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UFS

 

Weekly Bulletin No. 807

Week Commencing Monday 3rd February

Marketplace Unavailable – Monday 3rd February  2020

Please be advised of an upcoming period of maintenance scheduled to take place on the Marketplace from 6:30pm to 8:30 pm Monday 3rd February
2020.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Issued by Heather Twinn - eProcurement Administrator

 

Vulnerable Period Heading

Supplier Database 

The supplier database will be unavailable during the vulnerable period of 7am to 9am on Tuesday 4th February.

Online Expense Form

The online expense form  will be unavailable during the vulnerable period of 7am to 9am on Tuesday 4th February.

This time will be used for system maintenance.

Issued by Rebecca Darlow - Functional Analyst
 
General Finance heading

Cyber Attack - Phishing emails 

University @admin and @cam accounts continue to be targeted by Phishing emails.

Phishing emails contain links that appear to be valid, but if opened could compromise not only the recepients account but also University systems. Everyone should continue to be vigilant and report any suspect emails to spam@uis.cam.ac.uk. If a link is opened in error this must be reported as soon as possible to servicedesk@uis.cam.ac.uk

More detailed information on How to Stay Safe Online is available here

Issued by Lesley Dent - System Administrator

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Accounts Receivable: Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust #152907 (Addenbrooke’s) invoices 

The Finance Team at the Hospital have confirmed with the University’s Credit Control section that they have a central address for all billing which is Finance Box 130. The Trust’s process is that all invoices should come to the Central Finance Team where they are then issued to the relevant area for approval as necessary.

In view of this, and continuing to move in the direction of simplification and consistency we have removed over 100 addresses from the customer records for the Trust leaving only Finance Box 130 available for use on customer number 152907, please only use this customer number going forward for AR invoices, we will also maintain a customer number for the Research Grants but this should not be used for normal department external invoices. 

A PO should always be requested from the Trust and quoted on our invoice. If, in unusual circumstances, no PO is provided from the Trust, please ensure that the invoice description contains sufficient information (such as department, contact name, services charged for) to allow easy identification when it is received by the Finance Team.

Issued by Bernadette Parsons - Shared Services Manager

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Fixed Assets – Tracking and tagging reminder  

Tracking

We would like to remind departments of the requirement to track equipment assets that cost over £5,000 (incl. non-recoverable VAT). Equipment assets that meet this criteria should ideally be tracked at the PO stage. Where this doesn’t happen, it is possible to track the asset at the AP stage when the invoice is processed. Where departments use the Finance Division’s Shared Services team, and where the equipment hasn’t been tracked at the PO stage, clear instructions should be given if the costs need to be tracked.

Tagging

We would also like to remind departments of the requirement to tag their equipment assets. The Central and Research Accounting team has a stock of self-adhesive tags that have their own unique reference number on them and the notion is to stick these tags onto the relevant piece of equipment for easy identification back to the Fixed Assets register. It is the department’s responsibility to enter these unique reference numbers into the field titled “CUFS Tag Number” in the Fixed Assets module in CUFS. If you require some of these tags, please contact the Fixed Assets helpdesk who will be more than happy to help. We are aware that some departments already have their own tagging system in place and we are happy for that to remain the case.

Queries

If anyone has any queries about anything mentioned above or requires any support with regards to the Fixed Assets module, please contact the Fixed Assets helpdesk on UFS_FA@admin.cam.ac.uk or call us on x66780.

Issued by David Cook - Central and Research Accounting

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Cambridge University Endowment Fund – Notification of Revaluation & Purchases & Sales

Revaluation as at 31 December 2019

Please note that the Cambridge University Endowment Fund has been revalued as at 31 December 2019.

CUFS has been updated to reflect the new valuation in the January 2020 accounting period.  The new Unit value is £60.61 (rounded). The unit value at the end of the previous quarter was £59.57 (rounded) which represents an increase in value of 1.75%.

Purchases & Sales

Unit purchases and sales as at 31 December 2019 will also be processed within the CUFS January 2020 accounting period. Contract Notes for purchases & sales will be despatched in due course.

Next Quarter

Could all non-Trust Fund purchase and sale request be sent to treasury@admin.cam.ac.uk. All Trust Fund requests should be sent to UFS_TF@admin.cam.ac.uk.

The deadline for the requests to be received is the 18th March 2020.

Queries

Any queries should be addressed to: Scott Maclaren, Treasury & Investments, Finance Division, Ext 64216.

Issued by Scott Maclaren - Treasury & Investments

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Reminder: January Month End - Half Year Accounts

As published in bulletin 806, the accounts for the first half of the financial year are important in ongoing financial management, whether at University, School or Department level. They are used in monitoring performance and compliance in key areas such as: spending against budget; balances on trust funds and donation accounts; income levels; internal trading; the rate of recovery of indirect costs and progress on construction projects.

As in previous years we are asking departments to review their accounts in January, and bring them as up to date as possible. In particular departments should:

  • Re-allocate items of expenditure to research grants, donation accounts and trust funds as appropriate, where they have been provisionally coded to Chest or other sources of funds - this should be done by amending the Accounts Payable distribution where possible, otherwise by raising a General Ledger journal;

  • Bring income up to date by raising external trading invoices and invoices for B source of funds recharges etc;

  • Claim unallocated BACS receipts;

  • Process suppliers' invoices for January purchases and raise accruals for any significant purchases not yet invoiced;

  • Clear suspense accounts (e.g. Grants, internal trading, credit card);

In order to give departments more time to review their accounts to January 2020 and process transactions the CUFS modules will remain open 4 days longer than normal.

7 working days - Tuesday 11th February

Accounts Payable

Accounts Receivable

Inventory

Grants

Purchasing

8 working days – Wednesday 12th February

Last day for placing funds on deposit

Fixed Assets

9 working days – Thursday 13th February

General Ledger

All modules will close at 5pm on the stated days.

Issued by Mike Sinclair – Central and Research Accounting

Reminder: Fraudulent Purchase Orders

As issued in bulletin 806 and discussed at the last FUG, there is a continued attempt by fraudsters to obtain goods by deception.

The main approach used by fraudsters is to use a seemingly correct Purchase Order to request goods from a company. This purchase order usually originates from an email address that resembles those of the University of Cambridge.

The Finance Division has more detailed information on its website

We are encouraging our suppliers to be vigilant and to query Purchase Orders they receive from us, especially if they are not from their normal University contact or delivery address.

Please feel free to contact Procurement Services or the Finance Division Helpdesk if you need any help or support.

Issued by Chris Patten - Head of Accounting Services, Finance Division

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Training header

Training

These upcoming courses have places available:

How to Excel - Part 1 & 2 (For Finance Staff)Tuesday 4 February, 13h00 – 16h00
AP part 2 Matching, Amending and Foreign Invoices in Accounts PayableWednesday 12 February, 09h30 – 16h15

Webinar

Reminder that the Welcome to Key Travel webinar is running on Wednesday 12 February. If you’re involved in University travel bookings, please book a place.

Issued by Christine Rogerson -  Finance Training

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Monthly Accounting Timetable

To view the status of the monthly process including the month end close dates please use the following link: Accounting Timetable

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