Approval of Agresso transactions for period 202312 to be completed by Monday 5 August.
All departmental returns must be completed by 5pm sharp on Thursday 8 August. Please study the separate instructions which you will receive along with the dummy run data in the run-up to year-end.
Period 202401 will open for posting on Monday 5 August. Agresso users will be notified when it is open by email. Please avoid processing 2024/25 data prior to this email.
The estate's accrual will be posted on Friday 9 August. Monitoring reports (Power Bi reports) will be available as soon as possible after departmental returns have been posted by 22 August at the latest. Heads of Departments should submit explanations of significant variances from the budget by Monday 9 September. Staff should note that Central Finance will continue working on 2023/24 across August (in period 202313); however, this should rarely affect the budget or cumulative position. The final date for posting is Wednesday 21 August (bar any adjustment stipulated during the audit).
In order to assist your budget monitoring and general financial management as the year-end approaches the Finance & Procurement Office recommend departments undertake the following:
Timeframe
| June | Check your department monitoring report to investigate outstanding commitments and resolve as appropriate |
| Third week in July | Check a budget monitoring report to view a snapshot of departmental operating positions at the end of July but prior to the 'late' period. This is for information only and you will not be asked to explain variances |
| Use the dummy data runs sent by Financial Accounts to bring your books as up to date as possible during June and July |
Goods received
It is important that goods received are entered into Agresso as soon as possible. Purchase Orders with a goods received date on or prior to 31 July can be ignored as the Finance & Procurement Office will generate a report of these transactions and automatically post it into the old year on 6 August.
Whether a receipt relates to 2024/25 or 2023/24 or not depends on whether the product or service was received into the University before or after 31 July. This is the key date that needs to be entered on the Goods Receiving screen.
P2P and commitments
Ensure that all workflow approvals are processed as quickly as possible - the posting to the General Ledger only occurs after authorisation. Have a plan in place to cover summer leave so staff can process as required.
- Commitment reports need to run in advance of the year-end to ensure only valid commitments are recorded.
- Commitments can be monitored by tracking the status of a Purchase Order.
- Investigate commitments to identify older orders which still have commitments.
- Close purchase orders where a PO is duplicated or unfilled.
There will still be 2023/24 invoices being received towards the end of July and into August. Immediately pass any invoices and payment requests to the Payments Office and ensure all workflow approvals are immediately processed.
Whether an invoice or voucher relates to the old year or not depends on the date on which the particular product or service was received into the University or when the expense or travel took place. This is the key date that needs to be entered on the 'Goods or Services Received' box of the purchasing voucher, or on the Receiving Goods screen in Agresso.
For paying invoices received before 1 August relating to goods and services receivable in 2024/25, see 'Payments made in advance'.
Part-time teaching fellows and other zero-hour workers
Any claims that will not reach the Payroll Office by 2 August should be included as Creditors on the Departmental Return. An estimate should be made of any fees due for which you do not yet have a claim.
Zero-hour staff should submit all claims promptly to ensure they are included in the 2023/24 year.
E-Timesheets need to be approved by 2 August, any approved after this date should be included as Creditors on the Departmental Return.
Payments to individuals for services provided
When a claim form has not been processed for individuals who require payment via a Suppliers Invoice, the amount owing should be included as Creditors on the Departmental Return.
Expenses
Expenses claimed through Agresso should be entered as soon as possible, and approved in the workflow before 2 August.
- Track an expense claim through Agresso
- Close an expense claim in Agresso
Any interview expenses outstanding at 31 July should be added to creditors on the Departmental Return.
Purchase card coding
The dates purchase card transactions will be uploaded into Agresso at the end of this financial year will be as detailed below.
Please code and approve all of these transactions by the end of 5 August, so that they can be posted into Period 12 in Agresso. Any transactions not properly coded and approved by this date will be accrued to the default account code and the annual budget project and may require further analysis.
| Wednesday 31 July | all transactions *posted to Barclaycard account 22-28 July 2024 |
| Friday 2 August | there will be an additional import of transactions to include those *posted to Barclaycard account 29-31 July 2024 |
| Departmental Returns | These must include any purchase card transactions for this financial year where: |
| the transaction has not been coded and approved by the end of 5 August 2024 or | |
| the transaction has not yet appeared in Agresso for coding/approval |
*transactions are normally posted to Barclaycard accounts on the next working day after the payment is made.
Departmental Returns
Departmental Returns need to be submitted to finance-yearend@bath.ac.uk by 5pm, Thursday 8 August.
Journals
Journals in relation to transfers to be made in 2023/24 must be entered and approved through Agresso by 5pm on Monday 5 August or they will not be posted in 2023/24.
Salary re-costing journals must meet the same deadlines.
Please remember to change the transaction date to 31 July on July journals entered in August.
Internal Trade
All dispatches should be made by 1 August to allow receiving departments an opportunity to approve internal trade orders. All internal trade approvals must be made by 5pm on 4 August if they are to be included in 2023/24. Estates work orders that remain incomplete will be reviewed by the Finance & Procurement Office and the value of work carried out to the year-end will be charged as actual expenditure at 31 July.
Equipment
Items of equipment costing in excess of £25,000 are included as assets in the University’s accounts. We must confirm that we still have the relevant items at each year-end.
An up-to-date list will be sent out June or July each year, asking departments to check and confirm the items by 1 August. Where such assets have been disposed of, an authorised disposal form must be sent to the Finance & Procurement Office. Please note that this year you are being asked to provide details of a responsible person for each asset.
To help ensure the accuracy of the asset returns, the Financial Accounts team undertakes a rolling program of inspections.
Stocktaking
Stock which is included in the accounts needs to be subject to a stocktake on 31 July. Departments are responsible for undertaking these stocktakes and associated accounting. If you require assistance, please contact the Financial Accounts Team before mid-July.
Auditors
Grant Thornton were appointed earlier in the year as our auditors for 2023/24. Their main audit will commence Monday 9 September, and a two-week interim audit commenced on Monday 17th June.