Key Departmental Responsibilities

Guidance for heads of units and heads of administration of their responsibilities under the Financial Regulations

The Financial Regulations specify a number of requirements for which either the head of unit or their administrator are responsible.

Departments are responsible for meeting the following requirements and should retain records that these have been met:

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All staff within the unit are made aware of the regulations and of the consequences of failure to comply with them. Failure to comply by a responsible person may be subject to action under the University's disciplinary procedures.

Managing financial administration

An appropriate system of financial delegated authorities exists which ensures that funds received or spent are properly controlled, and their use monitored.

The Unit submits correct and timely returns of information requested for the University's annual budgets and of legally required data to the Finance Division, for inclusion in the University's returns to bodies such as HM Revenue & Customs.

All internal and external audit recommendations approved by the Audit and Scrutiny Committee are completed by the agreed date.

Appropriate and adequate arrangements exist to safeguard all assets; that University policies, including the regulations and financial processes, are complied with; and that records are maintained in as complete and accurate a form as possible, with electronic data appropriately backed up using a secure mechanism. Please see the Departmental Document Retention Guidance (pdf) document.

The Finance Division is supplied with any information necessary to ensure that the University complies with the Office for Students (OfS) Framework, the OfS terms and conditions and related guidance from the OfS and other bodies by the dates published by the Director of Finance.

Internal management systems for the control of finance-related activity in their units are so designed as to allow adequate segregation of duties. Heads of unit must also ensure that access by staff using the University's business systems is restricted to roles and responsibilities appropriate to each user's role. The system roles and responsibilities allocated should provide clearly defined delegated authorities where necessary, and an appropriate balance of controls to prevent and detect errors. Heads of Unit must ensure the requirements of the Managing Access to Oracle process are met.

Segregation of duties

In accordance with financial processes, adequate checks of financial transactions are made.

The financial review guide (pdf) sets out the minimum monthly/quarterly checks that all departments should undertake.
It refers to the appropriate reports, although departments may use different reports if they provide the same information needed to undertake the checks. Please see the Reports Library for additional information about the reports.

 

Financial review guide

If you require further information and guidance on your Department's financial responsibilities please contact Financial Assurance .

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Useful links

Useful documents

Contact us

 : Finance Division
      University of Oxford
      23-38 Hythe Bridge Street

      Oxford, OX1 2ET

 : financial.assurance@admin.ox.ac.uk

 : counterfraud@admin.ox.ac.uk

 : Financial Assurance and Counter Fraud Team