SECTION OVERVIEW AND POLICIES

When processing payments to a vendor, Business Units should ensure the voucher is payable to the correct Vendor ID and the payment goes to the correct Address Sequence for the vendor’s remit-to address. The Statewide Vendor File may have multiple Vendor IDs with similar names and each Vendor ID may have multiple payment Address Sequences.

Process and Document Preparation:

Select Appropriate Vendor

When preparing a voucher, the Business Unit should select the Vendor ID of the vendor that provided the goods or services. This is especially important where there are multiple vendor records with similar names.

Business Units that are accustomed to identifying vendor IDs by matching on Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) must consider that one TIN can be associated with more than one Vendor ID. Therefore, Business Units should determine the Vendor ID of the entity they are doing business with by matching more than one piece of information. To accomplish this, Business Units should look to match the vendor’s Legal name, Doing Business As name, address(es), and TIN. Business Units should also ask the vendor for its Vendor ID . The Business Unit should review all results to determine the correct vendor to pay.

Failure to select the correct Vendor ID may result in payment being sent to the wrong vendor.

Select Appropriate Address Sequence

Each vendor in the Statewide Vendor File has a single default address for payments. However, some vendors may have multiple remit-to addresses for payments. Each remit-to address will be associated with a different Address Sequence for the Vendor ID.

When processing a voucher, Business Units must select the Address Sequence associated with the remit-to address on the invoice for the vendor to receive payment. If vendors are unable to receive or post State payments, it may delay payment crediting and Business Units may experience unintended service interruptions.

Business Units should perform the following steps to ensure payments are directed to the appropriate address: 

• Select the appropriate Address Sequence on the Invoice tab of the voucher for the address from where the vendor mailed the invoice.
  • Select the address that corresponds to where the invoice originated.
  • If an address is not selected on the Invoice tab, the system will populate the default address associated with the Vendor ID.
• Select the appropriate Address Sequence on the Payments tab of the voucher that corresponds to the address on the invoice where the vendor wants the payment sent.
  • Where the payment is a check, the State sends the payment to the address indicated on the Payments tab of the voucher. Therefore, Business Units must select the remit-to address requested by the vendor on the invoice.
  • Failure to select an address on the Payments tab will result in the system populating the default address associated with the Vendor ID. This could result in the payment being mailed to an address other than the one requested by the vendor on its invoice, which could delay payment crediting and result in unintentional service interruption.

  The Office of the State Comptroller has worked with certain complex vendors to develop a consistent method for Business Units to use to ensure the Vendor ID and address sequence used on each payment request will meet the processing needs of both New York State and the vendor. Section 6.Z - Processing Payments to Complex Entities of this Chapter contains information on how to process payments to these vendors, including a list of specific vendors and the methods used to ensure unique invoice numbers.

Guide to Financial Operations

REV. 07/27/2012