Account NI - Good Invoicing Practice

How to invoice Account NI

Account NI invoice processes

Account NI’s preferred method of payment is directly to a bank account via BACs. This is a more secure and convenient method than cheque for both Account NI and suppliers and we would encourage you to provide your bank details and avail of it.

You can ask for BACS payment to be made by emailing the following details servicedesk@accountni.gov.uk or through the relevant Departmental contact:

• bank or building society name and address
• account name
• account number
• ​sort code
• building society roll number (if applicable)
• remittance email address

You will receive a remittance advice by email or post. We make payments every working day and the advice will be sent out on the day after we make the payment. Where possible payments are made by BACs and will take a minimum of three days to arrive in your account.

In order to ensure a prompt payment, make sure you:

• send your invoice to the correct address
• ensure your invoice has valid characteristics

Account NI has taken steps to reduce invoice processing times to within 10 days of receipt of invoice for goods and services. Invoices are paid as soon as they have been fully authorised and quality assured by the departmental officials. This applies to all suppliers of goods and services but our existing contractual terms and conditions remain unchanged.

Yearly NICS prompt payment tables are available to view.

Suppliers can have orders emailed directly to them, this can be requested by emailing details to servicedesk@accountni.gov.uk or contacting the relevant ordering Department directly to update details on Account NI system.

Please contact Account NI if you have any further queries.

Where to send your invoices

To help Account NI process invoices quickly, ensure your invoices are sent to the correct address.

Ways to invoice Account NI

There are two main ways that invoices can be sent to Account NI; by email or post.

The preferred method is by email.

On no account should invoices be sent by both email and post.

By email

Dealing with Account NI electronically is both cheaper and faster.

To maximise the benefits of full electronic invoice processing ANI have introduced an e-Invoicing solution. There is some set up required to on-board suppliers to this solution, enquiries and requests for on-boarding should be sent to einvoicinginfo@accountni.gov.uk.

The solution is very straight forward and simply requires that all invoices are sent via email, in structured PDF format and that all invoices must quote a valid Account NI Purchase Order number (Note: valid Account NI order numbers are 10 digits in length and begin 6xxxxxxxxx). Invoice received in ANI without a Purchase Order number from an on-boarded supplier will be returned directly to the supplier.

On-boarded suppliers should send invoices to einvoicing@accountni.gov.uk. Invoices must be in structured pdf format and contain a valid ANI Purchase Order number.

Alternatively -

Invoices can be emailed to invoices@accountni.gov.uk. Invoices must be in either .pdf or .tif format.

On no account should invoices be sent to both email addresses

By post

Hard copy invoices can be sent to the relevant departmental PO Box detailed below -

Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs

Department of Education

Department for the Economy

Department of Finance

Department of Health

Department for Infrastructure

Department for Communities

Department of Justice

Public Prosecution Service

Northern Ireland Office

The Executive Office

Account NI - TEO
PO Box 1119
Belfast
BT1 9FY
Purchase Order Number: 611xxxxxxx

Characteristics of a valid invoice

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) where related to a purchase order (PO), the 10 digit PO number or where not related to a PO, the contact name in the department (the person requesting the goods)

(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