Staff Responsibilities

Staff must, irrespective of sources of funding, comply with:

a.  the Financial Regulations

b.  University Statutes and Ordinances

c.  University policies and procedures;

d.  all legal, financial, administrative and other obligations

e.  the requirements laid down by the Scottish Funding Council, HM Revenue and Customs and other regulatory authorities

f.  the University’s Delegated Authorisation Schedule and must not:

• authorise any financial or procurement activity outside of their authorised delegated limits.

• deliberately split orders for goods and services to remain within any limits they are given.

• deliberately avoid aggregation of expenditure on similar (type not source) of goods or services to remain below regulated thresholds

Staff must also comply with:

a.  University’s Fraud Policy when fraud or irregularity is suspected.

b.  The Whistleblowing Policy to raise issues of irregularity of malpractice.

c.  The Modern Slavery statement to raise issues when slavery or human trafficking is suspected.

A detailed list of regulatory bodies and their documents can be accessed at the link. Governing Regulations 2016

In case of doubt all staff must seek advice on the application of any regulation, policy or procedure. This could be from your line manager, FIRST or the person responsible for the policy.

All staff must declare interests that may be perceived to affect their judgement in making or influencing decisions. These decisions include anything with a financial or procurement competition implication for the University. These can involve personal relationships as well as interests in a body bidding for business, or contracting with the University. Staff must seek the advice of the University Secretary in cases of doubt.

All staff must provide the Director of Finance with any information requested about the University’s finances and Director of Procurement for any procurement plans or activities. This includes any requests relating to compliance with University Financial Regulations, Policies and Procedures or evidence regarding compliance with the University Procurement Strategy.

Appropriate records must be kept to ensure compliance is evidenced eg in court.

All staff are responsible for assessing and managing risk and must:

a.  ensure risk is managed at an acceptable level for all University activities undertaken.

b.  only accept risks within their limits of authority and not breach any University policy or procedure.

c.  seek advice on procurement risks prior to engaging with suppliers or bidders.

All staff are responsible for ensuring the University obtains value for money from funds received from all sources. Staff must ensure they use:

a.  University resources and assets in a prudent way to meet agreed University objectives.

b.  resources received or allocated for the purpose for which they are intended.

To help fulfil this responsibility, the Director of Finance will prepare and revise each year a value for money report.

Internal audit will also have regard to value for money in its programme of work. These measures will be used to enable the Audit and Risk Committee to provide assurances regarding value for money in their annual report to Court.

The Director of Finance is responsible for ensuring that copies of the Financial Regulations are published on the University's website.

It is the responsibility of all designated Budget Holders to ensure that:

a.  their staff are made aware of the existence and provisions of the Financial Regulations,

b.  where necessary, ensure that staff are trained to carry out their duties and

26. Retention of documents

The University is required by law to retain prime documents for seven complete tax years (April to March). Further guidance on records and retention can be obtained from the Record Management website.

Requests for procurement documentation may be required for significantly longer on funding body terms e.g. European funding. Commercial supplier contracts should be retained for seven years after completion. Bids evaluated and records of decisions must be retained for seven years from the selection process.