Financial Services

How to deposit funds
Funds flow into the University in a variety of ways and for a variety of purposes. (Tuition, Bookstore, RAC, etc). The source and purpose of all funds received (cash, cheques, bank transfers, credit/debit cards) must be documented and recorded in Ryerson’s’ cash record system. Proper accounting procedure dictates that receipts should be issued for all sales and that there should be segregation of duties in receiving, depositing and verifying receipts. Each department is responsible for assuring that revenues are properly recorded and posted on the ledger and that an adequate audit trail exists

1. Cash, Cheques, Money Orders
2. Wire transfer
3. U.S. Exchanges
4. NSF
5. Faculty and Staff cash office
6. Who to contact
7. Petty cash policy
8. Petty cash form
9. Banking policy

How to invoice external clients
Accounts Receivable is responsible for billings initiated by the University. All University departments that provide goods and/or services to customers on a credit basis or are involved with invoicing sales, services are required to utilize the central system under the administration of Financial Services.As part of these responsibilities, Accounts Receivable provides the billing departments with support in managing the receivables, including aging reports, and collection. The billing process is summarized below:
Billing departments are responsible to ensure that charges are billed to the appropriate client, addressed to the appropriate responsible person in the client’s operation, and quote the correct contract number, Purchase Order, or other identifying elements. Transaction of $50 and less are payable by cash, cheque or credit card. Charges greater than $50 are invoiced to customer according to University procedures established. Billing departments provide electronic files in the format mandated by A/R. Accounts Receivable will send invoices directly to client, unless otherwise specified with the billing department.
All revenues from billing are credited to the originating department upon issue of the invoice.
Customers are requested to send all payments directly to the Accounting and Treasury unit of Financial Services. Standard term of payment is 30 days from the invoice date. In the event payment is mistakenly sent to the department providing the good or service, it should be forwarded immediately for proper processing and receipting.
Accounts Receivable will also send monthly statements directly to clients, and from time to time send other types of reminders to the clients regarding outstanding invoices, unless otherwise specified by the billing department not to do so. Aging accounts receivable reports will be sent to all billing departments monthly, on the first week of the month.
Accounts Receivable will communicate with all external clients with balances over 30days past due.
Any issues related to the original billing or the goods/services provided will be communicated to the billing department via e-mail. Resolution of these items is the responsibility of the billing department. Unpaid and unresolved outstanding invoices over 365 days will be automatically written off, by debiting the original billing department’s account Departments will be advised 20 days prior to that date that a write-off is pending.
Invoices may be referred to collection agencies if necessary. In these circumstances, the proceeds net of agency fees will be credited upon successful collection of the invoice.
Ryerson's clients communicate with Ryerson in a variety of ways - in person; telephone; letters (Canada Post, courier, registered mail) fax or electronically via e-mail. Ryerson's official means of communication with our students is e-mail and we are implementing electronic communications with our Accounts Receivable Trade Billing clients effectively February 1,2009.
The objective are to improve efficiency, reduce cost and minimize lost mail. All Account Receivable invoices will be sent out as an attachment with the e-mail. If e-mail address is not available, it will be sent by fax. If customer declines both methods of delivery, the invoice will be mailed out using Canada Post.
Introducing these means of transmitting billings will mean that our clients will need to monitor and retrieve the Account Receivable email billings messages issued to them by the University from their online e-mail systems on a frequent and consistent basis. When you place an order for goods and services, our department representative will request your e-mail address for billing purposes.
Once an e-mail address is provided to the University for these purposes, our clients have a responsibility, as does the University, to recognize that communications may be time-critical and as such are responsible for ensuring that all electronic message communication sent to officially provided e-mail accounts is read and acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner.

1. Accounts Receivable policy
2. Who to contact
3. Invoice request form
4. Electronic Delivery of Billings to Clients

Debit & Credit card
Ryerson has arrangements for accepting debit/credit card payments via point of sale terminals, manual imprinting and over the internet. The facilities currently offered are debit card, VISA, MasterCard and Amex at selected location.
The departments are required to enter their deposits information to OGF in the same way and time period as the bank deposit to facilitate in the deposit reconciliation. We encourage daily deposits and posting.
a. Merchant Credit Card Programs:
Merchant terminals are supplied to self-financed departments who wish to offer the option of paying by Visa, MasterCard or American Express to their customers. These terminals provide automated authorization of credit and/or debit cards, consequently reducing charge backs and improving customer service. Full training on the use of these terminals will be provided once the new merchant number is created and the terminals are properly installed.
A manual imprinter or access to an electronic alternative will be furnished to departments who intend to offer credit card payments on a temporary basis (e.g.: for a conference).
The credit card companies charge merchants a fee equal to a percentage of their sales. (The discount rates are subject to change by Visa, MasterCard and American Express). In addition, there exists a monthly rental charge for permanent terminals plus taxes/month/machine. One-time phone line installation and monthly telecom phone rental charges also apply
Please note that all terminals have the capability to process either credit card, debit card or both types of transactions. Accounting and Treasury will coordinate with the provider the payment type that the department wishes to accept.
b. Debit Cards:
The debit card system will allow Ryerson customers to use their banking machine card from any major bank or other financial institution to pay for purchases. The debit card option is ideal for departments who collect most of their sales in person. Since less cash is handled, security is increased. All transactions are pre-authorized thereby reducing the possibility of returned items (NSF cheques, etc...). Debit cards have become staple in banking services and are often the preferred method of payment due to the convenience it offers to the customer.

Others:
1. Cash, Cheques, Money Orders
All departmental deposits are handled by Staff and Faculty Cash Office. (All tuition fee deposits are handled by Student Financial Office, Enrolment Services)
Please check your departmental account the next day to ensure amount deposited are posted correctly.
Do not use cash received on account of sales for petty cash purpose.
All cheques should be made payable to Ryerson University
Print or stamp at the back of each cheque with “For deposit only to Ryerson University” and the departmental accounts or student number or invoice number. In case of NSF, this can be easily traced back to the source.
Separate Canadian and US dollar cheques as well as collection items (e.g. US$ on Canadian accounts).

Funds received without a corresponding deposit document number, or with an incorrectly completed document, will not be credited to the departmental revenue account, but will be deposited in a suspense fund pending receipt of the necessary information.
If you use deposit bag, please ensure the deposit slips are properly filled, a copy tied to the corresponded deposit and a copy keep for your reference.

2. Outgoing/Incoming Electronic Wire Transfers:
The Accounting and Treasury office of the Financial Services Department can arrange for outgoing electronic transfers to reach their destination within 24-72 hours, depending on the currency and destination desired. Other delays may be experienced in the cases where the transfer is not in the currency of the recipient country. Therefore, it is recommended that departments seek advice from the Treasury Officer as to the most expedient routing prior to making a commitment to transfer funds. Requests for bank transfers must be forwarded to the Treasury Officer from the Accounts Payable staff. The "pay to" section of the payment request must include the destination bank name and address, SWIFT (BIC) Code for EU payments, and for all other destinations the Bank Identifier #: (Bank Code, Transit #, and Routing #), in addition to the suppliers’ name, address, and bank account number, or IBAN or (Mexico-CLABE) number.
Incoming wire transfers are received by Accounting and Treasury group of the Financial Services Department on a daily basis. It is important to educate payors to provide details to reduce delays of receipt and to make payments easily identifiable. Details such as Ryerson's bank account number and name, bank branch and address, as well as the reference number or purpose of the transfer must be furnished by the initiating party. Whenever possible, payments in Canadian or U.S. funds should be encouraged. Please contact the Accounting and Treasury staff for more information.

3. U.S. Exchanges
Whenever possible, remittances (cheque deposits, wire transfers) in Canadian or US funds, drawn on a Canadian or US bank respectively, should be encouraged since the University holds bank accounts in both of these funds. Cheques in other foreign currencies must be presented by the University to the bank upon which it is drawn. This usually takes longer to clear the banking system.

Cheques in currencies that are not drawn on a bank of that country (i.e. collection items) may take two to three months for processing and are subject to large bank processing fees. No University fund will be credited until funds have been received by the University from the bank.

4. NSF Deposited cheques
NSF Deposited cheques may be rejected by the bank for the following reasons: insufficient funds (NSF), payment stopped, post/stale dated, account closed, change not initialed, body and figures differ, funds frozen/not cleared, and signature(s) are irregular/required/illegible/unauthorized. A rejected cheque, with a memo of explanation, will be returned to the originating department for follow-up with the payee. At the same time, Financial Services will reverse the amount that was originally credited with the funds will be charged the same amount. These delays can be avoided by ensuring that all cheque information is accurate before accepting a payment.

5. Faculty and Staff cash office
Our Location: POD-66

Note: Effective Jan.2012 the Faculty and Staff hours of operation have changed. 

Our Hours:
Monday - Thursday 10:30 - 3:30
Friday 12:00 - 3:30

Our Services
Petty cash under $100.00/per day as per policy - a petty cash reimbursement form is required with receipts attached.
Paycheque and Pay stub pickup - ID is required. If someone is picking up a paycheque or paystub on your behalf, a letter of authorization is needed for the pick up
Expense cheque pickup
Deposits: When making deposits please use deposit slips. Extras are available at our office for your convenience.
Please ensure the entire account number and amount is included and legible.
We only accept CDN and US Funds. US Funds must be identified separately.
Include a contact and extension on deposit slip in case the Faculty and Staff office needs to get in contact with you regarding your deposit.

For departments that drop off deposit bags for Securicor pickup, the cost of purchasing deposit bags is $80.00/100 bags