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Accounts Payable Services

Accounts Payable Customer Service: 847.491.7339

The Financial Operations Policies and Procedures website hosts detailed guidance on policies and processes related to Accounts Payable services. For assistance in determining payment methods see the Purchasing and Payment Quick Reference Guide. Employees are also encouraged to view the Purchasing and Payments Online Module and reference related Process Maps for further guidance.

Accounts Payable provides disbursement functions for Northwestern, in compliance with University policies, as well as federal and state regulatory requirements. These services include:

Invoice Processing – Payments for Goods and Services

Employee Reimbursements

Expense Reports

View Reimbursing University Employees Process Map

Checks - Stop Payments, Reissues, Holds, Enclosures

Responsible for stop-payments and/or reissues of lost or expired checks.

Provides support for items requiring special or priority handling, such as checks to be held for pick-up, or requests for enclosures.

Payment Requests

Responsible for final approval and processing of Payment Requests. There are three types of Payment Requests:

  • Direct Payment Requests (DPR) – requests for payments not requiring a PO  – Examples:  subscription renewals, membership dues, conference fees
  • Contracted Services Forms (CSF) – payment to individuals for services
  • Visitors Expense Reports (VER) – reimbursements of approved expenses incurred by University guests

View Visitor Travel & Entertainment Process Map

View Purchasing using a Direct Payment Request Process Map

Vendor Credits

Responsible for processing credit transactions. The credited funds are returned to departmental chartstrings.

Wire Transfers

Responsible for electronic payments

Document Imaging & Indexing 

Responsible for creating and indexing electronic images of invoices and other documentation, making them easy to access and retrieve.

Users can view images of invoices processed by Accounts Payable from the Voucher Document Status pages in NUFinancials. Images for Expense Reports and Payment Requests remain available on their respective pages.

The navigation to view invoices in NUFinancials is below:

Should you have any questions or concerns contact Gary Ernsteen at 847.491.2781 or by email at g-ernsteen@northwestern.edu.