EFT Payments

The intent of this document is to explain the new process and procedure for EFT Payment Application.

EFT Payment Application Process

In the past, departments typically waited until an EFT arrived at the University and then "claimed" that EFT by creating a CR. A database was maintained that tracked the "unclaimed" EFT's. With the inception of the Enterprise Financial System and a Central Non-Sponsored AR Department, that process is now obsolete. As of July 1st, EFT's show up in the AR module as payments. These payments must be applied against an open invoice in order to record the cash received. Therefore, a bill must be entered into the Financial System so the EFT payment can be applied.

Departments should have their cluster billing specialist enter a bill into the Financial System when they initiate the action that triggers an EFT payment. For example, if Department A sells goods or services and the customer will be paying via EFT, Department A's cluster billing specialist should complete a bill in the Financial System to record the receivable at the time of the sale (not when the payment arrives). When the EFT arrives, Accounts Receivable Services will apply the EFT to the open invoice created by the department.

This new process will allow receivables to be tracked more effectively within the University. Also, because Accounts Receivable Services will be applying the EFT payments, departments will no longer have to watch for the payment to arrive.

Attached are the EFT's that were received in July 2008. In some instances, we were able to identify the department that the EFT belongs to, but in others we were not. Please review the list and have your cluster billing specialist create a bill for those EFT transactions that belong to your department. Once that bill has been posted to the financial system, the payment will be applied by Accounts Receivable Services.

Please note: we do not plan on sending out a list of unapplied EFT's each month. Departments should be proactive in completing bills so when the funds arrive via EFT, central AR can match the EFT payment to a bill that has already posted to AR.

EFT Payment Application Procedure

The specifics for creating a bill with an expected payment via EFT are detailed below:

1) Check to see if the customer you are expecting payment from exists in the financial system
Navigation: Customers > Customer Information > General Information

2) If the customer does not exist in the financial system, request that the customer record be added. This is done using the New Customer form available via the EFS data change forms link on One Stop.

3) Once the customer record exists in the financial system, you can enter a bill according to the procedures outlined in the Create Bills class. Here are some specific hints for bills that will be paid via EFT:

a) Use an Internal Header Note to indicate that the bill will be/has been paid via EFT. If the customer has already paid, you can indicate any information you have that will help ensure the correct payment is applied to the bill (such as the date of payment, payment reference number, etc.)

b) If you are sending/have sent an invoice to the customer via a departmental billing system, OR if the EFT has already been received by the University, be sure to select "NO PRINT" for the Invoice Form on the Header - Info 1 page. Then a paper invoice won't be automatically printed and mailed to the customer. But the transaction will be recorded in the financial system and allow the EFT payment to be applied.

c) Enter the chartstring for the credit side of the transaction (the debit is automatically recorded to the central AR GL account). The credit is most often either a revenue account, or if the payment is related to an open receivable on a departmental AR system, that department's AR account. Note: Payments related to the student financial system may follow a different process, please contact Accounts Receivable Services for specific instructions.

d) There shouldn't be any need to call or e-mail to get the "Bank Date" as you have in the past. (This applies only for EFTs/Wires received 07/01/08 or after. Continue working with Treasury Accounting on any EFTs/Wires received 06/30/08 or before). As long as you enter the bill, Accounts Receivable Services will match up the payments with the bill in the AR module.

Some of you have already created bills in the system for those on the attached list. If that is the case, we are in the process of applying the payments so please disregard this notice.

Thank you all for your continued patience as we work through this new process. Please contact the Financial Helpline (phone: 612-624-1617 or e-mail finsys@umn.edu) if you have questions.

 

View the Addenda to this Process and Procedure.