Billing a customer

To bill a customer for products or services, we generate an invoice in UniFi. Customers have 30 days to pay us from the date of their invoice.

How to bill a customer

To bill a customer for products or services, you need to:

1. Get a purchase order, contract or other authorised written confirmation that the customer will pay.
2. Check whether the customer is on our customer debt notification register (XLS, 35KB) (staff login required). This register lists customers we no longer trade with because they’ve been unable to pay their account. If your customer is on the register or you have any questions, contact Accounts Receivable.
3. Follow the Credit Management Procedures [9.35.02] to make sure the customer has an up-to-date account with UQ.
4. Provide the products or services.
5. Follow the Accounts Receivable Procedures [9.35.01] to organise for an invoice to be generated and sent to the customer.

Payment options are listed on the invoice. Customers have 30 days to pay us from the date of their invoice.

Overdue and unpaid invoices

If a payment is overdue we send a series of reminders, up to a final demand for payment after 90 days.

If it looks like an invoice isn’t going to be paid, an Accounts Receivable Credit Controller will work with your organisational unit to decide what to do next. That can mean:

• adjusting or cancelling the invoice
• writing it off as a bad debt
• employing external debt collectors.

See the Accounts Receivable Procedures [9.35.01] for more detailed procedures for debt collection and writing off debts.

Requesting external debt collection

If an external debt collector is required, you need to:

1. Collate any customer contact information and supporting documents, including all invoices and records of correspondence with the customer.
2. Complete a request for debt collection form (DOC, 62KB), with approval from an appropriate financial delegate.
3. Email the form and supporting documents to Accounts Receivable with 'Request for debt collection' in the subject line.
4. If you receive any payments from the customer after you’ve requested external debt collection, contact the Accounts Receivable Credit Controller you’ve been working with.

External debt collectors charge commissions on amounts they collect. This commission will be charged to your nominated chart string.

Funds recovered by the external debt collectors will be allocated to your nominated chart string.

Refunding customer payments

Before you organise a refund for a customer, make sure they’re entitled to the refund based on your organisational unit's policies and procedures.

If they are entitled to a refund, you need to submit a refund request with:

• approval by an appropriate financial delegate
• evidence of the original payment
• any other required supporting documents.

Follow section 12 of the Accounts Receivable Procedures [9.35.01] to request a refund for a customer. Accounts Receivable will process the request, which may take up to 2 weeks.

Customers can request a refund if we've charged them correctly but they've overpaid by mistake. See section 12.2 of the Accounts Receivable Procedures [9.35.01] for more information.

Adjusting incorrect invoices

If we've overcharged a customer on an invoice, or the invoice is incorrect in some way, you can request an adjustment to the invoice. See section 9 of the Accounts Receivable Procedures [9.35.01] for instructions on adjusting an incorrect invoice.

If the customer has already paid, you will also need to request a refund for them. Follow section 12.2 of the Accounts Receivable Procedures [9.35.01] to request a refund for a customer who has been overcharged on an invoice.