FOI 204274
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 204274
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 17th October 2022. Please find below the response to your request:
Please could you answer some questions about how you are currently handling your spending:
Expenses
- What finance system do you use?
- What system do you use to manage and process your staff’s expenses?
- What is the expense submission & reimbursement process?
- What is the current period of reimbursement (from submission) for staff expenses?
- What is the current approval workflow for expense claims?
- How long does it take on average to process one expense claim?
- How many expense claims were made during your last financial year? And what was total value of expense claimed?
- Can your staff submit expenses remotely?
- Are staff able to submit claims on their mobile device via a dedicated application?
- How are you claiming VAT on mileage?
- Do your staff have to manually deduct commute distance from their mileage claim?
- What percentage of expense claims are you auditing?
- How many FTEs (full time employees) do you have processing expense claims?
- Which department oversees / owns the expense processes/workflows?
- Who is the named contact within the organisation who owns the expense process?
Invoices
- What system do you use for managing/processing invoices?
- What is your current invoice process for handling supplier invoices, from receipt to when it is posted in the ERP/finance system and ready for payment?
- How many invoices were processed during your last financial year?
- How many FTEs (full time employees) do you have in your accounts payable team who process invoices?
- What percentage of invoices were paid late during your last financial year?
- What is the approval workflow for Invoices?
- Who is the named contact within the organisation that decides which systems are upgraded each year?
- Do you use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to scan invoices?
- Do you currently have a PO system or a non-PO system? If you use both types – what is the percentage of PO invoices vs. non-PO invoices?
- Are you claiming VAT on invoices? If so, how are you doing this?
Reply
Invoices
- What system do you use for managing/processing invoices?
- EFinancials
- What is your current invoice process for handling supplier invoices, from receipt to when it is posted in the ERP/finance system and ready for payment?
- Pdf copies are scanned and verified into the finance system. Invoices with a purchase order are matched to goods receipt and the correct purchase order. Invoices without a PO are coded and approved through the financial workflow system using E financials.
- How many invoices were processed during your last financial year?
- 17,946
- How many FTEs (full time employees) do you have in your accounts payable team who process invoices?
- 4.21
- What percentage of invoices were paid late during your last financial year?
- 29.79%
- What is the approval workflow for Invoices?
- Invoices with a purchase order are matched to goods receipt. Invoices without a PO are coded and approved with part of the Efinancial Application.
- Who is the named contact within the organisation that decides which systems are upgraded each year?
- Head of finance
- Do you use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to scan invoices?
- Yes
- Do you currently have a PO system or a non-PO system? If you use both types – what is the percentage of PO invoices vs. non-PO invoices?
- 81% POP 19% NON POP
- Are you claiming VAT on invoices? If so, how are you doing this?
- VAT value is separated when invoices are registered onto the finance system and reports produce the values to claim.
Expenses:
- What finance system do you use?
- E-Financials
- What system do you use to manage and process your staff’s expenses?
- Itrent payroll
- What is the expense submission & reimbursement process?
- Expenses are submitted via self-service portal in Itrent payroll.
- What is the current period of reimbursement (from submission) for staff expenses?
- Claims have to be submitted by the 10th of the month for payment in that months pay.
- What is the current approval workflow for expense claims?
- Finance officers review expenses data files provided by Finance Systems on a monthly basis to look for outliers in value and also narrative that does not match approved expenses. Any that do not seem to meet the guidelines are referred back to line managers and ultimately if an expense is deemed outside the guidelines payroll are contacted to reclaim the cost from the individual.
- How long does it take on average to process one expense claim?
- Claims are input by the individual and automatically transferred to payroll.
- How many expense claims were made during your last financial year? And what was total value of expense claimed?
- Number of claims = 13,400. Total value of claims = £704,731.88
Note: these figures include both expenses and mileage for staff, officers and specials.
- Can your staff submit expenses remotely?
- Yes
- Are staff able to submit claims on their mobile device via a dedicated application?
- Yes
- How are you claiming VAT on mileage?
- Yes
- Do your staff have to manually deduct commute distance from their mileage claim?
- No
- What percentage of expense claims are you auditing?
- No specific recorded information held. Payroll are not currently auditing any claims. Although claims do form part of the sample pool for External Audit, this is included in the total dip sample across payroll, not specific to expenses
- How many FTEs (full time employees) do you have processing expense claims?
- None
- Which department oversees / owns the expense processes/workflows?
- Payroll
- Who is the named contact within the organisation who owns the expense process?
- Payroll manager