School of Social and Political Sciences Purchasing Guidelines for the School Purchasing In order to undertake a purchase, in all circumstances, a purchase order must be raised in advance of all purchases (this includes purchase card purchases), by a Purchase Officer from this School, who has specialist training in this area. All invoices without purchase orders will not be processed by the University’s Finance Office and so will not be paid. We must at all times work to meet objectives set by the University auditors (See Appendix A), otherwise our ability to purchase could be undermined and an official rebuke of this School will be made at Senate. These notes follow the University Guidance as provided on the Procurement Office’s web pages: http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/procurementoffice/ All purchasing and expenses are subject to at least up to two week’s notice, given the large number of staff and post graduate research students in the School. Obviously, if there is an emergency, please contact the appropriate Purchase Officer as soon as possible, as they may be able to help you immediately. If you require a foreign payment purchase, please note it would be best to give at least four weeks’ notice as this is a manual process in the Finance Office, and this timeline is especially relevant if it is a non‐standard currency purchase (i.e. not Euros/Dollars). School Purchase Officers and Purchase Card Holders The following people are currently authorised Purchase Offices, and may hold a purchase card within this School. There may be limits on their purchase cards for the size of the transaction they can undertake, and the total amount of the transactions to be undertaken per month. Name Reason For Holding Card Jane Grant Finance and Purchasing Administrator and main School Purchase Officer (see timetable below for availability) Sabrina Grant Finance Administrator (cover for Jane Grant) (see timetable below for availability) Lynda Frazer What Works Scotland Manager Christine Leslie Secretary, Centre for Business History in Scotland Alison Macgregor Centre Administrator, Urban Big Data Centre Ian MacLeod Administrator, AQMeN II Timothy McBride Centre Administrator, Scottish Centre for Criminal Justice Research Jacqueline Morris FIT Research Projects' Administrative Officer Misuse of purchasing cards will be subject to disciplinary action. Please note our Purchase Officers are audited on a regular basis, and if for any reason they do not meet the audit objectives in their dealings, their ability to purchase will be suspended and their purchase card, if applicable, will be removed from them. School of Social and Political Sciences Purchasing Guidelines for the School Purchasing of Goods and Services This should cover most goods from non standard University suppliers (part of the Framework Agreement).
If we do have an approved supplier then the goods and services must be purchased from this (please talk to
your local purchase officer for guidance).
We must for non-standard suppliers ensure the following is in place before any work can be undertaken:
Total Value of Purchase*
Requirement
£0 to £999
1 verbal quotation
£1,000 to £2,999
1 written quotation
£3,000 to £4,999
2 written quotations
£5,000 to £24,999
3 written quotations
£25,000 +
Contact Procurement Office
* Total Value of Purchase; if a regular purchase, calculate the total value of spend, excluding VAT, over a 4
year period.
If the supplier is a self-employed contractor please ensure the supplier has completed the appropriate
paperwork as outlined on the following webpage: http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/humanresources/a-z/selfemployedstatus/
Even if the supplier is named on a research project, they are still subject to procurement rules and
regulations, especially if there is a University preferred supplier. There is an exemption certificate, but it is
up to the Procurement Office to agree to go ahead with it: Purchasing Policy Exception
Please remember all purchases are subject to VAT (currently 20%), this is UK law. VAT may even be
applied to services under UK HM Revenue and Customs B2B rules, even if the supplier does not charge the
VAT.
Expenses Claims The School has explicit rules about expenses on its website for staff, which should be referred to in all instances, School Expenses page: http://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/socialpolitical/staffinfo/expenses/. Please note you can upload your expenses directly on HR CORE system (this the webpage you look up your payslips on). There is guidance on how to do this on the School’s expenses web page, see above. Please talk to your Purchase Officer prior to trying to book travel; they will advise you of the best purchasing options. The University’s preferred supplier is Capita and you can contact them for quotes, but nothing will be booked without a purchase order number which your Purchase Officer can provide. If you require a cash advance please give two weeks’ notice, as it will have to be sent to the University’s Payroll Office for processing. Please note all advances, unless there has been prior agreement, must be reconciled within 2 months of receipt, otherwise the whole cost is treated as an income advance, deducted from your pay, and will be subject to tax. School of Social and Political Sciences Purchasing Guidelines for the School Purchasing Timetable (for this School’s Finance Office Staff) Monday Expenses prepared and sent to Head of School’s Office for signature Tuesday Undertaking Purchase Orders and supporting processes – all requests made by e‐mail only Wednesday Undertaking Sales Orders (note that where purchases are related to recharging we must have the detail of who to recharge at the same time as the purchase request, so we can invoice immediately). Thursday Undertaking Purchase Orders and supporting processes – all requests made by e‐mail only Friday Emergency Purchasing only (i.e. immediate payment is required otherwise the School’s activity may be compromised) All purchase orders are approved, on Agresso, by the School Finance Officer (Sarah‐Jane Sharp, unless it is over £5,000 when the Head of School, approves the order, to ensure budgets are not exceeded. Any purchase orders less than £100 are automatically approved by the Purchase Officer, undertaking the order. School of Social and Political Sciences Purchasing Guidelines for the School Appendix A (For Information) Audit Objectives Audit objective Detail What is required The card is only used by the cardholder. Ask cardholder if there were any instances when another member of staff used their card and find the reason why. Quick question to cardholder.
The card is only used by the cardholder. Check that all supporting documentation is in the name of the cardholder Credit card statement, purchase order.
Purchase orders are raised in advance of all purchases. Recorded purchase orders are dated the same date or earlier than the date of transaction. Credit card statement, purchase order.
Purchasing of services, if freelancer used, that the self‐
employment certification in place Description and/or price on the purchase order and invoice (as the usually go to section before being forwarded to Finance Office) and copy of self‐employment certificate purchase order, invoice and self‐
employment certificate EU tendering procedure has been followed. Where possible, an approved supplier has been used. Where unavailable use schedule provided by Procurement Office for getting quotes/tendering Credit card statement, purchase order, quote(s). To ensure expenses are being used correctly Ensure that items on expenses schedule are not items which should have been purchased by Purchase Officer using purchase order/purchase card Check expense claims