Jessica, I just provided advice very similar to this to one of our
customers! Generally speaking, accounts payable records can be treated as
their own record series independent of the contract record series. That is
because they are conducted via a business process that verifies their
accuracy and completeness, subject to annual fiscal audits. Contract series,
in contrast, are primarily focused on ensuring compliance with the terms of
the specific contract.

One area of caution, however, relates to grant funded contracts,
particularly related to client based services, or client based services in
general (ie medical clinics, jails). You may need to prove the payment was
made and the service received when its time to close the grant, or if it is
audited. I'm told in our system that is done via the general ledger system,
however, there was a time when it wasn't. Even so, its not uncommon to see
such payment records included in client case records as a record of services
received, as often audits are conducted on a client by client basis, not
necessarily on an overall payment basis where client payments may be
aggregated into a larger periodic billing. Such audits may relate not to
grant/fiscal compliance - they may relate to organization accreditation -
JACHO, for example. Payment records may not be the best method to provide
that evidence, but they may be what the organization is using for various
reasons, such as resource limitations, or even just poorly thought out
processes (kind of like using time sheets as a payroll register).
-- 
Dwight Wallis, CRM
Multnomah County Records Management Program
1620 SE 190th Avenue
Portland, OR 97233
ph: (503)988-3741
fax: (503)988-3754
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