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Weekly Bulletin No. 839

Tuesday 24th November 

Update from the Director of Finance 

Every fortnight, Director of Finance David Hughes updates the Finance Division on key business matters. Where relevant, we will also share this news via the CUFS Bulletin to keep our wider Finance community informed.  

David's latest message features a brief update regarding the Finance Transformation Programme's Expense Management project and how the new digital expense claim system is being rolled out. This update can be accessed here: 

Issued by Nicola Lawrence - Communications Manager – Finance Transformation Programme

 

CUFS Downtime from 5pm Friday 11th December to 9am Thursday 17th December 2020

As announced previously at the Financial User Group meetings a project is nearing completion to implement the latest critical and security patches and upgrade the database servers.  The project will complete with CUFS downtime and the system will be unavailable from 5pm Friday 11th December to 9am Thursday 17th December 2020. Access will be restored by 9am Thursday 17th December.

Further communications will be issued in the following weeks.

Should you have any queries about this project please contact Paul.Humphreys@admin.cam.ac.uk

Issued by Paul Humphreys – Functional Analyst

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Marketplace heading

Marketplace Error 401

Work is still ongoing with Oracle to resolve the Marketplace checkout issue 401.
Users currently receive the error when attempting to checkout multiple lined baskets, and all items are removed from the basket.
For this reason it is advisable to save the basket first incase it is 'lost'. Baskets of 1 or 2 lines should process as normal. 
 
While we are aware that this inconvenient, it is only a temporary work around.
Updates will be issued as more information becomes available.

Issued by Lesley Dent - System Administrator

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General Finance heading

The Brexit Transition Period will end on 31 December 

As the end of the transition period approaches the Border Operating Model and new tax rules will come into effect on the 1st January   

Imports  
Departments are reminded that all goods purchased and brought into the UK after the 31st December will be treated as imports regardless of their country of origin and may also be subject to customs duties.  

The University’s Standard Terms & Conditionswhich should normally be used for all purchases,  include that we buy items under INCO DDP terms DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) to mitigate the duty costs to the University. 

Meanwhile, the University Tax team has already instructed DHL and FEDEX that the University will be using Postponed VAT Accounting (PVA) to account for the import VAT on its VAT return for all its imports after the 31 December. Those departments appointing alternative agents, please also instruct them to use PVA and provide them with the following: 

  • University’s EORI number:                         GB823847609000 

  • University’s VAT registration number:        GB 823 8476 09 

Further guidelines as to how the new tax rules will affect the University and what staff will need to do will be issued over the forthcoming weeks and the Finance Division website updated. 

Issued by Karen Sheldon -  Finance Training 

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Accounts Payable - End of Year Payment Runs 2020

Please refer to the table at the link below for the Christmas Payment Run dates for 2020.

If you have any queries please contact the Accounts Payable Helpdesk on 66888 or email UFS_AP@admin.cam.ac.uk.

Issued by Andrew Weatherley  – Manager Accounts Payable, Receivable and Cash Management.

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Expenses Form

The software supporting the existing online expenses form FD1C-02,  has been upgraded and will take effect on Wednesday 25th November.

 
The form will no longer work with Internet Explorer. Should you use IE in error, you will find you cannot close the calendar pop up after you select the date field.
Supported browsers
  • Edge
  • Chrome
  • Firefox 
  • Safari
Issued by Christine Rogerson - Finance Training
 
Tax Heading

Hiring and off-hiring/returning Enterprise hire cars over the festive period

Please see the below update regarding off hiring vehicles (where you require the vehicle for a shorter time than that specified in the reservation) from ENTERPRISE RENT-A-CAR (UK) LTD (Suppler No. 60963) over Christmas and New Year.
 
Christmas:
  • Vehicles that are to be off hired [returned early] for Christmas must be off hired by 10am on the 23rd of December and available for collection on the 23rd and 24th of December by Enterprise branch staff to allow for socially distanced collection.
  • If the car is to be collected from the University and your building premises closes before these times, you must either return the vehicle to the local branch or off hire the vehicle 24 hours before your building is due to close, and let the local Enterprise branch know so they can arrange collection.
  • Vehicles off hired after 10 am on the 23rd of December will be charged up to 1000am on Tuesday  29th of December
  • Drivers who wish to return their vehicle directly to the branch can do so until noon on Thursday 24th of December
  • Deliveries to start after Christmas must not start before noon on the 29th of December.  Walk-ins will be available from 0900 on the 29th of December. Hires required to start earlier than this will be charged from Christmas Eve.
New Year Bank Holiday:
  • Vehicles that are to be off hired for New Year must be off hired by 10 am on the 30th of December and available for collection on the 30th and 31st of December by Enterprise branch staff to allow for socially distanced collection.
  • Vehicles off hired after this date will be charged up to noon on Monday 4th of January.
  • Drivers who wish to return their vehicle directly to the branch can do so until noon on Monday 31st of December
  • Deliveries to start after New Year’s Day must not start before 4th Jan at noon. Walk in’s will be available from 0900. Hires required to start earlier than this will be charged from New Year’s Eve.
You can find more information about hiring a vehicle on our website.
 
Issued by Matthew Kidd - Procurement Services
 

Training header

Forthcoming course (via Teams)

How to Excel 1 & 2, Mon 7 & Tue 8 Dec
Develop more advanced spreadsheet skills whilst consolidating existing ones, all within context of UFS. Extract the data, then learn new ways to manipulate and analyse it. This course is for staff in a financial role.
 
Issued by Christine Rogerson, Finance Training

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FAQ heading

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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