We are working to improve our processes and would really appreciate if any other schools could share their invoice processing workflow.  We do not currently use the Purchase Orders system.   We are interested in knowing the "flow" from when the invoice arrives in the mail to the check being printed. If it would be easier to discuss this on the phone, please let me know and I'll be happy to call you. Thanks! karen

Did you ever get a response for this?  I am currently looking for the same information to improve our flow and accountability.  Growth and employee turnover has really created a headache for me!  I need to formalize and document our procedures.  Any any advice would be greatly appreciated!  Tiffany

Not a school here, but thought a response would be helpful.

 We do not use a purchase order system either, but do have procedures in place for capital expenditures that act like a PO.

As to paying our bills, we set up, in advance, approval authority be department.  Only certain folks can approve expenditures.  We designed a simple check request form that includes vendor information, amounts, descriptions and coding.  Two signature spaces, one for the request and one for the approval.  Only certain folks approve and no bill gets processed without everything necessary being present on this document.

This is a simple system and is easy to use.  Turnover creates issues when an approval position is changed, but it becomes apparent quickly where the issue is.