Electronic Invoicing

Electronic invoicing (E-invoicing) is the delivery of invoices over the internet in an electronic file (cXML) format. These electronic files are submitted daily to the University of Arizona and uploaded into UAccess Financials where they generate PREQs that are routed to Fiscal Officers for approval.

The benefits of E-invoicing to both the supplier and the University of Arizona include: eliminating paper invoicing, reducing supply expenses (e.g., paper, toner, postage), reducing manual data entry and data entry errors, eliminating the loss of invoices, and decreasing the turnaround time of PREQs by simplifying the workflow process.

On very rare occasions when the eInvoice does not exactly match the quantity and price as ordered, the invoice will be rejected and Accounts Payable will process a (PREQ) for the fiscal officer to review and approve or disapprove.

Frequently Asked Questions

Electronic invoicing (e-Invoicing) is the delivery of invoices in an electronic file (cXML) format. These electronic files are submitted daily to the University of Arizona and uploaded into UAccess Financials where they generate PREQs that are routed to Fiscal Officers for approval. To view what e-Invoicing Venders are at the University, see e-Invoice Vendors.

Paper invoices for e-Invoice purchases are not created nor mailed to the University since the necessary information (i.e. items ordered, quantity and pricing) is available within the UAccess Financial system via the requisition (REQ) and purchase Order (PO). These are University vendors with contracted pricing and availability. If a paper invoice is required, please contact the vendor directly.

There are two types of Payment Requests (PREQ) generated in UAccess Financials as follows:

  • A manually created PREQ is an eDoc generated by an Accounts Payable Financial Services Specialist when a paper invoice is received from a vendor for a Purchase Order.  The PREQ electronically routes to the fiscal officer for review and approval, and the invoice can be viewed via the images tab of the PREQ.
  • An electronically created PREQ is generated when a vendor is approved by Accounts Payable to send invoices electronically via a daily file, and the quantity ordered, price, and tax allowance is an exact match with the Purchase Order. The PREQ does not have a paper invoice associated in the images tab of the PREQ.

An Electronic Invoice Reject Transaction (EIRT) is an Accounts Payable eDoc created from an electronic file received from the vendor that does not match what was ordered in the Purchase Order.  These eDocs require Accounts Payable intervention to work with the vendor and department to reconcile the discrepancy.  An example of an e-Invoice that would generate an EIRT would be if a Purchase Order indicates the purchase is taxable and the vendor is not invoicing the appropriate Arizona Sales Tax. Accounts Payable Specialists review these documents and settle discrepancies and manually generate a PREQ.

  • Taxable items indicated as Tax Exempt
  • Tax Exempt items indicated when they should be taxable
  • Quantity and pricing discrepancies
  • Duplicate shipments on the same Purchase Order
  • Replacement Orders on the same Purchase Order
  • The initiator of the PREQ is indicated as “kfs-sys-user”
  • The Payment Request Cost Source indicator is listed as a “B2B Vendor”
  • No invoice image of an actual paper invoice is available in the images tab

Arizona Buyways (Shop Catalog) vendors are primarily selected for e-Invoicing since they generally meet the mapping specification requirements for the UAccess Financial System.

An e-Invoice must pass a series of matching and validation criteria with the Purchase Order (PO) for the system to generate a PREQ.  This criteria ensures the vendor is only invoicing what was submitted by the department, via the Purchase Order agreed pricing and quantity.  Any discrepancies found during the matching and validation process will reject the e-Invoice and generate an EIRT.