SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT

FINANCE DEPARTMENT

Mission
The mission of the Finance Department is to provide effective financial services and professional
financial advice in support of the educational objectives of the College.

Objective of the Agreement

The purpose of this Service Level Agreement is to describe the key services we provide and the
quality standards we have agreed with our service users in terms of service delivery.

This Agreement sets out

• The services we provide to the Schools, other internal departments and external organisations
• The overall standard which we aim to achieve in the provision of our services
• A mechanism for resolving any problems relating to the delivery of the service.

Future reviews and amendments to this Service Level Agreement

This agreement will be reviewed annually with effect from 2010/11 as part of the annual planning
process and any changes will be agreed with service users. Changes made to this agreement will be
signed off by all parties annually.

Objectives of the Service

The broad objectives of the Finance Department are to provide a timely, efficient and cost-effective
service to all staff, students and external organisations by:

 Continuing to improve the level of operational efficiency of the Finance Department

 Maintaining effective working relationships with the rest of the College
 Continuing to improve the quality of financial information supplied to Schools and
Departments
 Meeting the deadlines set by external organisations such as HEFCE, HESA, Internal and
External auditors, USS, SAUL, HMRC etc
 Ensuring college-wide compliance with the Financial Regulations.

Responsibilities
The Finance Department is responsible for the complete range of duties associated with a medium
sized university finance department. These include the ‘Paymaster’ function, the accounting function,
the financial management and budgetary function and consists of the following sections:

-Income Office (including Cashier’s and Fees Collection)

-Payments
-Payroll and Pensions
-Research Grants and Contracts,
-Financial Accounting
-Management Accounting
-Admin Support.

Roles and Performance Standards

The Finance Department under the management of the Finance Director, Keith Willett Ext 3150 is
primarily responsible for:

 The maintenance of the accounting records of the College

 Preparing annual estimates and budgets and termly updates of income and expenditure for
consideration by the Strategic Planning Committee, Finance and General Purposes
Committee (F&GPC) and Governors
 Preparing 5-Year Financial Forecasts for consideration by F&GPC and Governors prior to
submission to HEFCE
 Developing and updating the annual IDM in collaboration with the Planning Office
 Management accounting and associated advice
 Monitoring and maintaining the liquidity of the College
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  The processing of financial transactions
 Safeguarding assets through adequate Insurance cover.

Income Office
Income Office Manager - Su Lomas Ext 6353, email: s.lomas@bbk.ac.uk

Main duties include:

 The collection, recording and banking of cash and cheques
 Bank reconciliations
 Providing a counter service for students and staff
 Debtors control
 Raising invoices for tuition fees
 Direct-debit payment arrangements
 Internal recharges - e.g. postage, photo unit, catering and telephone
 College insurance
 Catering Accounts.

Debt Collection
 Reminders will be sent out within 15 days of the payment due date and outstanding debts will
be chased at monthly intervals.

Banking
 General cheques and daily takings will be banked within 48 hours of receipt in the Finance
Department
 Large cheques in excess of £50,000 will be banked within 24 hours of receipt.

Batch Posting
 All batches of receipt forms will be input into the computer system within 7 working days of
batch preparation date.

Bank Reconciliations
 All College bank accounts will be reconciled monthly and be reviewed and signed by the
Income Accountant by the end of the following month
 Control accounts and Income suspense accounts will be reconciled monthly and be reviewed
and signed by the Income Accountant by the end of the following month.

Invoicing
 Sponsor invoices shall be issued within three weeks of notification to Fees Office
 Self-financed term invoices for existing students shall be issued before the start of term
 Fee collection rate to exceed 98% of “expected fees” receivable.

Control Account Reconciliations

 All control accounts will be reconciled and be reviewed and signed by the Income Accountant
by the end of the following month.

What we need from our service users

 Timely delivery of cash and cheque receipts to the Income section
 Complete and accurate information on sales invoice requests
 Forward all remittances to Income section with complete cost code.

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Payments Section – payments@bbk.ac.uk

Payments Officer – Amir Khan Ext 3140, email: amir.khan@bbk.ac.uk

Payments Assistant - Daniel Boston Ext 3140, email: d.boston@bbk.ac.uk
Payments Assistant – Dilani Caldera Ext 3140, email: d.caldera@bbk.ac.uk

Main duties include:

 Processing payment of supplier invoices
 Reimbursement of non-staff expenses
 Processing foreign currency payments
 Advances
 Rail travel arrangements
 Credit cards.

Batch Processing
 All supplier invoices arriving in Finance Department will be distributed to Schools and
Departments within 7 working days of receipt

 All batches received from Schools and Departments will be processed within 14 working days
of receipt.

Reconciliations
 Cancelled cheques account and Advances control account will be reconciled monthly and be
reviewed and signed by the Financial Accountant by the end of the following month.

Queries
 All telephone queries not resolved by the same day will be logged and answered within 5
working days
 Supplier reminders and written queries will be resolved within 14 working days of receipt.

What we need from our service users

 Maintain an up to date list of authorised signatories
 Adherence to Financial Regulations for raising Purchase Orders
 Collect New Supplier Details for verification by Payments Section
 Properly authorise and code invoices in accordance with financial regulations
 Send payments requests in a timely manner.

Payroll & Pensions

Payroll & Pensions Supervisor – Antony Adelaye Ext 3208, email: a.adelaye@bbk.ac.uk
Payroll and Pensions Officer - Susan To Ext 3136, email: s.to@bbk.ac.uk

Main duties include:

 Processing monthly salaries and part-time teachers
 Reimbursement of staff expenses
 Day to day administration of USS and SAUL superannuation schemes
 Processing payments including PAYE, NI and superannuation
 Liaising with HMRC regarding PAYE and National Insurance matters.

Payroll payments to part-time and sessional teachers

 All part-time and sessional teachers' claims arriving in the Finance Department on or before
the 5th of each month will be included in the monthly payroll and paid by the 27th of that
month.

Queries
 All telephone queries not dealt with on the same day will be logged and resolved within 5
working days

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  All written queries from members of staff, Inland Revenue and DNP will be answered within
14 working days of receipt.

Payroll Reconciliations
 All control accounts will be reconciled monthly and be reviewed and signed by the Financial
Accountant by the end of the following month
 Payroll year-end returns will be reconciled and submitted to the Inland Revenue by 19th May
of each year
 Year-end accruals in respect of outstanding pay awards and other claims will be prepared and
input onto the computer system by the middle of August each year.

Pensions
 Starters and Leavers - create permanent starter files and inform USS/SAUL by end of the
following month of new employee starting
 Close leaver files and inform USS/SAUL by end of the following month of employee leaving.

Queries
 Reply to all queries from individual members, USS, SAUL and other external bodies within 14
working days of receiving the query.

Pensions Reconciliations
 All control accounts will be reconciled and be reviewed and signed by the Financial
Accountant by the end of the following month
 USS/SAUL year-end returns will be prepared and reconciled within 6 weeks of the tax year-
end
 Annual schedule of salary changes to 31st March will be submitted to USS by 30th June each
year.

What we need from our service users

 Timely return of key payroll data including bank details on standard payroll forms
 Submit starter forms for all new sessionals and part-time teachers
 Adherence to payroll deadlines
 Complete receipts for expenses claims and proper authorisation by budget holders.

Research Grants and Contracts

Head of Research Grants & Contracts - Liz Francis Ext 3146, email: l.francis@bbk.ac.uk
Deputy Head of Research Grants & Contracts – Juan Vidal Ext 3141, email: j.vidal@bbk.ac.uk

Main duties include providing administrative, financial and support services related to externally
funded research projects and contracts for academic and research staff.

Research Funding Information

 Maintain website of funding policies, procedures and main funding bodies / schemes
applicable to Birkbeck.
 Distribute details of major funding opportunities to academic and research staff regularly
throughout the year.

Costings
 Grant computation requests shall be completed within 3 working days of receipt of full details
of resources required to undertake projects.
 Draft costings based on preliminary details will also be completed within 3 working days.
 RGCO is responsible for the maintenance of the pFACT costing and pricing system. Annual
FEC rates to be uploaded onto system within working 3 days of confirmation of rates – this will
be during early February.
 New users and funding bodies setup within 3 working days of receipt of request.

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Approval of applications
 Grant approvals through pFACT shall be checked and cleared through to the Executive Dean
within 3 working days of receipt. (Note that the Executive Dean and College Secretary also
require 3 working days for their approval stages, so in total 9 working days should be allowed
for the full approval process).

Expenditure claims
 Grant/Contract claims shall be submitted within six weeks of the period to which they relate, or
in accordance with funder’s terms and conditions, provided that all relevant information
regarding outstanding commitments has been provided by the department.

Training
 Provide training on research administration and pFACT on request.
 Organise visits from funding bodies.

Reporting
 Termly reports on current research funding and applications to Research Committee and
posted on website.
 Annual report on previous f/y Research Income to autumn term meeting of Research
Committee.
 Annual report to Finance and General Purposes Committee covering research funding trends
and KPIs of Research Income and application submissions.

What we need from our service users

 Timely requests for information and submission of proposals.
 pFACT approvals completed by Executive Dean or delegate within 3 working days of receipt,
or less if the approval has not been submitted to RGCO at least 9 days before the deadline.
 Only eligible expenditure charged to each project – RGCO can advise on this if requested.
 Accurate recording of financial transaction data including retaining all receipts.
 Towards the end of projects it is important that outstanding transactions are processed
promptly to Payments Section / Payroll, this should be done within 4 weeks of the end date of
the project period.
 Copy any correspondence with the funding body regarding the award to RGCO, e.g. award
letters, requests for extensions, etc.

Financial Accounting and Reporting

Director of Finance – Keith Willet Ext 3150, email: k.willett@bbk.ac.uk
Financial Accountant - Ian Doyle Ext 3143, email: i.doyle@bbk.ac.uk

Main duties include:

 Annual Budgets and Estimates and termly updates
 Treasury management, Cash-Flow Forecasts, Insurance, Catering Accounts, Taxation
including VAT, Corporation Tax, PSAs & Section 16 Reporting for Income Tax, internal
recharges
 Financial Statements, HEFCE/HESA Finance Returns
 Annual Accountability Returns
 HEFCE Five-Year Financial Forecasts
 Account Codes structure.

Year-End Accounts
 The Financial Statements will be submitted to Governors for formal approval at their
November meeting after they have been presented to Audit Committee and F&GPC
 The HEFCE/HESA Finance Returns, Annual Accountability Returns and HEFCE Five-Year
Financial Forecasts will be submitted by the relevant due dates.

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What we need from our service users
 Requests for year-end accruals data to be received by the due date
 School/Department fixed asset registers to be regularly updated for year-end accounting.

Management Accounting and Reporting

Head of Management Accounts - Mike Devereux Ext 3142, email: m.devereux@bbk.ac.uk
FEC/TRAC Accountant – Neil Chamberlain-Keen Ext 3217, email: n.chamberlain-keen@bbk.ac.uk
Costing & Pricing Accountant - Svetla Mirova Ext 3147, email: s.mirova@bbk.ac.uk
Assistant Management Accountant – June Molloy Ext 3148, email: j.molloy@bbk.ac.uk

Main duties include:

 Setting devolved School and Departmental pay and non-pay budgets
 Providing Financial Management service to Schools and Professional Services.
 Annual Budgets will be entered onto the accounting system by the first quarter of each
financial year and be available for User run Finance Reports
 Preparation of TRAC and TRAC(T) annual returns
 FEC costing
 Developing and updating the IDM

Admin Support

PA/Departmental Secretary - Lucy Fernandes Ext 3145, email: l.fernandes@bbk.ac.uk

Main duties include:

 Maintenance of Finance Web pages including all downloadable forms
 Maintenance of archive and organisation of filing and data retention.
 Production and distribution of Annual Report & Accounts
 Admin and secretarial support
 General Queries

Other Items
Departmental meetings are held regularly during which work-related matters are discussed.
Additionally the detailed work in progress of each section is monitored through meetings between the
senior staff and the sections for which they are responsible.

Ad hoc training seminars are held in the Finance Department so that staff are kept up to date with
developments in good financial practice. Similarly College-wide training seminars are planned on
various aspects of financial administration such as financial regulations and procedures,
departmental budget reports, superannuation etc.

An important element of quality control is achieved through independent internal and external audit
investigations and from routine inspections from the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise. Audit
reports following each visit are discussed by the Audit committee. Management statistics of the
financial health of the College are reported annually to HEFCE.

As with all other sections of the Administration, the Finance Department has to work to strict
deadlines often imposed upon it by circumstances outside its control. For example payroll input has
to be processed within timescales imposed by the HR/Payroll system in order that staff can be paid in
a specific pay period.

What we need from our service users

Report broken web links.

Key Performance Indicators

The Finance Department aims to provide a high quality, professional, efficient and cost-effective
service that meets the requirements of the College and external stakeholders. We will report annually
on performance against the KPIs outlined against each of the Finance functions listed above.

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Customer Feedback
We welcome constructive feedback on the services provided by the Department. Comments should
be sent to individual section managers and copied to the Director of Finance. We will carry out an
annual survey, in the form of a user questionnaire, of the effectiveness of payroll and payments
services.

Complaints
Please refer to the core service level agreement for the complaints procedure.

Date of Agreement
(insert date)

Signatories to Agreement
(include details of all parties to the agreement - all parties should sign this agreement)