomplete credits and invoices for your transaction type.

Click on MORE tab.

Click on Complete. A Yes or No will appear-choose NO

Click on FIND

Back to Top ^

12. What should I do if I receive and deposit a check through the Cash Receipts office for an invoice processed through Central AR?

You will need to create a credit memo in Oracle Receivables against the invoice choosing ‘Deposit in Cash Mgmt’ as the reason code. Payments made on invoices created in Oracle AR should not be deposited on a credit voucher through the Cash Receipts office. Checks should be delivered to out Holyoke address or sent directly to our Bank of America lockbox address.

Back to Top ^

13. How do I know if a payment has been received after an invoice is written off to bad debt?

Central AR has developed a “recovery” report so that local units can track their recoveries. In the event that a payment is received for an invoice(s) previously written off to bad debt, Central AR creates a debit memo (essentially replacing the original invoice) and then applies the receipt against this debit memo. The debit memo number that is created is the original invoice number followed by the letter “R”. This will appear in your detail listings as the reference number for a recovery.

Back to Top ^

14. What do I do if I keep getting error messages when I am trying to enter an invoice or credit memo?

You can consult the AR section in ABLE or call the helpdesk at 496-2001 for assistance.

Back to Top ^

15. How do I change or setup new default coding for my transaction type?

You can complete the Transaction Type Setup and Maintenance form and email to AR_setup@harvard.edu.

Back to Top ^

16. If invoices are printed and mailed out from Holyoke Center, how can I attach backup documents to my invoice that my customer needs in order to make payment?

Invoices requiring additional backup are marked as such by the local unit during invoice entry. When the invoices are printed in Central AR, the print program separates those requiring attachments and they are mailed back to the local unit via university mail. Local units should provide Central AR with the name and office address of the person responsible for receiving. You may email this information to AR_invoices@harvard.edu. The local unit attaches the required backup and mails directly to the customer. Since the attachment process causes a small delay in mailing, the local unit should consider eliminating the need for an attachment by using all 240 characters available in the “Invoice Line Description” to provide any additional identifying information necessary for the payer. On-line invoice entry forms also have a “Special Instructions” section to reference additional information. “Special instructions” appear on the invoice mailed to your customer. For instructions, see ‘creating a manual invoice’ in ABLE.

Back to Top ^

17. On my detail listing, the journal category listed is ‘miscellaneous receipts”, do I call Central AR to get information about this transaction?

No. You will need to contact the Cash Receipts Office.

Back to Top ^

18. How do I search for customers in the Central AR database? Can I do a query on an address line or contact name?

Yes, you can perform a query on the name of the customer, a portion of their address information, and also by a contact name associated with the customer account. Detailed information on how to query and view customer details may be found in ABLE.

Back to Top ^

19. Where can I access information about Central AR training courses?

Click here: Central AR training.

Back to Top ^

20. How long do I need to keep the supporting documentation regarding the invoice billed by my unit?

Local units should consult with the Records Managment office regarding their financial record keeping policies.

Back to Top ^

21. When are invoices charged back to bad debt expense ?

The bad debt write-off policy will affect unpaid invoices once they become 270 days old. In Short, invoices become eligible for bad debt write-off 9 months from the original invoice date. Therefore, to ensure that your invoices are not written off to bad debt expense, local units should be reviewing the status of their accounts on a regular basis. If prior to the write off, a local unit believes that an invoice will be collect in the near future, the local unit may request than an invoice remain open for an additional thirty days. These requests must be submitted to and approved by the Central AR office. The request forms are available on ABLE. Under no circumstances should local billing units re-bill an invoice previously charged to bad debt.

Back to Top ^