Key Financial Controls

Once a departmental project has been established, the Departmental Administrator has overall responsibility for ensuring that expenditure via the “departmental project” is effectively managed within approved budgets and funding.

The set up and amendment of departmental projects, awards & budgets, and project closedown is the responsibility of the department’s Divisional Office.

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

  1. A joint decision is made between the Department and its Divisional Office on whether a collection of costs should be controlled by a departmental project in accordance with the process.
  2. The request to set up a department project must be authorised and signed by the Departmental Administrator.
  3. Project expenditure follows the University regulations and processes for purchasing and expenses incurred, and is continually monitored against budget and funding.
  4. Departmental Administrators must ensure that completed projects are reconciled in respect of expenditure and cash received, and closed on time, with the completed closedown form submitted to the Divisional Office.

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 Departmental Projects process:

Staff entering individual project transactions into Oracle Financials should not also be responsible for the authorisation, management, or reconciliation of the project, nor should they be responsible for the set up, maintenance, or closedown of the project

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