Periodicals Invoices and budget years Peter Boll 29 Oct 1997 14:33 UTC
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