Finance Office
FINANCE news
July 2013
In This Issue
 Engagement and Approval of
Consultants
 Setting up new Suppliers on
Agresso
 Taxation
 Agresso
 Cash Handling Policy
 PCI
 SEPA
Volume 1, Number 6
Engagement and Approval of Consultants
The UMTO, at its meeting on 13 May, 2013 approved a revision to
the attached policy. The main change is in relation to the value of
spend which requires the approval of the Head of College or VicePresident or UMTO member. All staff should make themselves
aware of the contents of the policy.
Setting up new Suppliers on Agresso
All suppliers must be set up on Agresso using the Supplier Set Up
form which is available on the Procurement website. This must be
set up for all purchases except for one-off purchases of a small
value that are not of a professional service.
 Late Payments to Suppliers
Taxation
Finance Office website:
University College Cork (UCC): Finance
Office
The UMTO, at its meeting on 29 April, 2013 approved amendments
to the Taxation policies in relation to payments to guest speakers.
Payments of honorariums are no longer permitted. Payment of
vouchers to full-time or part-time UCC staff, guest speakers,
visiting lecturers or UCC students in return for their services is also
no longer permitted. These changes have been necessary to
ensure that UCC is compliant from a taxation viewpoint. Please
click on the Taxation Guidance link to review the policy and
understand the mechanisms in place to make payments to visiting
lecturers and guest speakers.
Agresso
A reminder to all staff going on annual leave in the coming weeks
to make sure to contact Agresso Support [4902907] to arrange for
deputies to be put in place on Agresso. This will ensure that all
requisitions and invoices can be approved in a timely manner and
avoid any unnecessary prompt payment interest being incurred.
Cash Handling Policy
You will be aware that the University introduced new procedures
relating to the administration of cash receipts by departments in
October 2011.
It is important that all departments are compliant with the
procedures, in particular the procedure around the storage and
recording of cash.
A copy of the policy and the cash lodgement form may be found on
UCC’s Cash Handling Policy (available on the Finance Office
website).
PCI
In offering students and customers the ability to pay for fees and
services online or at point of sale terminals, UCC must comply with
stringent requirements to ensure that all debit/credit card data
are processed, transmitted and maintained in a secure
environment. The standards are called Payment Card Industry
Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) and UCC has set up a project
group consisting of staff from the Computer Centre, OCLA and the
Finance Office to ensure that UCC is PCI compliant by December
2013. Questionnaires to gather information from all Departments
and Schools will be sent out in the coming weeks.
SEPA
You will be familiar with the many advertisements on radio at the
moment in relation to SEPA. SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) is a
European payments initiative which aims to create one single,
integrated, standard payments market in Europe. The Finance
Office is working on a project to ensure that UCC’s payroll system,
Agresso and peripheral systems are SEPA ready before 1 February
2014 and we will keep you updated in the coming months on UCC
developments in this area.
Late Payments to Suppliers
The HEA has advised that, in addition to any penalty interest due
on a late payment to a supplier, the supplier is also automatically
entitled to compensation as follows:



Penalty Interest Amount Due not exceeding €1,000 Compensation of €40
Penalty Interest Amount Due exceeding €1,000 but not
exceeding €10,000 - Compensation of €70
Penalty Interest Amount Due exceeding €10,000 Compensation of €100
To ensure that these compensation payments are minimised all
departments/offices should ensure that invoices are approved for
payment as soon as possible. The Finance Office is currently
reviewing its relevant processes to see what changes are necessary
to assist in minimising this cost. Further details will be circulated
in the coming weeks.