Procurement Office > Frequently Asked Questions > State Payables
State Payables
- A vendor called me/my department to advise us that they have never been paid for an outstanding invoice. What should I do to get the invoice paid?
- What is the anticipated time period for a vendor to receive their payment?
- When does the State's fiscal year start/end?
- What is a Materials and Services Requisition (MSR) form used for?
- What happens to funds that remain on a purchase order, within the current fiscal year, once they are no longer needed?
- What office do I contact regarding an incorrect charge on my monthly accounting report?
- Why is interest charged on State payments?
- I received an "Authorization for Payment" slip along with a vendor invoice. What do I do with these items?
- I just found an old invoice that was never paid on my lapsed (prior year) purchase order. How do I submit it for payment?
- A vendor claims they never received a payment check. How do I obtain/provide them with a copy of the state check?
- Why does my blanket purchase order balance not reconcile with the balance indicated on the SUNY Web System?
- I received a refund check from a vendor due to an overpayment/duplicate payment. What do I do with the refund check?
- A vendor called me/my department to advise us that they have never been paid for an outstanding invoice. What should I do to get the invoice paid?
- Contact the Procurement Office and provide both the purchase order number and invoice number so that we can check our files to confirm that payment has not already been processed.
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- Contracts (Local/Service), call (631) 632-9110.
- Long Island State Veterans Home, call (631) 632-9044 or (631) 632-9838.
- Research Foundation, call (631) 632-4151 or (631) 632-6001.
- State (West Campus/HSC), call (631) 632-6012 or (631) 632-9838.
- Stony Brook Foundation, call (631) 632-1706 or (631) 632-9838.
- Stony Brook University Hospital, call (631) 444-9960 or (631) 444-9961.
- What is the anticipated time period for a vendor to receive their payment?
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- For payments between $0.01 and $15,000.00 (Quick Pay) in most cases a check is issued within 7 business days.
- For payments between $15,000.01 and up (V02) in most cases a check is issued within 10 to 14 business days.
- When does the State's fiscal year start/end?
- The fiscal year begins on July 1 and ends on June 30 of each year.
- What is a Materials and Services Requisition (MSR) Form used for?
- A Materials and Services Requisition (MSR) Form is used to process payments and/or transfer funds between either two State accounts or two Research Foundation accounts. The Stony Brook Foundation does not utilize the MSR Form.
- What happens to funds that remain on a purchase order, within the current fiscal year, once they are no longer needed?
- When a purchase order is completed (i.e. all items have been received or blanket purchase order is no longer utilized) and has been disencumbered, all remaining funds on that purchase order will fall back into the department's respective State account for that current fiscal year.
- What office do I contact regarding an incorrect charge on my monthly accounting report?
- Check the payment coding on your accounting report.
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- For voucher payments contact the Procurement Office.
- For journal transfers contact the Accounting Office.
- For Visa Corporate Card transactions contact Maryann Dolan (Procurement Office).
- Why is interest charged on State payments?
- New York State Prompt Payment Legislation requires that state agencies issue payments to vendors within 30 days of receipt of either a valid vendor invoice or receipt of goods/services, whichever date is later. More detailed information on the legislation is available from the Procurement Office.
- I received an "Authorization for Payment" slip along with a vendor invoice. What do I do with these items?
- Review your order and the invoice carefully to ensure all items were properly received and billed. If the order was correctly received please sign the form on the bottom and indicate the date on which the merchandise was received. If there are problems with the order or the invoice, please send an email to the buyer and "carbon copy" the respective accounts payable representative advising them of the problem(s). Hold the invoice until the problems are resolved. Once resolved, approve payment of the invoice by signing the form on the bottom and indicate the date on which the problem/issue was resolved.
- I just found an old invoice that was never paid on my lapsed (prior year) purchase order. How do I submit it for payment?
- If the invoice is for an item that was originally ordered on the lapsed year purchase order you can submit the invoice for payment along with your payment authorization. We will issue the payment referencing the lapsed-year purchase order, but the funds will be expended from the current fiscal year.
- If the invoice is for an item that was never ordered on a purchase order or the purchase order dates back to a fiscal year prior to the lapsed year, you will need to submit the invoice along with a state requisition for payment. On the requisition you should note, "Invoice Attached, Payment Purposes Only" and reference the previous year purchase order number.
- A vendor claims they never received a payment check. How do I obtain/provide them with a copy of the state check?
- Either the department or the vendor can call the Procurement Office to follow up on the status of a payment. If it is determined that a check has been issued, but has not been received by the payee the Procurement Office will place a Stop Payment on the check. Please note that the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) will not stop payment on a check until at least 30 days after the check has been issued. A Lost Check Affidavit will be sent from OSC to the Procurement Office who will then forward the affidavit to the vendor. The vendor must complete the affidavit and return the form with original signatures to OSC. This entire process takes approximately 45 to 60 days.
- Why does my blanket purchase order balance not reconcile with the balance indicated on the SUNY System SUIQ screen?
- The Procurement Office often internally rejects payments to correct discrepancies in payment information prior to a vendor payment check being issued. When a payment voucher is rejected and re-entered for payment, the funding of the rejected voucher is not restored back to the purchase order. These funds are restored back to the departmental account. Therefore the balance maintained by a campus department and the balance listed on SUNY SUIQ would be different. This funding imbalance is corrected internally by the Procurement Office, through a process called a SUPO Adjustment, if additional funds are needed to cover outstanding invoices on the purchase order.
- I received a refund check from a vendor due to an overpayment/duplicate payment. What do I do with the refund check?
- Send the check, along with a copy of the original purchase order, to the Procurement Office. If a copy of the purchase order is not available please reference the original purchase order number on the top of the check. If the purchase order number is not available please provide the state account from which the original payment was issued. Please keep in mind that the funds must be returned back to the original state account from which they were expended. The refunded funds will be deposited back to your appropriate state within approximately 30 days.
