Characteristics of a valid invoice

No Purchase Order No Pay Policy

Account NI will implement a “No Purchase Order, No Pay” policy from 1st April 2025.

A valid Account NI Purchase Order (PO) number must be noted on invoices before submitting to Account NI who will arrange for it to be paid.

Invoices received which do not quote a valid Account NI PO number will be rejected and therefore not paid.

Please ensure you are provided with a PO number when goods or services are requested.

Sometimes a number of invoices have to be rejected as they are not valid. To help Account NI process invoices quickly, follow the following good invoicing practice.

What is a valid invoice

Valid invoices are those which are legible, from which a clear scanned image can be produced, and which clearly show the following information:

(a) the department being billed

(b) the 10 digit Purchase Order number which will be provided when goods or services are requested by a department

(c) the invoice number, or where a utility bill, the account number

(d) payment terms

(e) invoice date / tax point

(f) supplier name, address, postcode and VAT registration number

(g) remittance name and address where this is different to (f) above

(h) goods / service details which match the PO details, including quantity billed, item description, unit of measure, unit price and total value

(i) the agreed charge, including any discounts, handling and freight charges and a breakdown clearly showing each VAT amount and the applicable VAT rate (and where not complete, a breakdown of the relevant work or services as they relate to this charge or an explanation of a difference in expected charge)

Ensure that your invoice / credit note is legible, especially if handwritten (our preference is for typewritten). In addition, ensure that it is not:

• printed on dark paper
• printed in a colour of ink that is difficult to scan, such as purple
• stapled, as this also creates problems for scanning