Comptroller's Office  Policies and Procedures Manual
Effective: 01/01/2012	Revised: 03/09/2012

CMP 425-02: Foreign Wire Payments

To describe policies and procedures for sending foreign wire payments.

University policy

All university Dept/Units

Foreign wire transfers can be processed if other forms of payment are not accepted by the vendor (e.g., check or purchasing card). Foreign wire payments must be processed through the Accounts Payable department according to the procedures outlined in the procedure section below.  Prior to purchasing goods/services from a foreign vendor through Accounts Payable, the   vendor must submit the necessary Nonresident Alien forms and be registered in the Advantage Financial System according to NAU policy CMP 425-01: Nonresident Alien Independent Contractors and Other Foreign Entities. 

If the purchase of goods or services from a foreign vendor cannot be made on a purchasing card (see see the Purchasing Card web page), the goods and/or services can be purchased through an Requisition document (RQS) or Departmental Purchase Order document (PD) in accordance with NAU Purchasing Policy. In addition, if the payment is travel related (e.g., conference registration), the purchase can be made through a Travel Authorization document (TA). To request that the purchase order be paid by a foreign wire transfer departments need to do the following:

1. On the RQS or PD document (see purchasing guidelines on which document to use), departments must enter the special instruction code 94 – Foreign Wire Transfer on the special instructions page.  In addition, departments must pay close attention to the Object and Sub Object code they are using on their RQS or PD document.  If services provided by the vendor are performed outside of the United States, a 1099 reportable Object/Sub Object code should not be used (lookup both codes on the OBJ and SOBJ page codes respectively or see Object/Sub Object List). 
2. If the payment is to be made in a foreign currency, departments will need to estimate the USD amount on their RQS or PD document based on foreign currency conversion websites such as Oanda.com.
3. If the Foreign Currency Wire Transfer Request form isn't on file with the Purchasing Department, it must be completed and sent to Purchasing at least 3 days prior to requesting that the vendor invoice be processed by Accounts Payable. This form must be complete and legible or it will be returned to the department/vendor (please fill form electronically if at all possible).
4. Vendor invoices forwarded to Accounts Payable must include a note to pay by foreign wire transfer.
5. If Accounts Payable does not know to process the invoice for payment by foreign wire transfer by 1 & 2 above, the payment will go out as a check.  
6. The invoice processed through Accounts Payable will include a wire processing fee of between $15 and $35.  In addition, if payment is in a foreign currency, the wire amount in USD will reflect the exchange rate at the time the wire was processed.  Both the wire fee and any foreign exchange fees will be processed as an over/under payment on the Invoice document (IN) against the purchase order accounting lines.

For purchasing transactions information, see the Purchasing Services Policies and Procedures Manual. Or contact the Purchasing Services Office at 523-4557.CMP 401-01: Disbursement Methods
CMP 425-01: Nonresident Alien Independent Contractors and Other Foreign Entities