Finance Forum
20 June 2013
Overview
• Welcome, Overview, and
Budget Solutions Forum
• Student Load Planning
• Research Office – some recent changes
• FBT Return 2013 Appropriations
• Travel – a system approach
• OCR Roll-out update
David Sturgiss
Melissa Abberton
Kathrin Kulhanek
Luke Beckett
Maggie Ma/Leo Lai
Jaya Ganasan
• Morning tea
• General Discussion Topics
Everyone
Welcome, Overview and Budget
Solutions Forum – what happens next?
• David Sturgiss
Student Load Planning
Melissa Abberton
4
Research Office – some recent
changes
Kathrin Kulhanek
NHMRC Funding rules changes
Email distributed to RM and FMs on 12th June
•
•
•
•
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The intention is to provide flexible funding arrangements that will assist researchers
to achieve the aims of their projects more efficiently and effectively. Proposed
changes are expanded in attachment A but include:
a) Allowing the equipment component of a grant to be applied to Direct Research
Costs, including supplementing differences between the Personnel Support Package
salary component and the institutional salary level;
b) Allowing grant funds from all research funding schemes to be spent on
supplementing differences between the Personnel Support Package salary
component and the institutional direct salary level;
c) Allowing Independent Research Institutes Infrastructure Support Scheme (IRIISS)
funds to be transferred between Independent Medical Research Institutes; and
d) Moving guidance on Direct Research Costs from a prescriptive list to a principlesbased approach (see Attachment B).
6
AI33 Audit Findings
•
•
All staff should review the Admin requirement for IS Federally funded projects.
https://researchservices.anu.edu.au/osr/programs/docs/US%20Federal%20Funds%2
0Administrative%20Requirements.pdf
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•
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Timesheet and salary monitoring processes
Air travel funded by project must be US air
Flow through of US requirement into sub agreements – generate a standard clause
Financial statements and timing of transaction into period reports
As of January 2013 by which all recipients of US federal funding grants will be required
to certify time commitments to US Federally Funded Projects to the RSD on quarterly
basis to ensure time spent on grants is captured in formal documentation.
7
HERDC Submission data
Draft data 2012
•
The HERDC income data is likely to increase by 7.9% (from $207.2m to $223.5m).
Table 1 :The breakdown by HERDC income category.
•
The HREDC pubs there are 3405 verified weighted HERDC points (11% more than last year’s
total of 3078).
8
Grant Management Framework Working Group
Email distributed to RM and FMs and the URC
distribution list on 30th May.
ToR
• overarching framework informing business practices, that will enable effective
research budgeting and costing;
• to develop and/or revise policies and procedures
Principles:
• Clear policy guidance to assist implementation and adapt behaviour.
• Costing principles reflect all direct and indirect costs. Full project costs are visible in
tools and templates.
• Tools and templates support projects that are funded by multiple sources including R,
S, Q and E, and from both private and government, national and international
sources.
• Budget approval processes allow effective central monitoring.
• A reference group made up of academic and professional staff is used to test the
framework recommendations.
• An education and communication program will be run to assist implementation and
adapt behaviour.
9
FBT Return 2013 Appropriations
Luke Beckett
10
Total FBT Payable 2004-2013
$1,400,000
1,321,544
1,278,984
$1,200,000
1,170,517
1,149,106
1,079,294
1,065,510
1,071,399
1,054,598
2008
2009
2010
1,188,932
1,063,253
$1,000,000
FBT ($)
$800,000
$600,000
$400,000
$200,000
$2004
2005
2006
2007
Year
2011
2012
2013
11
Normalised Benefit By Type Analysis
2004-2013
700,000
600,000
486,553
Taxable Value ($)
500,000
400,000
344,636
300,000
128,477
200,000
100,000
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
45,586
46,550
1,959
Expense payment
Fringe Benefits
Entertainment
Fringe Benefits
Loan/Debt Waiver
Fringe Benefits
Motor Vehicles
(less Sal Pack)
Property &
Residual
Housing, LAFHA
Benefit Type
12
Appropriations
• A payment will not be subject to GST if all
of the following apply:
1. the payment is made by a Government
Related Entity (GRE) to another GRE
2. the payment is covered by an appropriation
under an Australian law
3. the payment satisfies the non-commercial
test
Generally Government Department/Agency
13
Appropriations
• Agreements – need to see if they confirm
or deny appropriation and treat
accordingly
• Check with the customer if unsure
• If still unsure – apply normal GST rules
– Supply, consideration, connected with Aust.
and registered for GST
14
Appropriations
• Collaborating Agreements
– Receive money from Government as GST
Free (such as ARC)
– Pass on funds should have GST unless the
collaborator signed the head agreement with
the Government
– Linkage Partners – Some will be Government
bodies
15
Appropriations - Examples
Funding
General funding
ARC
Partner Funding
Other government entities
Appropriation Reason
Yes
Will satisfy all 3 tests
Yes
Should pass all appropriation tests (note: if government
organisation requests GST be applied because the funds
cannot be treated as an appropriation, GST should apply).
The payment is unlikely to be covered by an appropriation
under an Australian law
Corporates are not GRE therefore will not pass the first test
Other universities
No
Corporates
Contract research /
consultancies
Funding research between
the ANU and other Gov.
entities
No
Other general research.
Eg. Funding provided by
Diabetes Australia.
Could be
No
Need to check if there is a profit margin. This will determine
whether the funding will pass the 3 tests. If there is a profit
to be made then it will fail the non-commercial test and will
not be an appropriation. If no profit then it will be an
appropriation, if passing the other 2 tests.
Funding provided to the ANU from other entities, such as
Diabetes Australia will not satisfy the appropriation tests.
Therefore the normal GST rules will apply.
16
Travel & Expenses
Maggie Ma & Leo Lai
Travel & Expenses
• What is a Travel & Expense System?
– Integrated solution for Travel Request-Approval and
Expense Management
– Standardise and automate travel requests and
approvals, cash advances, reimbursements, per
diems and corporate card acquittals.
– All transactions related to a travel event will be
handled electronically
• Why was it decided to proceed?
– Internal audit have identified various potential risks
and inefficiencies in relation to Purchase Card
transactions and the management of travel
information and travel related purchases.
• The audit review has recommended that
• ‘a travel management system need to be implemented across the
University which allows for travel expenditure and other related
information to be linked to an instance of travel and that strategies
also be developed to promote its use as widely as possible.
– A number of areas across campus are have manual
paper based processes
– A few different systems exist – standardise &
consolidate into an enterprise system
Phased Approach
Phase 1
Purchase Card
(Completed)
Phase 2
Travel Requests
& Approvals
Phase 3 & 4
Reimbursement,
Cash Advance
Per-diems and
Reconciliation
Phase 2 – Travel Requests & Approvals
• In Scope:
– Self Service data entry for travel request
– Capture details such as person travelling, purpose, destination,
costs, itinerary……
– Workflow to support approval process
– Link/Reference to the OH&S Risk Assessment System – project
currently underway to upgrade this system
– Details of teaching/administrative arrangements whilst travelling
– Reporting – yet to be determined but will include reports such as:
• Who is travelling between certain dates
• Who is at a specified location for a given date range
• Other adhoc reporting to be determined
Phase 2 – Travel Requests & Approvals
• In Scope – Continued
-
Ability to attach supporting documentation
Advance and Per Diem integration into the AP Workflow
• Out Of Scope for this phase but to be addressed later
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–
–
–
Travel diary
FBT Calculations
Reconciliation between travel budget and actuals costs incurred
Reimbursements & Per Diems (Calculations)
Phase 2 – Progress To Date
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•
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•
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Project Scope agreed
Business expert group formed and met
Standardised Business Process agreed
Specifications completed
Development commenced
College identified for pilot - CAP
Phase 3 Onwards
• Not clearly defined yet but broadly
– Integrated FBT & Per-Diem calculation tools
– Self service functionality for requesting reimbursements
– Reconciliation reporting between travel budget and actuals costs
incurred
Proposed Travel Request & Approval
Business Process
Questions/Comments?
Accounts Payable Workflow
Jaya Ganasan
Agenda
1. AP Workflow Overview
Background
Expected Benefits
Process Flow
2. JCSMR Pilot Outcomes and Lessons Learned
3. Roll-out Strategy – whole of ANU
28
AP Workflow - Background
12 Month Transaction Volumes
29
Current Situation
• Manual Creation of AP Voucher
• Disparate processes between Colleges and between schools within
College
• Slow turnaround times from Invoice Receipt to payment
• High volume of invoices paid after due date
• Lost documents and multiple handling of documents
• Inefficient manual storage and retrieval of invoices
• Lack of accountability for delays and bottlenecks
• Expensive (storage and retrieval, late payment penalties, processing
costs…)
30
Solution
Improvement Outcome

Eliminate/reduce Paper
invoices
Solution
ANU Response


Electronic invoices
Automated process for
emails


Electronic File Capture &
Imaging
Automated process for
emails
OCR at header level

Eliminate/reduce
Manual data entry

OCR


Streamline Inefficient
processes and manual
routing of invoices

Workflow
 Standardised Workflow
1 step for PO within tolerance
4 steps fro Non PO invoice

Eliminate/minimise lost 
or missing documents
Secure document,
storage & audit trail

Electronic storage and
retrieval. Full Audit trail of
all invoices received –
even cancelled
documents are tracked
31
Solution (continued)
Improvement Outcome

Improve turnaround
times
Solution

Invoice tracking
ANU Response



Improve Internal
Controls

Electronic signature and
audit trail


Reminders, Escalations
and Alerts
Monitoring tools
Electronic signature and
audit trail within ERP
Exception reports (HR
system vs AP approval
discrepency report)
32
Benefits
• Elimination of Accounts Payable header data entry
• Elimination of paper based storage system and manual retrieval
processes
• Full transparency of end to end process, enabling accountability for
and elimination of delays and bottlenecks
• Accuracy in reporting and efficiency gains for end of year financial
statement preparation and audit process.
• More robust internal controls (routing of invoices for payment
authorization based on a business unit’s authorization matrix)
33
OCR AP Workflow – High Level Overview
Invoices Mailed
Invoices Faxed
KOFAX scanning/OCR
OCR Voucher Worklist
Scanned Invoice
Workflow
AP Voucher
Approval
Framework
- Vouchers
Invoices Emailed
Shared Services
Kofax Scanning/OCR + OCR Voucher Worklist
JCSMR
JAG Finance
Scanned Invoice Workflow
Steps 1 - 4
Scanned Invoice Workflow Step 5 +
AP Voucher + Voucher Approval Workflow
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35
36
Managing Delegations
Financial delegations not currently electronically updated from HR
system
Short Term Workaround - delegations will be maintained by F&BS
based on exception alerts from HR v AP table mismatches.
Long Term Solution – HR delegation be configured to hold data in a
format that lends itself to integration with Financial and other Enterprise
systems
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Monitoring Tools – Aged
Workflow Report
41
Monitoring Tools – Aged Workflow Report
Business Unit
Overdue Category
(All)
(All)
Count of Scan
Days Outstanding Category
WF Step #
5
4
7
6
2
18
13
14
7
2
81
1
97
79
175
110
198
44
30
4
2
337
1
418
A - Pending for 0 Days
B - Pending for 1 to 3 Days
C - Pending for 3 to 5
days
D -Pending for > 5 Days
Grand
Total
4
74
81
107
266
2
4
4
28
38
13
18
41
72
6
97
7
110
22
198
42
418
2
2
13
Grand Total
Business Unit
(All)
Count of Scan
Days Outstanding
Category
C-Payment less than 2
weeks overdue
D-Overdue more than 2
weeks
Grand Total
7
13
D -Pending for > 5 Days
Grand
Total
B - Pending for 1 to 3 Days
1
2
3
4
5
5.3
Overdue Category
A- Don't Panic
B-Payment due within 4
days
C - Pending for 3 to 5
days
A - Pending for 0 Days
42
Future Enhancements
• Built in wizard for FBT calculation
• Defaulting charge codes based on vendor or invoice owner (eg drop
down list of projects for Principal Investigators)
• Funds availability checking (soft or hard controls)
• Drag and drop reports, exception reports
• Introduce preventive controls (Expense wizards – assets,
checkboxes …)
• Integration between Travel System and Accounts Payable workflow
for advances and per-diems.
• Integration between Student & Finance System for student refunds
• Post implementation review improvements
43
JCSMR Vouchers processed through pilot
44
JCSMR Proof of Concept/Pilot
Rationale:
• Significant concerns raised by stakeholders during the early
consultation phases on the viability of the proposed model.
• FMIS Refresh Program Management Group concluded that a
demonstrable pilot and proof of concept was needed to ensure
stakeholder confidence and acceptance in the proposed solution.
• Following a successful pilot and a demonstrable automated work
flow solution, F&BS would then work with the management of each
College and Service Division to agree on a roll-out strategy for the
individual business units.
45
JCSMR Proof of Concept/Pilot
Issue
Response
Activate Tolerance Thresholds for PO
Done
Erroneous documents in workflow
Training reinforcement and checklist for
Shared Services staff
Easy access to scanners required for
document attachment
To be addressed in roll out strategy
Suggest trial within each College before
full roll-out
To be addressed in roll out strategy
Role specific user manual
In progress
Suggested enhancements to screens
and functionality
ITS development nearing completion.
Testing required.
Targeted training
Role specific training material and on the
job during roll-out.
Refine communication strategy
To be agreed with GM’s
46
Rollout Strategy (Next Steps)
• Timetable:
- JCSMR, RSPH, Shared Services
July
- Rest of College of Science
- Shared Services Clients (CECS, F&S, ITS …)
Aug/Sep - CBE, CAPS, CASS, LAW
June
• Agreement with each College GM and Finance Manager on:
–
–
–
–
Rollout/communication strategy
College Executive presentations
Training audience, frequency, and on site support
Team and User configuration
47
Questions?
48
Morning Tea
Recommence in 20 minutes
General Discussion
All Participants
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Tuesday 20 August 2013
1:30 pm to 4:00 pm
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