Key Financial Controls

The Departmental Administrator has overall responsibility for ensuring that departments issue timely, fully costed and complete sales documents and invoices where appropriate for goods and services provided.

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

  1. All sale prices to external customers reflect the full cost to the University.
  2. The Departmental Administrator approves the sales price of goods and services sold. All sales to employees, or sales priced at less than full cost, are authorized by the Head of Department / Unit.
  3. Customer orders, and/or payments, are received for all sales of goods and services before goods are dispatched or services carried out.
  4. Invoice cancellations, errors, and credits are properly controlled.
  5. Invoices are issued and paid on a timely basis and include all appropriate charges.

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 Sales of Goods and Services process:

  • Staff who authorize prices, the write off / down of debts, credits or adjustments, must not also raise / enter the applicable sales invoices, write-offs, credits, or adjustments in Oracle Financials.

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