Sales Invoice and Credit Note Process

1. Sales Invoice Process

These process notes cover the process and approval for all sales invoices except that relating to student fees. 

All invoices must be raised in compliance with SGUL’s general invoicing advice detailed in the Financial Regulations.

Customers should be set-up before any work is undertaken in order that appropriate checks can be undertaken to protect SGUL for financial and reputational risk. 

2. Requesting a sales invoice be raised

A sales invoice request form (found here) should be completed and sent, with any supporting documentation to accountsreceivable. The form should be completed online and not handwritten.  This request will be actioned by the Accounts Receivable Team within 5 working days of receiving a correctly completed form.  If the form does not include all the necessary information or is not filled out correctly it will be returned to the person who requested it.

The form should contain the following information

1. Department name and contact details

2. Agresso customer number.  This customer number can be found in the financial system under ‘customers and sales’ where a search function is available using the customer name. 

3. Company name, address and contact details

4. Customer purchase order number if required.  This is good practice and should always be requested before undertaking any work. 

5. Description of goods/services being invoiced for, value and VAT if appropriate).  If you are unsure of the VAT status please go to the sales guidelines VAT checklist (link) and if further queries remain contact Accounts Receivable.

6. Sub project code and account code.   The account code should be picked from the dropdown menu on the request form.  If there is not a suitable code, you should contact your finance contact. 

3. Accounts Receivable

On receiving a correctly completed sales invoice request form, Accounts Receivable will check the following:

1. Customer number and name align

2. All the details are correctly provided and match those in Agresso i.e. trading name, address, company registration number, VAT number – updating with relevant details if necessary

3. Supporting document is attached and aligns with information provided on form

4. The invoice request has been approved by the relevant authorised department staff member

5. VAT is correctly attributed to the invoice and is appropriately linked with the income source

6. The account code and sub project codes correctly reflect the income source

All requests will be stored electronically on the Finance shared drive along with any supporting documentation.  If a form is incomplete it should be queried and returned to the requestor. 

Once the invoice has been raised on Agresso, it will be approved by either the Deputy Director of Finance or the Finance Director.

4. Credit Notes

Credit notes can be raised by sending a completed credit note request form to accountsreceivable. They will be matched against the original invoice and credited to the same sub project and account code. 

A full and detailed description of the circumstances requiring a credit note must be included and supporting documentation provided for Accounts Receivable to validate.  At a minimum the credit note should include

1. Original invoice number

2. department name and contact

3. Rationale for the credit note

4. Value

5. Appropriate authorisation.

All credit notes will be authorised by either the Deputy Director of Finance or the Director of Finance once it has been raised on Agresso. 

Credit balances on accounts are reviewed quarterly.

5. Communication

All sales invoices and credit notes are available for review on Agresso.  Hard copies will not be printed out and saved.  Do we tell the department when we have done it?

The sales invoice or credit note will be sent to the customer, by email where possible.