Managing Capital Projects: Key Financial Controls

The project manager has overall responsibility for ensuring that expenditure on a University capital project are effectively managed within approved budgets and funding.

Identified below are the key financial controls that must be complied with.

  1. All capital projects must be reviewed and authorised in line with the process; the project funding must be established and agreed; and approval for the project to go ahead given by the appropriate authorities in accordance with Financial Regulations.
  2. Project expenditure follows the University regulations and processes for purchasing and expenses incurred, and is continually monitored against budget and funding.
  3. Post Implementation reviews are carried out for completed capital projects within a reasonable time after the end of the project.

Segregation of duties

One of the key financial control principles to be adopted in all University finance processes is the need to ensure no single member of staff completes all stages of any particular process. This principle requires an adequate 'segregation of duties' when designing work flows. As an example in the Managing Capital Projects process:

  • Staff responsible for the authorisation, management, or reconciliation of a project should not also enter individual project transactions onto Oracle financials.

For further advice on this subject please contact Financial Assurance Services.