Key Facts DocumentOne Finance

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General principles OneFinance is scheduled to go live on Thursday 1 August 2019

• All staff will be able to access OneFinance via their LSE profile

• The user role, as agreed by the Head of Department/Research Centre/Division, will be assigned as part of the roll out, and subsequently as part of the LSE induction process

• As at present, Budget Controllers will be able to grant delegation capability to others; these preferences will be collected and implemented ahead of go live

• There will be extensive training and guidance, both pre- and post-go live

• The vast majority of finance related policies are not changing substantively, particularly with regard to allowable expenditure rules, rather the project is an opportunity to combine and streamline current policies and to make them more easily accessible

ContentsObtaining goods and services 3

Out of pocket expenses 5

Budget management 6

Out of scope 7

• Hard copy receipts and invoices will no longer be required nor kept centrally

• For audit purposes, the same person cannot both initiate and authorise expenditure, for example a budget holder cannot request and then approve the purchase of a computer for a new staff member

• To avoid delays caused by the absence, non-availability or departure of particular staff, there will be approval pools, where groups of staff see the same pending and completed items

• The system will automatically generate alerts and reminders regarding the status of a particular transaction, there will be some scope to manage these at user level

• There will be a new account code structure (referred to as the “Chart of Accounts”), however there will be much less need to remember codes as these will often be defaulted in the system

• IssueTrak will be discontinued and queries will be submitted via a new helpdesk system.

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Obtaining goods and services

A – Purchase OrdersOneFinance will see the introduction of Purchase Orders for large, standard and/or recurring purchases, including stationery, IT equipment and furniture. This means completing details of what is required so that a unique Purchase Order reference number can be generated and assigned to the order. This will provide full visibility over the ordering process for orderers (requisitioners), budget managers and suppliers

• There will be an online Purchasing Catalogue from which standard items can be selected

• The catalogue will be pre-populated with key products and regularly used suppliers

• There will be a direct link to the Office Depot catalogue

• The catalogue will make clear which specific items are available, and show full product details, for example the processing speed or screen size of an approved laptop

• It will increase transparency in relation to which specific suppliers are preferred and which ones LSE has contracts in place with

• It will reduce the email authorisation chains currently required before standard equipment and furniture can be ordered

• The commitment is shown against the budget upfront, once the order is approved

• All staff will be able to initiate a Purchase Order, but authorisation will be required by the relevant budget manager. Staff cannot both initiate and approve a Purchase Order

• It will be possible to create an ad-hoc Purchase Order, manually completing the details of the item required and from which supplier – new suppliers will need to be set up in advance

During the transition phase, including for orders before 01 August 2019, various invoices will inevitably continue to be received by both LSE Accounts Payable and the person who ordered the goods or services. In the case of the former, Accounts Payable will add it to OneFinance and trigger a system request to the relevant budget holder for authorisation. In the case of the latter, staff will be required to submit invoices to Accounts Payable (via email or hard copy) for adding to the system, with system authorisation then required.

• Multiple items can be ordered at the same time

• The recipient must confirm receipt of the order in OneFinance. This the equivalent of coding and signing an invoice under current arrangements: “receipting” an order confirms payment should be made

• The recipient need not be the budget holder as the budget holder will already have approved the order at the outset

• Confirming receipt does not have to be literal, for example for a student party venue deposit or a consultancy report, it just confirms payment should be released

• Suppliers will be instructed to send all invoices directly to Accounts Payable for processing, both by email for PDFs and post for paper invoices

• The payment process will be smoother as the details on the invoice will be pre-validated

• Over time, purchase ordering will allow better tracking of what LSE is spending its money on, making it easier to negotiate better prices and agree contracts more tailored to LSE’s needs

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B – Purchasing CardsSmall, ad hoc items, or items which can only be purchased online and/or upfront, can be purchased via LSE Barclaycard. There are already around 200 card holders across LSE and further cards will be issued as part of the transition to OneFinance, once a review has been undertaken. It is anticipated that in steady state each unit will have at least one card

• The card is not linked to personal financial records or bank accounts but is issued in the name of an individual and cannot be shared with other staff

• Cards can be used to make online or phone bookings for other staff (e.g. a conference or venue hire) or to undertake general, ad hoc purchasing (eg, milk for the office)

• Where appropriate, cards can also be held to eliminate out of pocket expenses (eg, meals whilst travelling on School business)

• The card holder must code their expenditure within OneFinance at least monthly – this can be done as soon as the transaction is showing on the account

• The budget holder must authorise the expenditure

• There are monthly and single transaction card limits, these limits are set on the basis of the type and level of expenditure of the cardholder, for example a card held for small ad hoc purchases is likely to have lower limits than a card used for extensive travel on School business

• Once fully rolled out, it will be easier to undertake basic activities, including new card requests, changing card assignment, or changing a card holder’s authoriser

• Full guidance on when to use A – Purchasing Catalogue or B – Purchasing Card will be provided

The central petty cash service, managed by the Finance Division, will be withdrawn on 31 July 2019.

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Out-of-pocket expenses

OneFinance will include a new online claim form for out- of-pocket expenses, accessible via a variety of means including phone, tablet, laptop and desktop. This will provide full visibility over the reimbursement process for claimants and budget managers

• The claim form should only be used for expenses personally incurred in the pursuit of LSE business, i.e. it should not be used for general work expenses, such as buying tea and coffee for a meeting or teaching materials. These should be obtained either via Purchase Order or Purchasing Card. Paying for business expenditure personally and then reclaiming confuses the legal position regarding liability, guarantees and refunds, and VAT cannot be reclaimed on such expenditure

• Claimants can upload supporting evidence via scan or photo. Hard copy evidence will not be required. All standard file formats are supported

• Individual units will determine whether staff may delegate the preparation of claims to others

• Staff delegating completion of the claim form to another will still need to confirm that they incurred the expenditure

within the claim, the equivalent of a signature on the current form; this will be via an email containing a link to the claim and will not require the claimant to log into the system unless they would like to. This step is to verify that the expenditure is wholly exclusively and necessarily for School business, and therefore fulfils the requirements of HMRC as well as the School’s internal and external auditors

• The claim form will include one or more default budget codes for the claimant to select from, as the system will need to know where to route the form in the first instance. However the selected code can be amended by the authoriser and the claim can be routed elsewhere if necessary

• If required, the value of a claim may be capped by the authoriser, although this will not be automatically communicated to the claimant. The claimant will be able to see the amended form in OneFinance

• There will be a separate online form available to external parties for the reimbursement of expenses. The same concepts will apply, in addition the form will collect the bank details of the claimant in order to make payment

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Budget management

There will be an easier way to view and run reports on individual and/or multiple budgets, enabling users to see the status of both individual transactions and the overall financial position of a particular budget or unit overall

• Commitments will appear in real time, rather than, as at present, only once the transaction has been added to APTOS by Finance Division staff

• The new account structure will be mapped to a unit’s existing accounts, including authorisation roles and account balances

• The new structure will support more flexibility in relation to how units set up and manage budgets, with the introduction of “project/activity” type accounts to ringfence and track funds for particular activities

• There will be four authorisation tiers for budget signatories, with a new “Authorisation Matrix” replacing the current signatory database:

– up to and including £1,000

– up to and including £10,000

– up and including £50,000

– £50,000 plus

• All Internal Debit Notes (IDNs) will be initiated in OneFinance by the supplying department and automatically posted to the relevant budget without needing the authorisation of the receiving department. Authorisation for items such as catering will be outside OneFinance using current systems and practices

• Within the system, units will be able to request the journalling (moving) of funds between their own accounts, or to another LSE account

• Sales invoices (for income) will – and must – be directly raised in OneFinance by the unit expecting the income, with the ability to create a schedule for multiple payments due over time

• It will be easier to request a new budget code (subject to Finance Division approval), acquire new or enhanced access to budget codes and to deactivate account access upon staff departure or job role change

• It will be easy to view previous and current transactions and supporting evidence in OneFinance. Historical data will continue to be accessible but will not be migrated to OneFinance

OneFinance will substantially improve income management. Debtor accounts, sales invoices and credit notes will – and must – be requested via OneFinance by the unit expecting the income, with the ability to create a schedule for multiple payments due over time. This will provide full visibility over the progress of sales invoicing, credit notes and refund requests and allow for reporting. Please note, the acceptance of income is subject to significant regulatory policies and regulations, including those related to money laundering, fraud, VAT, GDPR and card payment security. Local invoicing arrangements are, as currently, therefore not permitted and in breach of LSE’s financial regulations

• All users will have access to request a new debtor via OneFinance, which will be submitted to Fees Income and Credit Control (FICC) for approval. Supporting information can be attached to the request. Existing debtor accounts will be searchable in OneFinance

• All student related accounts will continue to be created through an interface with SITS, the student records system

• All users will have access to raise an invoice, which will be submitted for approval, processing and posting by the Finance Division, or in the cases of research related invoicing, the Research Division

• Product codes will be required in the sales request to improve consistency

• All users will have access to raise a credit note request which will be submitted for approval and posting

• You can select the original document or transaction to raise the credit note against

• Automatic matching rules and allocations will match credits against the original sales invoice

• All users will have access to raise a refund request via OneFinance which will be submitted for approval, processing and posting by FICC

• A refund request form will be available for external completion by customers and students. Once submitted, FICC will approve, process and post to OneFinance

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Income management (staff)

OneFinance will achieve a long-term objective for the School in centralising student financial transactions into a single account. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) have outlined the need for universities to provide clear and timely information to students

A new single student account will include all student fees, Summer School tuition, Standard Fee Group tuition and Residential fees (excludes Non Standard Fee Group and other sundry charges).

• Finance Division will manage the collection and associated credit control of all student tuition fees, with the exception of Summer School fees

• Finance Division will manage the collection and associated credit control for all student residential fees

• Version 1.2 of the Finance Hub will be launched, providing considerable improvements for students, including:

- a new, modern interface

- single sign on functionality

- single student account to view all fees invoiced by the School, including all payments received to date, with improved real time data, and a summary of LSE scholarships and awards

- ability to capture and update student bank details for scholarship and award payments (coming January 2020)

- Self-service document production for statements, invoices and receipts

• The School will also be launching a new payment portal, which will offer increased security and a modern interface. Applicants and students will be given the option to pay by invoice stream (tuition, residential fees etc.) or as an advance payment. This new solution will assist with managing pre-registration fees and also ensure payments are automatically matched to invoices.

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Income management (students)

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Out of scope

Changes to the following are out of scope for OneFinance (this is not an exhaustive list):

• Fund checks for new staff or contract changes (except the budget code related sections of the HR online recruitment system and contract variation forms)

• Employment contracts and payroll, including the hourly paid contract and timesheet process

• The School’s travel contract with Diversity Travel, including set up and deactivation of authorised bookers – re-tendering for this contract is due in 2020

• LSE Online Store

• The Hospitality Ordering system (except a remapping of the budget codes to select from)

• The frequency of Finance Division payment runs (in the first instance)

• There will be no change to the Pret A Manger ordering and payment process

If you have questions about any of the above, or something not covered here, please get in touch with Catherine Osley, OneFinance Change Manager (c.osley@lse.ac.uk).

T: 020 3486 2820lse.ac.uk/onefinance