Analysis and Insight

Transparent Accounting Group (TAG)

TAG reports at the level of school and planning unit to provide colleges and support groups with information that helps them monitor performance.

Our objectives are to:

• Present university performance in a more transparent way
• Attribute income to the school that earned it
• Provide staff/ student / space data and metrics
• Produce a list of agreed KPIs for budget holders to monitor
• Ensure TAG information is used to complement and enhance decision-making
• Produce phased quarterly I&E reports from Corporate Planner
• Develop a three year rolling forecast

Ten Year Forecast (TYF):

• The Ten Year Forecast is a financial model with the purpose of ensuring the University remains financially sustainable over the long-term to support strategic objectives.
• Financial statements and key ratios including income growth, surplus % and cash/liquidity are produced and reported for each iteration of the forecast.
• In-year quarterly forecasts of income and expenditure and approved three year plans are integrated into the model and provide a baseline for later years forecast.
• For the period beyond the three year planning horizon, inputs from colleagues across the university provide assumptions on growth in income and expenditure and cash flows such as capital expenditure and payments on borrowings.
• Iterations of the model are produced for meetings of University Court and Estates Committee throughout the year.
• Over the past eighteen months the model has been used for scenario planning to consider impact of Brexit and changed assumptions regarding the Estates Capital Plan.
• A new model is in development for roll-out by the end of 2017. This will provide a forecast for each major budget area and offer greater functionality for what-if testing.

Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC):

• TRAC is a method of reporting our total income and expenditure across three core activities of Teaching, Research and Other on a full economic cost basis.
• This means that TRAC attempts to reflect the full ‘sustainable’ cost of delivering the University’s activities by including an adequate investment in infrastructure and future productive capacity not reflected in the University’s financial statements.
• The University is required to submit a TRAC Return each year, that has been approved by Policy and Resources Committee and signed off by the Principal, to the Scottish Funding Council and Research Councils UK.
• TRAC data is used by the HE Funding Councils to inform government policy for teaching and research.
• As part of the TRAC process we calculate the fEC rates used to price research projects and by RCUK and other research funders to fund overhead costs incurred on research projects.
• In addition to the main TRAC Return, we also submit a TRAC for Teaching return that analyses SFC-funded teaching activity by subject area.