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• Managing awards and projects
• • Overview
  • Systems and Procedures
  • Principal investigator duties
  • Reporting

Systems and Procedures

Finance System

The University’s Finance system provides online procurement and budget reporting. PI's are encouraged to attend the Research budget reporting training session, which is tailored for PI’s in receipt of a research grant; and to consult the notes on how to use the budget reports. 

To help manage your award, Monthly budget statements from the Finance system will be emailed directly to the PI (and to Co-I's or other colleagues with nominated access). The statements show expenditure against budget and will be accompanied by a list of transactions made during the month.You may find our Monthly Research Budget Reports - FAQ [DOCX 19.74KB]helpful in respect of the reports.

The Finance Service Desk can be contacted with any queries you may have, either on #7172 or via FinanceServiceDesk@sussex.ac.uk 

Procurement 

The Procurement office will help ensure that the Research Council's requirement for best practice in procurement is met. Procurement staff should always be consulted in respect of research-funded equipment where named items are a condition of the grant. They will advise and assist on the tendering, legal, contractual and procedural sides of the procurement process, and can provide guidance on bid evaluation, managing negotiations and whole-life costing procedures, as applicable.

The Procurement office should also be consulted if an arrangement is to be entered into for the delivery of a consultancy or other service in conjunction with a grant project to establish whether the arrangement is wholly collaborative or if it should be appointed through the normal procurement procedures.

The purchase of items specifically related to medical research may be VAT exempt. Guidance on VAT exemptions may be sought from Finance Division.

The University’s Financial regulations must be adhered to and you should also be aware of the University’s Buyers’ guide.

The Finance system provides an easy-to-use online ordering and payments system without generating paper documents. Users can requisition goods and services which, once approved, become official orders for email to suppliers. Confirmation that goods and services have been received must be registered before payment will be made. Invoices are received centrally for scanning and matching against purchase orders and are paid immediately without further approval if they match the purchase order and goods received confirmation. 

Safeguarding of assets 

Please note that any assets purchased from this award belong to the University. As such, full details must be recorded appropriately, safeguarded during the project period and then retained at the end of the project period. Section 9.6.2 of the Finance regulations provides the necessary details and your Head of School can advise you on the maintenance of inventories. 

Travel

To help fulfil duty of care obligations and obtain value for money, the University has appointed a preferred travel management company, Key Travel. Key Travel should be used for booking all air travel and as many other overseas services as practicable, except where the use of an alternative supplier is substantially cheaper, low risk and outweighs the other benefits of using the preferred provider.

Please contact the Insurance Officer for information on the University’s policies covering travel. 

Expenses 

Staff (and Associate Tutor) Expenses are claimed in the Finance system. Financial literacy training sessions and Expenses training guides are available (and additional assistance is available from the Finance Service Desk. Non-staff members (including students) wishing to claim Expenses should use either the online Expenses claim form or hard-copy PDF version. Prior to submitting Expenses, please ensure that the claim is in line with the University’s Expenses policy. Any claim to be paid into European bank accounts should include the relevant IBAN (International Bank Account Number) and Swift Code.

The University’s Finance regulations state that original receipts must be attached to any expense claims. When submitting claims, please ensure that a complete narrative is given for each line item (eg date, reason for meeting etc).

EU grants 

Time spent working on the project may need to be recorded in the form of monthly timesheets.

The expenditure costs claimed must be those actually incurred on the project, rather than those budgeted for. Please note that the EU does not meet VAT costs, and VAT incurred on EU-funded research projects cannot be reclaimed through the VAT system. VAT costs incurred on a project will be borne by the School by netting down the overheads earned on the School's EU projects.