GENERAL / INTRO

Information is available from IOE’s Finance Department.

GENERAL / INTRO

The Unit Director has overall responsibility for all the finances of the Unit, and delegates much of the day-to-day management of the finances to the Faculty Research Manager who is assisted by the Faculty Research and Consultancy Administrator.

All paper work relating to finance (invoices, etc) should be approved by the Project Director and then processed via the Faculty Research and Consultancy Administrator.

GENERAL / INTRO

Annual procedures for keeping accounts are broken down and are available via the Faculty Research Manager

These include:

• Nominal codes
• Project codes
• Annual timetable
• Daily financial administration – processing invoices/ statements/ expenses claims/ fees forms/ time sheets
• Management of unit finances
• Using the financial database
• Description of unit accounts

The Faculty Research and Consultancy Administrator also has procedures for filing invoices and statements from suppliers.

GENERAL / INTRO

Staff must use project budget codes for all purchasing. If staff members receive any invoices these should be forwarded to the Faculty Research and Consultancy Administrator with the relevant information (contact name, budget code and an explanation of the invoice).

Staff at SSRU should inform the Faculty Research and Consultancy Administrator (or cc them into emails) when they order items and services through other departments, so that the Faculty Research and Consultancy Administrator can keep track of expenditure on projects.

CODES (PROJECT, POST, NOMINAL ETC)

The Institute has a system of codes for:

• Projects
• Types of expenditure (staffing etc) – known as ‘Nominal Codes’
• Post

CODES (PROJECT, POST, NOMINAL ETC)

see IoE

CODES (PROJECT, POST, NOMINAL ETC)

CODES (PROJECT, POST, NOMINAL ETC)

Staff should use Project codes when making expenses claims, purchases etc.

All outgoing post should be marked with the appropriate Post code. (see IoE Policy)

EXPENSES

See Purchasing (below)

EXPENSES

For all expenses to be formally approved by those responsible for that budget.

Wherever possible, purchases should go through IoE's purchasing procedures (see Purchasing below). Other expenses can be claimed retrospectively by staff.

EXPENSES

Procedures outlined are available via the Unit Administrative Officer or the Faculty Research and Consultancy Administrator.

EXPENSES

The Unit does not hold any petty cash, so staff must meet expenses themselves and claim the money back.

If you are unsure about what should be ordered through Purchasing and what can be bought by individuals and claimed via expenses, contact the Faculty Research and Consultancy Administrator.

Where this is not possible, the Faculty Research and Consultancy Administrator can arrange for a cheque to be raised. Expenditure needs prior approval by the Project Director.

Only forms with full details of expenditure and reasons for expenditure will be approved by the Unit (‘travel to Cambridge’, for example, is not sufficient).

Expenses forms are available for downloading. (NB There are different forms for claiming expenses for external people – eg for travel expenses to a meeting).

Complete using the guidelines on the form.

Your Project Director should sign the form to indicate they approve the claim, before you pass it to the Faculty Research and Consultancy Administrator for processing.

Make sure your name and project code are clearly on the form.

DEVOLVED BUDGETS

DEVOLVED BUDGETS

UNIT DEVELOPMENT FUND

The Unit has a Development Fund, which, although limited in scope, can be used for project development, staff support and staff development (eg conference fees).

See Professional Development.

DEVOLVED BUDGETS

DEVOLVED BUDGETS

UNIT DEVELOPMENT FUND

All requests to use this fund must be directed to a member of UMC in the first instance. Decisions are made by UMC.

RESEARCH FUNDING

See Research proposals

RESEARCH FUNDING

RESEARCH FUNDING

RESEARCH FUNDING

PURCHASING AND USE OF PURCHASED ITEMS

Information about the IoE Purchasing department can be accessed via the website.

PURCHASING AND USE OF PURCHASED ITEMS

Staff wishing to make purchases can do so as long as: it is required, the Project Budget can cover the amount, and they have the approval of their Project Director

All purchasing must take place through the Institute's purchasing system, which includes a process of gaining authorisation by the relevant budget holder.

Unless specified stated as different by a funder, all purchases become the property of the Unit and should be registered with the Unit Administrative Officer and their location recorded (i.e. in the seminar room / in XX office).

At the end of the period of funding, the equipment can be used for any Unit work, although the Unit would in many cases wish the equipment to be used to further the area of work for which it was originally bought.

In addition the Unit subscribes to a limited number of journals of relevance to our research. These are available in the seminar rooms for use by staff.

These should not be removed except for photocopying.

PURCHASING AND USE OF PURCHASED ITEMS

Procedures for purchasing via the IoE purchasing dept are available from the Unit Administrative Officer.

Issues to consider further:

Procedure for cataloguing purchases

PURCHASING AND USE OF PURCHASED ITEMS

Staff wishing to purchase anything for their project (including travel) should first get the approval of their Project Director who is responsible for ensuring their Project Budget covers the full cost.

They should speak to the Unit Administrative Officers or who will liaise with the IoE purchasing department. They must provide full details of what they require and the appropriate budget code.

Staff can access publications and research equipment held by the Unit via the Unit Administrative Officer. These include publications filed in the Unit’s seminar rooms and a variety of tape recorders and transcribers, kept in the locked cupboard in the basement of 18 Woburn Square.

Staff should only remove journals from the seminar rooms for the purpose of photocopying articles and must return them immediately.

If staff would like to request any change to the journals to which the unit subscribes they should speak to a member of UMC and this will be discussed at the next meeting.

SPENDING PLANS

NEEDS UPDATING

The Institute allows each Unit or School a £10k net variance per annum from the agreed annual financial plan without reference to the IoE's Finance Officer. The net variance does not relate to salary or funded research accounts. If the Unit is likely to exceed this net variance the Finance Officer must be informed at the earliest possible opportunity. 

SPENDING PLANS

NEEDS UPDATING

Individuals who hold budgets outside of core staffing or funded research budgets (eg arising from Project Directors’ overheads) must produce annual spending plans to allow the Unit to monitor spending. 

Much of the net variance allowed by IoE is likely to be caused by expenditure from brought-forward balances allocated to individuals within the Unit. Each summer term all individual budget holders are informed of their current available funds and are asked to provide a spending plan detailing their known and expected income and expenditure for the coming year. At the end of the calendar year staff are asked to make any amendments to allow updating of the Unit’s projections.

SPENDING PLANS

Administrative procedures and related timelines are available from the Faculty Research and Consultancy Administrator.

SPENDING PLANS

See Unit Policy