Mission Statement

The mission of the Non Salary Disbursement (NSD) Section of the Comptroller's Office is twofold: to audit and process all non-Purchase Order related payment requests in an accurate and timely manner in compliance with University policies, Federal & State regulations, and grant and contract agreements; to monitor the flow of information into and out of the Accounts Payable  System and ensure the overall integrity of all non salary payments.

NSD is a service-oriented department whose goal is to assist academic and administrative departments to expedite payments, answer inquiries and resolve problems.

Non-Salary Disbursements (NSD)
An Overview

As of January 1997, NSD transferred the responsibility for reviewing and paying all University Purchase Order (PO) related vendor invoices to Central Procurement Services (CPS).  This  transfer of the PO related payment function, while maintaining control over other types of 'specialty' payments, lead to the name change from Accounts Payable to Non Salary Disbursements.   For the calendar year ended December 31, 1998 over 350,000 documents were processed, resulting in the production of 173,982 computer-generated checks and 880 manual checks.

NSD is divided into two main functional areas: Payment Processing and Post Processing.

Payment Processing Section

A high priority is assigned to this section because the majority of DPV requests are for items that have a time constraint, such as conference registrations, refunds, tax remittances, etc.  This  section is primarily responsible for the following payment processing functions:

		Audit Direct Payment Vouchers to ensure that:
		The request for payment conforms to University Policy  The request conforms with Federal and State regulations  The request has been properly authorized by a department head or designee Each DPV payment request over $1,000 is reviewed for appropriate signature authorization numbers.
		Audit Petty Cash and University Transportation payment vouchers.   Each document is reviewed for accuracy and completeness, assigned a sequential control number, and prepared for data entry.
		Audit Auxiliary Vouchers. Each transaction is audited to ensure that backup documentation agrees with payment requests, scanned for completeness, assigned a control  number and forwarded to the Data Entry Section of the Comptroller's Office.
		Process Manual Checks. Manual checks are generated for emergency disbursements and all transactions over $249,999.  Registers must be updated and transactions entered into the system.
		Prepare Foreign Drafts.  The vendor, Ruesch, is faxed a list of transactions.  When the payments are returned via Federal Express, they are reviewed for correctness, the registers are updated and the transactions entered into the system.  There were 612 foreign draft payments processed in 1998.
		Process Wire Transfers.  Approved DPVs are received from Cash Management and audited for completeness.  'Dummy' check numbers are assigned, documents are batched and entered into the system.

Post Processing Section

The Post Processing Section monitors the AP system dollar control totals and makes all necessary corrections to ensure the overall integrity of information within the system, as well as reviews daily control reports and audit transactions done by direct-entry  departments.  In addition, this section is responsible for the retention of disbursement documents.

Functional responsibilities are to:  

		Monitor the flow of information into and out of the Accounts Payable System to maintain data integrity of the file, which include:
		Reviewing all diagnostic reports Verifying control totals on all balancing reports to ensure that all information has been processed and all related files have been properly updated Comparing all source documents against the information that was accepted into the system Correcting all input errors Correcting all error transactions from Financial Accounting System (FAS) suspense accounts Distributing output reports to appropriate recipients Reconciling check cancellation and duplicate payment control accounts
		Post-process AP checks.  Each check is reviewed to:
		Verify print quality Verify system assigned check number to ensure that the system generated number is identical to the pre-printed check number Attach enclosures (conference registration forms, remittance advises, etc.) to the proper check for distribution by the Bursar
		Control the flow of documents and reports to and from the University Computing Organization, Auxiliary Departments, and various other University departments that enter data directly into the Accounts Payable System.
		Verify the authenticity of Accounts Payable Vendors.
		Monitor LBC payment transactions and make corrections as needed.
		Retain, store, and track all Non Salary Disbursement documents that are generated by the University. This amounts to approximately 200 file boxes each year, representing over 200,000 documents.   Each year, the external auditors, University departments, and outside vendors make hundreds of requests for copies of original documents.  Documents must be easily accessible, and well maintained.