Weekly Bulletin No. 816
Tuesday 16th June
- Payroll: P11d queries and amendments deadline
- Procurement: Marketplace unavailable, Sigma Aldrich merger, Illumina punchout, Supported browsers, Changes to DTH reporting, Retention of delivery notes
- Accounts Payable: Supplier Database - Sole Traders, expense forms
- Year End: Year End 2020 video, Balances on source of funds ALBE
- General Finance: Fraud & Cyber Security, Key Contacts - user access review
- Tax: Customs Duty and Import VAT relief
- Treasury: CUEF purchases and sales deadline
- Training: Courses in the next week
Please see the link below for previous communications and guidance regarding measures put in place as a result of Covid-19.
COVID-19 Communications
Bulletin Archive
Accounting Timetable
P11d queries and amendments
P11d’s (expenses and benefits forms) have been despatched to employees. As in previous years employees have been directed to contact their department if they have any queries. Departments should forward any amendments to the Payroll Team at payrollenquiries@admin.cam.ac.uk as soon as possible, as the submission date to HMRC is 26th June.
Issued by Alexsis Dicken, Payroll
Marketplace unavailable – Thursday 18th June 2020
Please be advised of an upcoming period of maintenance scheduled to take place on the Marketplace from 6:30pm to 10:30 pm Thursday 18th June 2020. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Merger of Sigma Aldrich, Millipore and Merck Chemicals - temp suspension of orders from 1st - 6th July
As of the 1st July the following suppliers will be merged into the new legal entity - Merck Life Sciences UK Ltd:
- Sigma Aldrich Co Ltd
- Millipore (UK) Ltd
- Merck Chemicals Ltd
Please continue to place your orders with the above until 5pm on the 30th June, after this time no orders will be able to be submitted. While Merck Life Sciences makes the switch over to their new systems and to enable testing to the new connections of the Marketplace and eInvoicing, there will be period from 1st -6th July where no new orders (either Marketplace or Non-catalogue) can be placed. We therefore recommend that you plan any orders they may be necessary during this time in advance.
We are currently working with the Merck Life Sciences to establish if there will be an emergency purchase order process during this time. Further details will be sent in next week’s bulletin.
If you have any questions, please contact the Procurement Services Team via: procurement.services.enquiries@admin.cam.ac.uk.
Illumnia punch out from the Marketplace now live.
We are pleased to announce that after a few technical issues last week, the punch out facility from Marketplace to Illumnia’ s web site is now live. This facility enables buyers to select an extensive range of sequencing consumables direct from Illumnia’ s website and then import them back into their iProcurement shopping basket ready to check-out. The resulting processing efficiencies will be welcomed by many departments.
If you have any questions please contact Andrew Henderson, Category Manager.
Supported browsers – do not use Edge with CUFS or iProcurement
All users are reminded that the use of the Edge browser is not recommended for use with either CUFS or the iProcurement Marketplace. Instead we recommend that users use either Internet Explorer11 , Firefox or Chrome when raising orders.
Changes to deliver-to-home ('DTH') reporting
To evolve with the uptake of the DTH process across the University, Procurement Services will no longer issue weekly email reports for each Department's DTH orders. Going forward, nominated key contacts at departments will instead receive a permanent link to a spreadsheet with information on all DTH orders placed for their department (only). The data within this link will refresh weekly (on a Friday), adding all new orders for that week. This will allow departments to check DTH information 'self-serve' on an ongoing basis.
Departments will receive their permanent link once an initial DTH order is placed and this link will be continuously updated thereafter. It is recommended that this link is bookmarked for future reference. Departments that have ordered via the DTH process to date will receive their link this week from Procurement Services.
If you experience any issues with your link - or have any further questions on these changes - please contact Procurement Services directly for assistance at Procurement.services.enquiries@admin.cam.ac.uk.
Retention of delivery notes
Supplier Database - searching for, and requesting, sole traders
Could we remind departments that when searching for, or requesting new suppliers, who are sole traders to select the category Business - Other – Sole Trader and not Individual.
Sole traders are defined in our database as, ‘Unlimited individuals who are providing a service’, this will include any individual who is ‘Trading as’ (T/A) and all of these suppliers will have a tax clearance number. Thank you for your assistance with this.
Issued by Andrew Weatherley – Manager Accounts Payable, Receivable and Cash Management
Expense claim forms
There have been a number of changes recently to Expense forms and we propose to amend the form numbers shortly to make it easier to differentiate between them . However, in the interim there are three slighthly different forms for paying expenses to non-employees, all of which are available from the Finance Division website:
- FD1A for Students (only those who already receive a maintenance payment via the payroll system)
- FD1A for students (not paid via payroll
- FD1A for visitors
Please could you ensure that the correct form is used and all the information provided when submitting claims.
Year End 2020 video presentation
This long awaited production is now available – don’t miss out on this new experience of the year end seminars! Here is the link to view.
The video is 49 minutes long and mostly unedited due to time constraints, but the producer has suggested you change the playback time to 1.25x speed. This takes viewing time down to 39 minutes without making the cast sound like chipmunks. (Use the cog on the video to change playback time.) In addition, Time Stamps have been added in the video description which take you to specific segments. This may be useful if you want to review anything - click on the See more, underneath the Details sub-heading.
Please watch this video before your area’s Q&A session – it won’t be replayed at that time.
If you have not yet received an invitation to a Q&A session and want to attend, please contact your Finance Adviser as all invitations have been issued. It’s a Teams meeting, so your name needs to be included for you to be able to join.
Issued by Christine Rogerson, Finance Training
Balances on source of funds ALBE at year-end
Departments are currently advised to code any additional expenditure incurred in relation to COVID-19 to the source of funds code ALBE ( see COVID-19 Finance Departmental Guidance Issue 11), provided such costs cannot be mitigated by departments through appropriate cost control or alternative income generation. The University is using this source of funds to track the impact of COVID locally and it is expected that costs will continue for a number of months. Therefore it is accepted that as a consequence certain accounts within departments will go overspent and these balances will be rolled-over (in deficit) at the year-end.
There is no guarantee that costs charged to ALBE as part of the tracking exercise, will ultimately by covered from Central funds. The question as to whether shortfalls are met by departments, through additional allocations from Chest or by other measures will be determined at a later date, when we have a better idea of the duration and scale of the impact. However, for now it is OK for these accounts to be overspent and it will assist us in determining the University’s future approach to different categories of overspend incurred as a result of Covid.
If you have any further questions please contact your Finance Adviser or Manager in the first instance.
Issued by Matt Burgess, Finance Manager, School of Technology
Fraud and cyber security
Phishing emails
We have recently again had increased incidents of sophisticated cyber-attacks in the form of ‘phishing’ emails. It is essential that everyone is aware of how these threats can present themselves, therefore please take a few moments to read our online advice and guidance as soon as possible.
Early identification of compromised accounts significantly limits the damage done by an attack, and all users are encouraged to report any suspicion of compromised accounts as soon as possible.
Remember, if you are the victim of an attack then UIS and your department will support you, and there will be no repercussions for reporting compromised accounts.
- If you think you have opened an attachment, clicked on a link, or entered your Raven details as a result of a phishing email, you should immediately report it to csirt@uis.cam.ac.uk
- If you receive an email you think is spam, and you want to report it (but do not require a reply) forward it as an attachment to spam@uis.cam.ac.uk.
- Otherwise if you have any concerns please contact either your local Computer Officer or the UIS ServiceDesk by email servicedesk@uis.cam.ac.uk or by phone on 32999.
Adverts for online banking
Lloyds Bank have also alerted us that they are aware that fraudsters are also using popular internet search engines to target people wanting to access their online banking service. Maliciously targeted advertisements appearing near the top of the search engine results, are made to look like they link to a genuine online banking service, however fraudsters create a link to a fake webpage which appears identical.
When an online banking user enters their passwords and other login credentials on the fake screen, fraudsters capture the information which they can then use to access the bank accounts to fraudulently set up or amend payments.
Their advice is:
- Don’t use search engines to locate the login screen. You can find the correct links on the bank’s main website. Click on the Personal, or Business, Tab and then Banking Online.
- Never access your online banking service from a link within an email. The Bank will never send an email which leads to the login page.
- If you use a Secure Card Reader, remember that we will never ask you to use the RESPOND button on the card reader at login.
- While using online banking, if your PC runs unusually slowly, or presents unexpected screens or pop-up windows, shut down immediately and report it to the bank.
- Protect all PCs and devices with anti-virus software and install software updates as soon as they are available.
For anyone approving corporate transactions:
- Check all payment details thoroughly before approving and releasing payments. This means each individual account number, including payments that you may have imported in from your accounting software.
- Have at least two payment approvers in place where possible – four eyes are better than two.
Issued by: Chris Patten, Accounting Services
Key Contacts: reviewing user access
Key Contacts are nominated by the Head of Department to serve as the liaison between the Finance Division and their Department. They are responsible for ensuring that access to the UFS system and information within it is restricted to those that need it within their department. We advise that access is reviewed prior to the upcoming Users and Responsibilities Audit, as the audit is not the time to request changes but to confirm the access you have authorised to be correct.
Department Responsibility Report
This report, can be run for a selected department to show all users with active accounts, their responsibilities and positions held for that department. Key Contacts can request this report at any time by emailing UFS_enquries@admin.cam.ac.uk .
Leavers
Key contacts must update UFS accounts as soon as staff retire, have an extended period of leave or no longer use the system due to change of job role. This is essential to maintain system security, more information and forms can be found on the Key Contacts webpage and contacts might also find the Leavers Checklist helpful.
Please direct all queries relating to this item to UFS_enquries@admin.cam.ac.uk
Reliefs available from Customs Duty and Import VAT
There are a number of Customs Duty and Import VAT reliefs which the University may be able to benefit from when importing goods. HMRC have recently revised their guidance on a number of these and various conditions must be met for each relief to apply so please see the links to HMRC’s guidance for more information when importing
- Museum and gallery exhibits of an educational, scientific or cultural nature.
- Miscellaneous documents which are also of an educational, scientific or cultural nature and some related articles of a more general nature
- Substances used for non-commercial, biological and chemical research
- Laboratory animals that have been bred, or specially prepared, for scientific research by an approved user.
There is also a relief for
The latter relief can be claimed by public laboratories and whilst examples of such are given in HMRC’s guidance it is still not entirely clear the extent to which the University may qualify for this relief. The Tax team are making enquiries but in the meantime please contact the Team if you are aware that this would be applicable to your department.
If you would like advice on these or any other VAT matters, please do not hesitate to contact the University Tax Team at vatqueries@admin.cam.ac.uk
Cambridge University Endowment Fund purchases and sales deadline - 5pm, Wed 17th June
Please note that the deadline for internal departments to make purchase and sale requests on the CUEF as at 30th June 2020, is 5pm on Wednesday 17th June. Could all departments make sure requests are received by Treasury & Investments by this time.
Issued by Scott Maclaren, Treasury & Investments
|
Introduction to Cognos Tue 23 & Thu 25 June |
Cognos is a reporting tool that utilises data from CUFS to provide users with additional reports and options. This introductory course, split over two short sessions, is designed for new reporters - covering everything from running a report successfully as well as a number of useful tips and shortcuts. Note: This course is mandatory in order to attend either of the following two courses. · GL Part 2: Reporting in the General Ledger · Grants Part 2: Grant reports in Cognos |
Issued by : Helen Parker, Finance Training
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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