In a typical year the Accounts Payable team processes 140,000 transactions with 30,000 vendors and handles $1.35 billion in payments. In order to process this volume of activity, the systems-driven AP team works continuously to improve efficiencies and streamline processes. The staff is structured to ensure first-rate customer service through cross-trained teams and overall depth on the bench.
A major contributor to overall efficiency is reducing the number of paper checks printed and mailed to vendors. AP has been ahead of the curve on electronic payment processes, handling Automated Clearing House (ACH) payments for more than 13 years. The team actively encourages vendors to accept ACH payments—today 55% of all payments are electronic.
The volume of international payments has changed significantly in recent years—from three per month in 2012 to now more than fifty per week. AP has staff and systems in place to wire multiple payments across the globe, every day.
In addition to processing domestic and foreign payments, the AP team is responsible for non-payroll tax reporting for vendors, generating 1099-MISC and 1042-S Forms for non-payroll taxable payments.
The MIT community relies on Accounts Payable for timely, accurate, and efficient payments to outside vendors and employee reimbursements. Processing payments on time contributes to a positive working relationship between departments and vendors. And since AP processes a payment run at 3:15 pm, every business day, most employee reimbursements are direct-deposited into employees’ bank accounts in one to two business days.