All invoices must follow the Procure to Pay directive:
- Clearly reference a valid Purchase Order (PO) number communicated by McGill
- Only reflect charges authorized by the Purchase Order (PO) with respect to items, quantities and prices
- Bear a unique invoice number that will not be re-used on future sales to McGill
- Indicate an invoice date
- Must be billed to McGill University
All invoices must be emailed to Expense Payment Services at accountspayable [at] mcgill.ca where they will be processed for payment. Please note that McGill University does not absorb any increase in costs to your fund due to foreign exchange currency fluctuations from the time the PO is created to the time the payment is issued.
Tips: In order to avoid delay of payment, please refer to the document 
Useful Tips on How to avoid delays in invoice processing and payment of supplier invoices
Expense Payment Services is committed to processing accurate invoices to ensure suppliers receive their payment on time. For more information, refer to the Change in Supplier Invoice Process announcement.
Purchase Order (PO) = A formal document that is issued by the University on behalf of a department/unit to request goods/services from a company. (Every purchase order is subject to the McGill University Standard Terms and Conditions of Purchase (more information)).
For more information, refer to the Procurement Services website – How to Do Business with McGill.
A purchase order is automatically closed when all goods/services have been provided and payment has been processed. In all other cases, the purchase order remains open until a formal request to cancel or liquidate the PO is submitted to Procurement Services or Expense Payment Services. Since encumbrances affect the available balance of a fund, POs with remaining encumbrances must be liquidated in a timely manner to ensure that fund balances accurately reflect financial activity.
Cancelling Purchase Orders (POs)
Cancelling a PO changes the status of the document to Closed and releases the full amount of the encumbrance on the fund.
In order to cancel a purchase order, the following conditions must be met:
- The PO document status is Open.
- The PO was issued in the current Fiscal Year.
- No invoices were applied (processed for payment) against the purchase order.
- The goods/services are no longer required.
How do I cancel a PO?
Please follow the instructions located on the MMP homepage, under Quick Links, in order to learn how to cancel your own PO. It is the Requestor's responsibility to contact the supplier to advise them of the cancellation of the purchase order prior to submitting the form.
Liquidating Purchase Orders (POs)
Requests to liquidate purchase orders are usually needed when invoices submitted for payment are not an exact match to the PO. In these cases, the purchase order remains open until a formal request to liquidate the PO is submitted to Accounts Payable. Since encumbrances affect the available balance of a fund, POs with remaining encumbrances must be liquidated in a timely manner to ensure that fund balances accurately reflect financial activity.
Be sure to reconcile - compare/validate all invoices (including credits) per PO and confirm with the Fund Financial Manager/Principal Investigator that the order is complete.
PO should be liquidated and closed when:
- the full quantity of goods/services for all items/commodities have been received
- all associated invoices have been processed for payment by Expense Payment Services and charged to the FOAPAL(s)
- if goods were returned, all associated credit memos have been processed by Expense Payment Services
- no further goods/services will be received and no further invoices or credits will be submitted
How do I liquidate a PO?
Submit the Purchase Order Liquidation Request Form found on the Financial Services website- if applicable, it is the Requestor's responsibility to contact the supplier to advise them of the closing of the purchase order prior to submitting the form.
Reconciling Purchase Orders (POs)
To verify the status or to see the activity associated to a purchase order and the remaining encumbrance balance
- Query the Banner form FGIENCD (view the How To Use Banner page)
- If "O" appears in the Status indicator field, the PO is Open
- If "C" appears in the Status indicator field, the PO is Closed
To review invoices and credit memos processed against a PO:
- Query the Banner form FOIDOCH (view the How To Use Banner page) or
- Query the Minerva menu option View Document (view the How To Use Minerva page)
Change Order
If the invoice does not reflect the charges authorized by the Purchase Order (PO), then a Change Order is required.
Examples:
- Item(s) price listed on the invoice is higher than the PO item price.
- One or several items listed on the invoice are not included on the PO.
- The encumbrance amount set up for this PO is insufficient to cover the payment of the invoice.
The step by step instructions on How to process a Change Order can be found on the Procurement Services website.
Once you have confirmation that the PO has been modified to match the invoice, re-send the invoice to accountspayable [at] mcgill.ca (Expense Payment Services) for processing.