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29 Jul 2015: Where applications are successful the sponsor will send an ‘Award Letter’ notifying the Research Operations Office and the applying Principal Investigator (PI). If the department of the PI receive a copy directly from the sponsor they should

23 Jul 2015: Cognos reports for monitoring grant expenditure at institutional level are available, including a summary report which provides an overview of grants expenditure and remaining budget on active awards. Furthermore, once-off, bespoke Cognos reports

5 Aug 2015: To maintain a level of timeliness and good housekeeping within the Supplier database, suppliers who have not been used for over 18 months, and have had no activity, are classed as Inactive. This applies only where there are no open Purchase Orders

5 Aug 2015: If you come across an invoice that states the payment should be processed to a factoring company, then process the invoice as normal against the actual invoicing company. However, check to ensure that the supplier has been set up with a site named

12 Aug 2015: The Departmental Administrator and the Principal Investigator will be notified by email once the grant has been activated by the School Team in the Research Operations Office The activation notice will include a link to the sponsor’s terms and

12 Aug 2015: Costs can only be incurred during the active period of research, i.e. after the start date and before the end date of the grant. After the end date, purchases can be charged if the goods were physically received before the end date. The start date

12 Aug 2015: All departments have access to Cognos, as well as reports within the UFS Grants Module, enabling them to view the latest financial position on their grants.

23 Jul 2015: When transferring costs between sources of funds, it is recommended that the transfer should use the original transaction code wherever possible. However should this not be practical then the generic transfer code of EZXX can be used, but must be

5 Aug 2015: Each department should designate two individuals to be responsible for requesting new suppliers or amendments. However, many staff may simply require the Supplier database to view suppliers and this is available to anyone with UFS access.

5 Aug 2015: BACS payments All Sterling University Suppliers are paid via BACS (Bankers Automated Clearing System). This is an electronic payment system whereby money can be paid directly into a supplier's UK bank account on a specified day, without the need to

31 Mar 2015: Department's responsibilities iProcurement When raising a requisition select an appropriate category code – non catalog items eg. %equipment. The track as asset box can be ticked at requisition level which will pull through to the Accounts Payable

11 Aug 2015: The full economic costing methodology was adopted for costing all research grant proposals in September 2005.

12 Aug 2015: Any external audit requirements will be included in the terms and conditions of each award. External audits will be arranged by ROO and auditors may need to visit departments to check invoices and payroll information. ROO will contact departments to

23 Jul 2015: The primary purpose when monitoring expenditure against a budget is to ensure that expenditure does not exceed either the budget, or its planned or received income. The first problem is how to spot where expenditure has, or will, exceed the budget.

5 Aug 2015: If the distribution is incorrect when matching an invoice to a PO, the changes should be made at the invoice processing stage If you feel the PO distributions require altering then: • Within AP, match the PO to the invoice as normal (with the

23 Jul 2015: Where finances can be managed using UFS this is the most efficient way. However, there may be times when off-line systems can add further detail/clarity. For example, trust fund managers may choose to record a simple budget for the fund on an Excel

5 Aug 2015: From April 2015, HMRC changed the rules as to how VAT should be accounted for on invoices with a prompt payment discount. Prior to the change, VAT would always be calculated on the discounted value irrespective of whether the discount was actually

29 Jul 2015: When funds are received from a body external to the university, the following criteria are used to determine if those funds can be classed as a research grant or should be recorded as something else eg. a donation.

12 Aug 2015: Credit checks The credit control team within Research Accounting credit-check all new sponsors for credit worthiness where possible. Existing sponsors are monitored regularly.

23 Jul 2015: Budgets should be input to UFS on the same transaction codes to which actual expenditure will be coded, as far as possible, otherwise meaningful analysis of Actual versus Budget expenditure is jeopardised at institutional, School and University level

23 Jul 2015: A commitment is an agreement or a pledge to assume a financial obligation at a future date e.g. the funds that we are committing to spend with a supplier when we send them a purchase order. UFS is a commitment accounting system.

4 Sep 2015: Transaction codes are used to define the nature of an item in a consistent manner across all departments. As well as income and expenditure transactions, they describe any brought forward balances and items that are recorded on the University’s

5 Aug 2015: Suppliers that have been entered more than once onto the Supplier database are identified and deactivated by the Accounts Payable (AP) Team. Suppliers that the University does not wish to trade with in the future, for example, companies that have

6 Aug 2015: On this page: The three tests for medical exemption Qualifying equipment List of goods eligible for Medical Exemption Services: hire, repair etc.

12 Aug 2015: Departments charge expenditure (excluding Staff costs, Pooled labour, Overheads and Non-direct costs) using UFS iProcurement and Accounts Payables (AP) modules. When charging expenditure in these modules you need to enter the award, project and task

23 Jul 2015: The primary consideration when budgeting for a non-Chest activity is to ensure that expenditure does not exceed the funds available. Therefore, the best place to start when budgeting for a non-Chest activity is to calculate the income available.

12 Aug 2015: The University Procurement Procedures must be followed for the purchase of all items of equipment and the ‘Track as Asset’ box in AP checked for all purchases over £5,000 (including non-recoverable VAT).

12 Aug 2015: Each department has a suspense project and award with the format RG00000 (dept cost centre) for the award code and dept cost centre/000 for the project code. Eg. RG00000 (EWAG) EWAG/000 The suspense account is used for posting expenditures which

23 Jul 2015: A variance is the difference between actual and budgeted income and expenditure. Therefore, at the University, we only get variances in GL (General Ledger) on Chest funded activities. For all other sources of funds budgetary control will be

10 Aug 2015: Module closes at 5pm on Wednesday 7 August Essential Tasks Final date for completion Physical stock take (all institutions with stores) Wed 31 Jul Update Inventory balances with the results of stock take Wed 7 Aug Process all receipts and issues

5 Aug 2015: Before completing a new supplier request, ensure that the supplier is not already on the Supplier database by using the search function.

1 Apr 2015: An appropriation in aid is a transfer of income from a trust fund to a departmental account, and is therefore a saving to the University Chest. These appropriations come under the following main categories.

23 Jul 2015: A budget is the financial representation of a planning process, usually annual. It is finalised before the beginning of a financial year and actual income and expenditure are measured against it as a means of reviewing performance and controlling

6 Aug 2015: Human blood and products for therapeutic purposes made of human blood, human (including foetal) organs or tissue for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes or medical research are exempt. Therefore no VAT is charge on the purchase and these purchases

6 Aug 2015: If we purchase something from a supplier in the UK who is not registered for VAT (normally because their turnover is too low), then they will not be able to charge the University VAT and hence the expenditure is entered as 'No UK VAT' on CUFS.

12 Aug 2015: Each research award will be activated within the UFS Grants module and given a unique award number, prefaced by RG or G. This will then be linked to a unique project number. It is helpful to quote the award RG/G number or project number in all

23 Jul 2015: Unlike most ‘for-profit’ organisations, funds allocated but unspent at the end of a financial year may in some cases (subject to rules) be carried forward in reserves for use in subsequent years. This allows institutions and Schools the

23 Jul 2015: The table below details those activities and sources of funds for which budgets are not created in UFS, unless your Finance Business Partner/Institution Finance Manager tells you otherwise. These activities are monitored by comparing Actual

23 Jul 2015: In general Chest budgets are set at the beginning of the financial year. It is the responsibility of the School Business Partners and institution heads of finance to organise the upload of institutional budgets, as detailed in the Blue Book, into UFS

6 Aug 2015: Cambridge University Technical Service (CUTS) is a wholly owned subsidiary of a Cambridge Enterprise Limited. By using CUTS, the University is able to avail of charitable tax reliefs to ensure that full economic benefit of profitable consultancy

2 Apr 2015: Departments should determine the appropriate source of funds code using the guidance in section Types of Donation for Accounting Purposes, complete the undertaking and return to CUDAR.

23 Jul 2015: There are four common reasons why actual expenditure or income will show a variance against the budget. 1. The cost is more (or less) than budgeted Budgets are prepared in advance and can only ever estimate income and expenditure. There are usually

2 Apr 2015: Before releasing a donation, CUDAR will check that the source of funds code is appropriate given the nature of the donation. They will then instruct the Finance Division to transfer the funds.

2 Apr 2015: Expenditure charged to a specific donation must meet the conditions specified by the donor. Responsibility for ensuring that the terms of specific donations are available for reference and are adhered to rests with the Head of Department.

31 Mar 2015: Fixed assets within the University are split into three specific categories and presented differently in the financial statements. Equipment Purchased by departments in the normal course of business, including from research grants.

1 Apr 2015: Calculate the cost of the activities of the trust over the forthcoming year. For salaries, do not forget to include on costs such as employer's NI and pension contributions, as well as the overhead charge.

2 Apr 2015: Donations are not available for investment or spending until they have been received and credited to an income account in the relevant Department.

2 Apr 2015: The procedures for authorisation of Trust Funds and Special Funds expenditure involve explicit approval by a Manager of the Fund and are set out in a separate chapter of the Financial Procedures Manual (Chapter 13 - Trust Funds).

2 Apr 2015: The Finance Division is responsible for the University's financial policies and accounting procedures: whereas, the Development and Alumni Relations (CUDAR) is responsible for the policy on the solicitation, acceptance and stewardship of

2 Apr 2015: When funds are released they will be credited to the specified department / cost centre / source of funds combination with a transaction code: LFDO "Donations transferred from Development Office" It will also include any interest that has been e