Sometimes perceived efficiencies installed to minimize bottlenecks in business processes can be costly over the long run. Do you know of districts that allow accounts payable staff to add new vendors to help ensure timely payments? This kind of arrangement is an example of emphasizing convenience at the expense of maintaining an adequate level of checks and balances. If this issue sounds familiar, it is recommended that the business department move the creation and maintenance of the vendor master file to another department or office, such as the purchasing department, or to an employee in the superintendent’s office in small enrollment school districts. In school districts of all enrollment sizes, the duties of adding new vendor records and editing vendor files need to be segregated from accounts payable staff involved in payment processing to help improve internal controls.
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