Common Mistakes

Not getting detailed customer data before agreeing to do business with a customer
We often want to give our customers the benefit of the doubt that they will pay for our products and services; however, past experience has shown that it doesn't always work that way. Gathering customer data before doing business with customers will increase the likelihood of being able to collect from them later on should they fail to pay when invoiced. Information to request from the customer:
- Addresses - All customers should have a physical address, and many have a separate billing and/or shipping address.
- Contact name and number
- Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN) or Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN)*
* An FEIN/TIN is not required for customers whose customer type is Foreign. For customers whose customer type is Individual, their FEIN is often their SSN, in which case they are not required to provide it.
Not getting a purchase order number from the customer
Though not required, many customers will provide you with a purchase order or other reference number to identify the transaction. If not provided, you may want to ask for a reference number so that you can refer to it when communicating with the customer about a specific transaction.
Recording payments at your department instead of sending them to the Cashier's Office
Per policy, all AR payments should be sent to the Cashier's Office. Please do not process a DaFIS Statement of Collections (SCC) document as this will negatively impact the campus' accounts receivable ledger.

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