STEPS REQUIRED WHEN CREATING A PURCHASE ORDER # (P.O.)
Purchase Orders are a tremendous help to both official’s organizations AND athletic directors and the accounts payable staff PO’s received in advance reduce the delay in payment to official’s organizations for services rendered often by at least two weeks. This means that officials most likely will be paid in a timely fashion and that simply helps in the long run of retaining officials. For the athletic director, he or she is busy preparing for the next round of sports and can the need to get ready for the current season unintentionally overshadows the importance of processing invoices immediately upon receipt. The delay of one week may result in missing the date of a Board meeting where payments are authorized and this might hold up payment for another 4-6 weeks. Taking care of the PO at the start of the season enhances the level of organization for both parties and allows the accounts payable staff to be better prepared to process the invoice in a timely fashion.
When official’s organizations send out their “Request Form” for officials, they often include a fee schedule for those charges that a school can expect to incur. This includes match/game fees, mileage, and assigning, billing, and schedule change fees. These fees are either established by the WIAA and are listed in the handbook or they are fees negotiated and approved by the West Central District.
Contrary to the belief by many Athletic Directors who have simply not been property informed, a Purchase Order # for a “Not to Exceed” amount can be requested and issued. This is a commonplace practice–it is not new, innovative, or unusual.
To determine the MATCH/GAME FEE, the Athletic Director simply adds up the number of contests and multiplies by the corresponding match/game amount shown in the information they received from the Assigning Secretary for that particular sport. To determine the MILEAGE, simply multiply the number of officials per contest by the amount shown on the mileage chart. To determine the SUPPLEMENTAL OR ADMINISTRATIVE FEE, simply take the total match fee and multiply it by 13% and add that to the grand total. Typically this runs from 0-4 per season. Since a “Not to Exceed” figure is being established, if you add $75-$l00 to your total amount you should easily be covered.
An important point to remember is that Assigning Secretaries are more than happy to review an A.D.’s computations before a P.O. request is submitted because we appreciate the fact that they are taking care of this in a prompt and expeditious fashion. Once a P.O. is issued and passed along to the Assigning Secretary the majority of the work is done. Near the conclusion of the season the school will receive an invoice referencing the already-issued purchase order number. The Athletic Director simply verifies and approves the amount shown and forwards it to Accounts Payable for processing. Then, it is off to the next sport.