When your school district makes a purchase, SchoolInsight Financials can help you track every step of the process, from creation of a PO request to tracking shipment and issuing payment.
After you have set up the accounts payable system, the process usually proceeds as follows, although steps 1-3, pertaining to POs and tracked shipments, may not be used by some districts.
- Create a PO request and have it approved
- Issue the PO and send it to the vendor
- Record receipt of shipments
- Enter invoice
- Enter payment
- Print checks, if applicable
Setup
At the beginning of the fiscal year, the bookkeeper should go through the following steps under the Financials Main > Accounts Payable > Setup section.
- Create an approval process to define the chain of users who will approve every PO
- Create payment terms, which appear on invoices to define the payment speed and discounts
- Set defaults to save time by auto-populating certain information on each PO
Create POs
Purchase orders may be entered directly into SchoolInsight Financials Main > Accounts Payable > Purchase Orders > Create.
If enabled, purchase orders may also be entered by employees on the Employee-Self Service Portal > My Purchase Orders > Create.
After a purchase order is submitted, it is sent to the first person in the PO approval process chain, who will either approve it, reject it, or return it to draft status with a note for the requester. Once the final person in the approval chain has approved the PO, it can be issued.
Financials Users with “Modify Purchase Orders” permission can bypass the approval process by editing the PO to change the status.
Issue POs
Financials Main > Accounts Payable > Purchase Orders > Purchase Orders > Issue POs
After approval, use the Issue POs page to send the order to the vendor. Check the POs that you want to issue, and decide whether each PO should be emailed to the vendor and/or printed out. If an email is sent to the vendor, a copy is also sent to the user who issues the PO and to the center contact.
You may also edit a PO and change the status to Issued if the PO was sent outside of SchoolInsight Financials.
Receive Shipments
Financials Main > Accounts Payable > Receive Shipments
After a PO has been issued, users can use the Receive Shipments page to indicate when a purchase has arrived. Every issued PO defaults to the status Not Received. Click Create next to the PO to adjust shipment status.
You can keep track of partial shipments by entering only the quantity that has arrived so far. If any of the ordered items is rejected (e.g. if an item arrives damaged), you can record that too.
Once the Quantity Received (minus Quantity Rejected) matches the Quantity Ordered, the Shipment Status will change to Fully Received. You can also attach photos of the inventory, a packing slip, etc.
Vendor Invoices
Financials Main > Accounts Payable > Vendor Invoices
Whenever an invoice is received from a vendor, it must be recorded on the Vendor Invoices page before you can make the payment.
When you click Create Invoice, you will have the option to link the invoice to an issued PO, although this is not mandatory. When a PO is selected, data will automatically be copied over to the invoice. If you don’t select a PO, you can just fill in the needed information.
The Liability Account must be selected to indicate which fund should be credited when the invoice is moved out of draft status and debited when the payment is made.
Payments
Financials Main > Accounts Payable > Payments
Payments can be recorded in TeacherEase via check, credit card, or ACH transfer. Before you can make a payment through TeacherEase, your district must set up the financial institution accounts from which money is drawn.
To record the payment, click Create Payment. There, you can select the payment type and financial institution, set the status, and choose which invoices are being paid. If multiple invoices have been issued by the same vendor, you can select more than one to pay in one transaction.
Payments by credit card and ACH are processed outside of SchoolInsight Financials, so there are no further steps required after the payment has been marked as Paid.
Payments by check can be printed from SchoolInsight Financials, at which point the status will change to Paid, so they can be sent to the vendor.
Print Checks
Financials Main > Accounts Payable > Check Runs
Financials Main > Accounts Payable > Payments
When making a payment by check, you can generate a PDF and print the check on your own check stock. Then mail it or hand it over to the vendor, who will be able to deposit it directly into their own bank account. The status of a payment changes from Approved to Paid as soon as you print the check.
Checks can be printed in two ways:
- On the Check Runs page, print multiple checks at once. This is useful when bringing a number of checks to be signed off by the board.
- On the Payments page, print one check at a time by clicking the down arrow next to an Approved payment and selecting Print Check. This can be used in ad hoc situations when you need a check more quickly.
Before printing, make sure you have associated the financial institution account with the correct check type (i.e. the check stock layout, so the data prints into the right fields on the paper) at Financials Main > Setup > Financial Institution Accounts > Edit. We support two formats for printable checks:
- Quickbooks Voucher Checks (check on top, no lines)
- STI Checks (check on bottom)