Tompkins County Administrative Policy Manual

ACCOUNTS PAYABLE SYSTEM

Effective: January 12, 1981 06-01

Most Recent Revision: May 15, 1990

Objective: To establish a uniform County-wide purchasing procedure capable of providing budgetary controls while at the same time retaining a maximum of operational flexibility in the various departments.

Reference: County Finance Office

Policy of the Board of Representatives:

1. Departments requiring to purchase equipment, supplies or services costing in excess of $250 (.52000. .53000 and .54000 account items), with the exception of office supplies (see Policy 06-03) and services covered by program contracts (see Policy 01-10) must complete and send to the Division of Purchasing a Requisition Form.

2. The Division of Purchasing will select the vendor or bid the item or service (see Policy 06-07 ). When the vendor and price have been determined, the Division of Purchasing will initiate the purchase order and distribute as follows:

Copy 1- Vendor Copy - Mailed or delivered to the vendor and retained by the vendor.

Copy 2- Purchasing Copy - Retained by the Purchasing Department.

Copy 3- Comptroller Copy - Retained by Comptroller’s Office.

Copy 4- Department Copy - Retained by user department.

Copy 5- Receiving Copy - Returned to department to be used as a voucher to pay after goods or services are received.

3. If necessary funds are not available in the department budget, the Finance Office will so inform the department, and the procurement process is discontinued until a transfer, budget adjustment or appropriation supplies the necessary funds (see Policy 05-02).

4. Upon receipt of ordered merchandise, the user department must take the receiving copy of each purchase order from its file and verify that the items and quantities being billed by the vendor have in fact been received. The bottom of the receiving copy should be filled in at this point and forwarded to the Finance Office with an original invoice attached.

5. If the items claimed on an invoice have not been received, the receiving copy would be held by the user department until those items were received. Any discrepancy between the quantity claimed and the quantity received and accepted should be resolved by the user department with the vendor prior to forwarding the receiving copy to the Finance Office.

6. Where an order is filled partially and subsequent shipments are required to complete the order, an unnumbered voucher is used and the original purchase order number must be inserted in the space provided. The processing of partial orders is the same as that of original orders.

7. Small purchases of $250 or under may be made by departments without advance authorization by the Division of Purchasing. After goods are received, the invoice or sales receipt must be attached to a completed single sheet voucher and forwarded to the Finance Office for approval. If purchase is approved, a check will be issued by the Finance Office.

8. Single sheet vouchers for equipment, materials, supplies and contractual services are to be used for processing payments only when one of the following conditions applies:

a. Purchases $250 or less;

b. Payment is being made from a blanket purchase order already set up; or

c. Payment is being made on an approved contract or maintenance agreement.

Single sheet vouchers for payments not listed above that are received in the Finance Office will be sent to the Division of Purchasing for approval prior to payment being made. Any exceptions will be worked out between the department and Division of Purchasing on a case-by-case basis.