Gary Jones, Finance Division’s Senior Finance Business Partner

As the end of the financial year approaches on 31 July many of us will begin taking our holidays or working off-campus. We speak to the Finance Division’s Senior Finance Business Partner, Gary Jones, about issues to be aware of at this busy time.

What do I need to remember about my financial responsibilities when travelling or working off-campus?

If you’re a frequent traveller or are travelling overseas for work purposes it may make sense for you to have a purchasing card for necessary purchases, rather than using the out-of-pocket expenses process. Information on how to apply for a purchasing card and what you can use it for, can be found on our website.

If you incur out-of-pocket expenses when travelling on University business, don’t forget that you can download the expenses app to help you prepare your claims. Remember to capture a clear and complete image of your receipts electronically as soon as you have them - it’s easy to do this with the app. This helps budget holders understand and authorise claims and ensures that receipts are available for HMRC and research funders. If receipts are not attached - or not clear - the budget holder will reject the claim back to you for re-submission. Information about the app and claiming for expenses can be found on our website.

Please note that University travel insurance is also a requirement for all University business travel overseas, or an overnight stay in the UK. Find out more about this on our travel insurance webpage.

What about financial responsibilities to colleagues still on campus?

If you’re a budget holder and working away from campus, you can still use our authorisation app for purchase order requisitions and out-of-pocket expense claims. However, if you’re on leave or have no access to the Finance System you must delegate someone to action these tasks - and others like invoices approvals or purchasing card transaction coding. Staff often contact us for help because they can’t get something urgent authorised.

Likewise, if you are responsible for goods receipting or purchasing card transaction coding in your area, you must ensure that a substitute is delegated to action these tasks when you are away from the office.

Setting up and activating a delegated authority is simple - all the information is online. But it’s worth remembering that each new delegated authority you set up will need to be signed off by your Head of School or Director of Service - and the Director of Finance - before they can be created. So don’t leave it to the last minute!

With the improvements we’ve put in place this year, suppliers should now be sending invoices directly to Finance. If you’re still receiving invoices in your inbox, you should remind the supplier of the correct process – you can send them our Faster Payment Guide. Invoices sitting in inboxes while staff are on leave can delay payment to the supplier. If you’re on campus and receive an invoice from a supplier, please forward an electronic copy to invoices@sussex.ac.uk.

What’s the one thing people often forget about?

Other people’s holidays! Over summer, we often see that suppliers can take a long time to provide the information needed to get set up on our systems so we can buy from them. Again, it’s best to plan ahead for this so they are set up in plenty of time. Don’t forget that you can check the status of a new supplier proposal you have submitted by logging in to the supplier network at any time without having to contact Finance. All the guidance you need to set up a new supplier on the network can be found on our webpage.

Similarly, you’ll need to plan ahead if you usually rely on a colleague to make purchases for you with a University purchasing card and check that there is holiday cover from another card holder. Our Finance Service Desk can tell you who else in your area has a card.

If you need to request a new card, all the information and forms are online. Applications for new cards will need to be signed off and can take up to 14 days from when Finance receive the request to get the card from the provider – so please plan ahead.

The University’s financial year ends on 31 July – what does this mean?

It means that after 31 July, the University’s financial records for the year will be closed and Finance colleagues will begin an intensive period preparing financial statements and returns which will be audited and submitted to the Office for Students.

To ensure that income and expenditure is recorded in the right year and doesn’t cause overspends this year - or impact next year’s budgets - it’s important that all staff and budget holders make sure any outstanding 2018/19 financial transactions are processed by the deadlines on our website.  

If you are a budget holder or raise requisitions or sales orders, you should have received an email letting you know what needs to be done by when. If you haven’t received this please contact our Finance Service Desk.

Where can staff find out more?

Despite best plans we know that things can go wrong. If you need help on any of the issues I’ve mentioned, please contact the Finance Service Desk.