5 messages, 234 lines:

(1)---------------------
Date:         Wed, 29 Oct 1997 12:53:03 -0500
From:         Judy Cerqua-SLO <jcerqua@WINSLO.OHIO.GOV>
Subject:      Re: Periodicals Invoices and budget years

  The State Library of Ohio, is also on a July 1- June 30, budget cycle.
We also receive our serials invoice in the fall, and pay for Jan.1-Dec 31.
As a government library, we also have the added burden of having our
serials list sent out on RFP, every 2 years.  We must provide a list of
titles and dollar amount to be approved by the Controlling Board, before
monies can be expended.  (We spend @ $250,000 annually for serials.)
We do issue paymetn for our large invoices in one lump sum.

As to how Innopac will handle this situation, it should do fine.  You
would need to allocate your funds at different parts of the fiscal year,
say July and January, and pay against those amounts until you run out of
money. We do a quarterly budget allocation, which works fine for us, once
we get within 90% of the allocation for the quarter, we slow spending down
or hold off invoices until the next quarter.  We have it timed so that we
normally get to 90% a week or so before the end of the quarter.

If you do have to go the split invoice route, check with your serials
vendor and see if they are willing to accomodate your needs, and if they
have encountered this situation in other libraries.

Good luck!

Judy Cerqua
Head, Acquisitions/Processing
State Library of Ohio
Columbus, Ohio       43215
 <jcerqua@WINSLO.OHIO.GOV>

(2)-----------------------------
Date:         Wed, 29 Oct 1997 12:35:40 -0500
From:         Steve Black <blacks@ROSNET.STROSE.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Periodicals Invoices and budget years

On Wed, 29 Oct 1997, Peter Boll wrote asking about standard procedure
for handling a vendor invoice within his college's fiscal year.

Our comptroller has always paid the full invoice within the fiscal year,
which is the same as yours.  The invoicing cycle fits nicely with the
fiscal cycle, and seems to work.

My input is that if you tried to keep track of when the paid
subscriptions' issues actually arrived, you would drive yourself crazy and
defeat part of the purpose of using a vendor.  How would you deal with
delays in publication and claimed issues that arrive late?  How would you
handle calendar year only subscriptions that change their rates from year
to year?  Do you really want to take the time to determine how many issues
of each subscription will arrive after July 1?

If you simplify and assume that 1/2 of the invoice belongs in the next
year, I don't see how that would be more accurate than just counting a
subscription year as a fiscal year.  Just think of "receiving" a
*subscription*, and don't worry about individual issues.  You can argue
that since you don't pay for issues individually, you shouldn't have to
financially account for them individually.

************************************************************************
Steve Black
Reference, Serials and Instruction Librarian
Neil Hellman Library
The College of Saint Rose
Albany, NY  12203                                  "Cogito eggo sum"
blacks@rosnet.strose.edu                     (I think, therefore I waffle)

(3)-----------------------
Date:         Wed, 29 Oct 1997 11:11:48 -0600
From:         Promilla Bansal <pbansal@ACFSYSV.ROOSEVELT.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Periodicals Invoices and budget years

We also get refered to the "standard accounting principles" for other
things but Thank God not for the periodicals invoice. Along with the
price increase invoices, which seem to come throughout the year this
would be a problem with just keeping track of the payment as well as the
timing. If the publishers do not receive payment in time then are they
going to stop sending the issues? Who will pay for the missing issues?

Promilla Bansal
Head Reference/Serials Librarian
Roosevelt Unviersity Library
Chicago,IL 60605
<pbansal@ACFSYSV.ROOSEVELT.EDU>

(4)-------------------------
Date:     Wed, 29 Oct 1997 09:55:00 -0600 (CST)
From:     Alfred Kraemer <akraemer@post.its.mcw.edu>
Subject:  Re: Periodicals Invoices and budget years

This looks like the makings for a nightmare! I suggest gathering arguments
to defend the current practice and believe if you stress the following
facts the VP for Finance will prefer to do so, too.

1. Splitting the serials payment in half would still require your college
to pay the full amount of the serials invoice over the course of a fiscal
year, but in two payments, probably one at the beginning of the fiscal
year, the other at the end. It seems to me, the controller does not
understand the continuing nature of serials subscriptions and is only
looking at the current invoice. This might lead him/her to the
misinterpretation that splitting this invoice would reduce the serials
obligation for this fiscal year by half, when -as we all know- your
serials costs in one fiscal year are not going to be half of what they
used to be last year.
This may sound too simplistic to be true, but I have encountered similar
objections more than once.

2. Does the controller really want to split up something that is one
transaction into two artifically separated ones, and keep track of this
split?

I believe there is some lack of understanding here which has to be
addressed.

                        Good luck,

                                Sincerely,

                                Alfred B. Kraemer
                                Head of Technical Services
                                Medical College of Wisconsin Libraries
                                8701 Watertown Plank Road
                                Milwaukee, WI 53226
                                (414) 456-4273
                                E-Mail: akraemer@post.its.mcw.edu

(5)------------------------
Date:         Wed, 29 Oct 1997 12:57:05 -0500
From:     "Cynthia M. Coulter - (319) 273-2801" <Cynthia.Coulter@UNI.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Periodicals Invoices and budget years

We have had the same situation happen here at the University of Northern
Iowa.  However, our Controller's Office has opted to handle it at their
level.  When we prepare a voucher for a single periodical renewal, we
indicate the subscription period on the voucher.  In the Controller's
Office, as I understand it, they divide the invoice total proportionately
to the number of months covered by each fiscal year the subscription
period includes, and then do a "journal entry" that shows the funds
attributed to the correct fiscal year.

When we receive our annual main renewal invoice (over 3,000 titles), this
could take a good bit of time on their part.  I believe that, for that
invoice, they use a slightly different procedure.  For that invoice, we do
not, on the voucher itself, indicate the subscription periods covered by
all the titles.  I think they "guess-timate" that the average split
between fiscal years for the bulk of those titles represents approximately
50-50 between the two fiscal years.  They apply that to the entire total,
rather than determine it for each and every title, as they do on vouchers
for single titles.

Now, let me hasten to add that what I have written is my interpretation of
what happens here at UNI.  I do not claim to be a financial or accounting
expert.  I believe the pressure to do this comes from the federal level
with changes in the Tax Code.  Our Controller's Offices must show the use
of funds received in a fiscal year with more exactitude than previously
required.  I consider ourselves lucky here that they have chosen an
approach which has had little real impact on us and our financial
dealings.

Hope this helps.

Cynthia M. Coulter, Head
Acquisitions Department
Rod Library
University of Northern Iowa
Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613-3675
phone: (319) 273-2801
<Cynthia.Coulter@UNI.EDU>

--------- Original message -----------
On Wed, 29 Oct 1997, Peter Boll wrote:

> Here is a question I have not seen addressed on this list since I've been
> a subscriber. Each year around this time our library receives our annual
> renewal invoice from our major periodicals vendor. The amount is usually
> around $ 60,000. In past years we have simply paid the invoice on our
> automated Library system, approved the invoice for payment and sent it
> over to the business office to have the check cut, no problems.
>
> Well this year there is a problem. Now our controller and other business
> office higher ups are saying that since some of these issues will not be
> received until after July 1, 1998 that 1/2 of the invoice total will be
> charged to the Library's 1998-99 fiscal year budget and the other 1/2 to
> the current 1997-98 fiscal year budget. They will go ahead and cut the
> check for the full amount right now, but when July 1, 1998 rolls around we
> will start the year out with our periodicals budget in the hole for the
> amount equal to 1/2 of the invoice we have just recieved (around $ 30,000)
> Our fiscal year runs July 1 - June 30.
>
> Their reasoning is that since we will not actually be "using" or
> "receiving" some of these journal issues until the next fiscal year, we
> cannot pay for them with money from the current fiscal year.
>
> Of course when we receive the renewal invoice in the Fall of 1998 1/2 will
> be paid from FY 1998-99, and 1/2 from FY 99-00 (boy it's weird typing
> that!) It sort of makes sense but also seems like a big bother to me. I am
> also a little concerned about what this means in terms of keeping track of
> how much has already been expended against the next year's budget. There
> is also the issue of how our Library system (Innovative) will handle this. I
> don't think it has the capability of splitting an invoice total between
> fiscal years.
>
> The business office keeps bringing up "established accounting procedures
> and standards" as their rationale. Well, they never seemed to be concerned
> about these "standards" in years past and I don't think periodicals
> publishers and vendors fall into the same categories as maintenance and
> service contracts, their example of the proper application of these
> standards.
>
> Does this sound familiar to anyone out there? Are these accounting
> standards applied to other libraries' periodicals invoices and budgets?
> Our VP of finance is interested in the response I get, so if this is not
> standard operating procedure in most college libraries maybe I can win
> this battle. If it is the established procedure, I guess I can live with
> that too.
>
> Thanks in advance for all responses and advice
>
>  Peter Boll
>  Acquistions/Serials Librarian
>  Central College
>  Pella, IA 50219
>
>  bollp@central.edu