University of Minnesota  Procedure

Making Payments Using Single Payment Supplier Numbers

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Establishing a permanent supplier record on the Enterprise Financial System (EFS) supplier file ensures accurate information for tax reporting and management purposes. However, there are occasions where it may not be practical to set up a permanent supplier record, e.g., one-time payments.  

The use of the Single Payment Supplier (SPV) number(s) may be used in specific, non-frequent instances but is restricted to the items listed in Single Payment Supplier - Activity Types Allowed grid.

Clusters are assigned a unique SPV number that may be used only by authorized users (Voucher Specialists) in each Cluster. It is the responsibility of the Cluster Director and Voucher Specialist to ensure the proper use of the SPV, that adequate control is in place and the SPV activity is closely monitored.

  • SPVs are not allowed when payment will be issued to:
    • University Employees (except for human participant payments when the prepaid debit card is not feasible)
    • University students (except for human participant payments; prizes or miscellaneous business expense reimbursements less than $100.00).
      • Supplier code SPVSTUDENT must be used for prizes and reimbursements
    • Suppliers who are set up in EFS
    • Purchase order or contract is required per University policy
    • Professional Service Providers (except as indicated on the SPV grid)
    • Payees located at foreign address, foreign national, 1042S or Military PO Boxes. A US address does not validate that the payee is not a foreign national.
    • Individuals for royalty payments
    • Capital Asset purchases
    • Family members of University employees for expense reimbursements.

Processing SPV Payments:

  1. Department personnel send prepared/completed Check Request Form (XLSX) – UM1659 or invoice to their Cluster for processing.
  2. The support documents are imaged in the Cluster.
  3. Voucher Specialists review:
    1. payment documentation,
    2. payee support information, and
    3. justification for the use of SPV payment method and
      1. determines the supplier is not setup in EFS by: searching the EFS supplier file for the payee by:
        1. Name,
        2. Tax ID and
        3. Address.

    If the supplier is established but the address is not set up, a Supplier Authorization / Change Form UM 1679 should be completed requesting the new address.

  4. If there is not a supplier record found on the supplier file for the payee, the Voucher Specialist will check the listing for the types of payments that are allowed to be paid using the SPV, listed in Single Payment Supplier - Activity Types Allowed.
  5. The University's reimbursement policies for non-employee travel and business expenses must be followed under the parameters indicated in Single Payment Supplier - Activity Types Allowed. The University will not report these reimbursements as taxable income to the person being reimbursed.
  6. Department personnel, Voucher Specialists and Cluster Directors must ensure that expense reimbursements to suppliers using the SPV process follow the same University travel and expense reimbursement policies applicable to employees including the documentation of the business reason for the expense reimbursements.Reimbursements that do not adhere to University policy are reportable as taxable income to the supplier.
  7. If the type of payment is not allowed on the SPV, the Voucher Specialists must work with the appropriate department staff to complete the necessary forms to set up a supplier in EFS.
  8. The payment support documents must be imaged in Perceptive Content.
  9. The Voucher Specialist enters the payment information using the Single Payment Supplier Entry Standards, and links the voucher to the image.

Single Payment Supplier Entry Standards:

The following standards have been developed for entering payee information for Single Payment Suppliers. Adherence to these standards will help to ensure the integrity of the payee file. These standards take into consideration the business or individual name and are based on United States Postal Addressing Standards.

All payee information must be entered:

  • in CAPITAL LETTERS
  • Do not use punctuation in any of the fields, (no apostrophes, commas, periods, etc).
  • The payee’s full first and last name must be entered in this order in the Name 1 field with no punctuation. Ex: ROBERT JOHNSON
  • When using suite or building numbers in addresses, it must be placed on the same line as the street address without commas. Postal regulations require that the street number and address must come first, followed by the suite or building number.
  • Spell out all city names. Do not abbreviate or punctuate.
  • Always use zip codes with zip plus four digits when available. The zip code format must be xxxxx-xxxx.

Note: The comments field within the voucher is a required field for all Single Payment Supplier vouchers explaining the expenditure. “Details on file" should only be used for human participant related payments.

Oversight and Monitoring SPVs:

Cluster Directors are responsible for the accuracy and integrity of all payments made using the cluster SPV supplier numbers. The vouchers should be reviewed in the Production instance, preferably the same day they are entered. The Cluster Director or their designee must perform daily reviews of their SPV activity.

To review Single Payment Supplier daily transactions:

  • PeopleSoft Voucher inquiry:
    • EFS > Accounts Payable > Review Accounts Payable Info > Vouchers > Voucher
    • Enter:
      • Business Unit
      • Date (accounting date, invoice date, due date or entered date)
      • Origin Set ID
      • From Origin and
      • Voucher Style = Single Payment Voucher
      • Search
        • Note: Max rows can be increased if rows are > 300

After the Cluster Director's review, immediate action must be taken on any compliance issues, such as payment types that are not allowed or any transactions that do not follow the Single Payment Supplier Entry Standards. Any questionable transactions must be placed on payment hold immediately. Any indication of potential fraud must be reported to the appropriate University officials and Purchasing Services immediately.  For additional information on reporting potential misconduct, refer to University Policy: Reporting Suspected Misconduct

Finding Status Action
Voucher is not valid Voucher is Posted Close voucher
Voucher is not valid Voucher is Unposted Delete voucher
Payee information is not correct Voucher is Posted Unpost the voucher, correct the invalid information and Save.
Payee information is not correct Voucher is Unposted Correct the invalid information and Save.
Voucher is valid Voucher is Posted Remove Payment Hold and Hold reason. Enter Payment Comments that research was completed and voucher is valid
No image in Perceptive Content Verify invoice is linked to the posted voucher Link voucher
Payment research completed and payment has been issued Paid Contact Purchasing Services ([email protected]) to determine options for recovering funds.

The Cluster Director must run the reports developed and distributed by Purchasing Services to review all SPV payments on a weekly, monthly, or quarterlybasis, looking for trends or compliance issues. Based on the results of their review, the Cluster Directors should notify Purchasing Services of any payees where their payments should be reported to the IRS (MISC1099) or when fraud is suspected. Purchasing Services will also perform reviews on all SPV activity.

Contact Purchasing Services for additional information regarding Single Payment Supplier processing or for additional queries and inquiry instructions related to managing this activity.

Additional Information:

  1. Appendix - Single Payment Supplier - Activity Types Allowed
  2. Appendix - Single Payment Supplier - Review of Daily Entries
  3. PeopleSoft Resources for Single Payment Supplier Review
    • PeopleSoft Voucher inquiry:
      1. EFS > Accounts Payable > Review Accounts Payable Info > Vouchers > Voucher
      2. Enter:
        1. Business Unit
        2. Date (accounting date, invoice date, due date or entered date)
        3. Origin Set ID
        4. From Origin and
        5. Voucher Style = Single Payment Voucher
        6. Search

Note: Max Rows can be increased if rows are > 300