XYZ Corporation | Accounting Co.
Accounts Payable Standard Operating Procedure
Purpose: The purpose of this SOP is to clearly outline roles and responsibilities of XYZ Corporation and Accounting Co. as it relates to the accounts payable process. Under our scope of work with XYZ Corporation, Accounting Co. will administer accounts payable. The standard operating procedure is outlined below.
XYZ Corp. Responsibilities: XYZ Corp. is responsible for the following:
Forwarding all bills to invoices@xyzcorp.com to be processed for payment with any relevant information needed for accounting purposes (e.g. nature of expense, location, etc. if not already provided on bill).
Note that Accounting Co. will enter bills into Bill.com twice weekly on Mondays and Thursdays, and release approved payments once weekly on Thursdays, thus bills must be provided/approved by 8:00am MT on the morning of the AP run. Bills sent after that time will be included on the next AP run.
Approving all bills once entered into Bill.com by Accounting Co.
Note that no invoices will be paid until formally approved by XYZ Corp.
Jane Doe is the default approver for bills within Bill.com, and John Doe will be the secondary approver when Jane is not available.
Tracking payment information in the AP Processing Log for any one-off bills paid outside of Bill.com (excluding Brex expenses and autopay items regularly paid outside of Bill.com such as utilities, subscriptions, etc.)
Accounting Co. Responsibilities: Accounting Co. is responsible for the following:
Accounting Co. will process AP twice weekly, on Mondays and Thursdays:
Every Monday and Thursday, Accounting Co. will log into the invoices@xyzcorp.com inbox to enter all bills into Bill.com that have been received in the inbox by 8:00am MT that day. Accounting Co. will rely on the invoice when inputting into Bill.com (in regard to payment terms, vendor, etc.), and any notes provided within the email by the XYZ Corp. leadership team.
In order to pay a bill, Accounting Co. will require: (1) Completed W-9 from the vendor, including Tax ID number (2) Copy of the bill to be paid (3) Vendor address and email address (if not included on bill or W-9). To the extent any of this information is not provided initially by XYZ Corp., Accounting Co. will reach out directly to the vendor via the invoices@xyzcorp.com inbox.
Every Thursday, Accounting Co. will initiate payment for any bills that have been approved by XYZ Corp. by 8:00am MT that day. Accounting Co. will reference the AP Processing Log to mark any bills paid outside of Bill.com as paid offline, which will not be included in the payment run.
As part of month-end procedures, Accounting Co. will reconcile the outstanding accounts payable balance per Bill.com to the outstanding accounts payable per QuickBooks as of month-end. Any variance will be investigated for resolution. As part of month-end procedures, Accounting Co. will run the accounts payable aging summary report, noting any significantly aged payables to the XYZ Corp. leadership team.
International Vendors: Accounting Co. will take two special considerations into account for international vendors: (1) whether or not bill.com can process the payment; if Bill.com cannot support payments to these vendors then Accounting Co. will develop a process with XYZ Corp. to handle payments outside of the platform and (2) International vendors will also be verified through the US Department of the Treasury.
Accounting Co. Point of Contact:
John Smith: John will be responsible for maintaining the accounting inbox and addressing any vendor questions/requests, managing vendor information in Bill.com, entering bills into Bill.com, ensuring payments are released according to the timeline above, resolving sync issues between Bill.com/QBO, and AP aging reconciliation. Please contact John at john@accountingco.com.