Welcome to the Treasurer’s Office News section

1. College Travel Policy update

Following an internal audit, a recommendation was made and subsequently approved by Board, to introduce a Travel Policy to structure the practices that are currently in operation across the College. The new Travel Policy was developed in line with best practice and, when adhered to, should withstand the increased level of scrutiny and inspection now carried out by all Auditors including the Comptroller & Auditor General.

Please note the following changes to the College Travel Policy:

All overseas travel (except if claimed from a research account or from the Conference Travel Scheme) must be pre-approved, in writing, in advance by the authoriser/budget holder of the account to which the travel costs will be charged.
Subsistence will be reimbursed on the basis of vouched receipts only (up to the maximum allowed under the Department of Finance Rates). Subsistence is intended to cover the reasonable meal and accommodation costs incurred by those travelling on official duties for TCD. In the rare event whereby receipts are mislaid or unavailable, staff members are required to clearly identify this on the claim and ensure it is signed by the authoriser/budget holder.

This applies to all sources of funding i.e. research or otherwise.

The full Travel Policy, which includes the purpose, scope and guidelines, is available at the following link:

College Travel Policy

2. New Confidential Salaries & Wages Drop-in Service

Please also note that a Special Payroll box has been set up in reception of 3 College Green for any post or forms specifically for the Salaries & Wages Section. This post box is cleared and all forms are processed on a daily basis.

Day	Time	Location
Tuesdays	9.30am – 11am	3rd Floor, Treasurer’s Office, 3 College Green
Thursdays	9.30am – 11am	3rd Floor, Treasurers’ Office, 3 College Green

Staff members with a query regarding their pay can now drop in anytime between the hours above to meet directly with a staff member from the Salaries & Wages Section. This provides a better quality, more private service to staff members in College who are unable to address their payroll queries via phone or email.

Deirdre Dempsey	dempsede@tcd.ie	1928	Monthly Payroll
Fiona McDonald	fmcdonld@tcd.ie	1856	Casual Payroll
Niamh McKeown	mckeownn@tcd.ie	1037	Weekly Payroll

3. Benefit in kind (BIK) update from Revenue

Following representations to Revenue regarding Benefit in Kind (BIK) on Professional Subscriptions paid by employers, further clarification on the matter has now been provided to us.

In summary, while each case is examined individually based on its own facts and circumstances, Revenue will operate in accordance with the following guidelines for the tax year 2011 and subsequent years:

Employers may pay professional subscriptions on behalf of employees without deduction of tax, PRSI or USC whereby:

There is a statutory requirement for membership of a professional body etc.
There is a requirement for a practising certificate or licence
Other situations apply i.e.
the duties of the employee and the duties of the employment require the exercise or practice of the occupation or profession in respect of which the annual membership fee refers;
the employee so exercises or practices the occupation or profession in respect of which the annual membership fee refers; and
membership of the professional body is an indispensable condition of the tenure of the employment

Professional subscriptions can only be paid on behalf of an employee if they fall into one of the categories above and the Head of Area has approved it. Professional subscriptions can be paid by PCard, invoice or reimbursement once they satisfy the conditions above.

4. Treasurer's Office Annual Report 2009/2010

The 2009/2010 Treasurer's Office Annual Report can be found at the following link:

Treasurer's Office Annual Report 2009/2010

5. National Procurement Award Winners

Congratulations to the Procurement Section of the Treasurer’s Office on their recent award for Innovation in Public Procurement at the National Procurement Awards 2010.

Trevor Kerley of Trinity College Dublin and his counterpart, Turlough Kieran of University College Dublin are each responsible for the procurement of laboratory-based expenditure within their respective universities, constituting one third of total non-pay expenditure. In 2009, having successfully initiated a project on Gases , they decided to expand the scope of their activities by collaborating on all facets of laboratory procurement and to include the entire 3rd Level Sector.

By leveraging the combined expenditure of the 3rd Level Sector, the economies of scale have yielded greatly improved savings and value-added services far in excess of anything attainable by any one Institution acting alone. TCD and UCD are currently preparing the launch of a sector-wide tender for Chemicals and have recently addressed the areas of DNA Sequencing Services and Hazardous Materials.

Procurement Award Photo

Trinity's Senior Buyer Trevor Kerley, and the Head of Purchasing at UCD Turlough Kieran receive the trophy for Innovation in Public Procurement from ARAMARK Ireland's commercial Director, Eddie Scaife.

6. New Treasurer's Office Quick Reference Guide

The Treasurer's Office recently developed and launched a "Quick Reference Guide" aimed at providing financial information at your fingertips.

Treasurer's Office Quick Reference Guide

Please contact Lisa Orpen at orpenl@tcd.ie to order Quick Reference Guides for your area.

7. eReports Upgrade

The Treasurer’s Office is delighted to announce that the eReports facility has been upgraded. Please read Guidance Notes (PDF) before using the upgraded facility for the first time.

The enhanced facility now incorporates a number of new features, inclusive of:

Up to Date Reporting

Users will now be able to retrieve reports and financial information pertaining to the current (open) financial period. Transactions posted daily into Coda (College’s financial system) will be viewable by users within eReports the following day.

Reports will be available in multiple formats

Currently all reports are published in PDF format allowing view and print access to the user. In addition to the new up to date reporting facility, transaction detail reports, and a selection of summary reports, will be available in Excel format (indicated by an Excel icon), thus enabling the user to extract accounting data to incorporate into their own accounting spreadsheets. The transaction detail reports (in Excel format) will also be available for period ranges (e.g. October to April 2010).

Streamlined Access

The screens and options within the eReports facility have been improved to enable easier navigation; the user will have access to relevant options only, thus speeding up and simplifying the retrieval process.

eReports can be accessed, as previously, from within the Treasurer’s Office website:

http://www.tcd.ie/Treasurers_Office/ereports/index.php

then choose ‘Retrieve Reports’

User Guidelines are provided at:

http://www.tcd.ie/Treasurers_Office/ereports/rep_guidelines.php

Support contact information is detailed at:

http://www.tcd.ie/Treasurers_Office/ereports/rep_queries.php

This upgrade is the result of a joint project between the Treasurer’s Office and IS Services in addressing various suggestions raised over time by college users and we are confident that the new features will provide added value for the user base.

eReports should be straightforward to access and use. However guidance can be provided should any individual require this.

Should you have any queries or require support in relation to the upgraded facility, in the first instance please contact:

For General Ledger queries: Helen Maher (hmaher@tcd.ie), ext. 1038

For Research Accounting Queries: Elaine Sharkey (sharkee@tcd.ie), ext. 2981

For Technical queries including:

Authentication using College network username and password
Supported internet browsers
Adobe Reader

View IS Services web site http://isservices.tcd.ie/general/getting-help.php

Detail on applying for IS Service training courses, including Excel can also be found on the link above.

8. Treasurer's Office "Workshop" service now on offer

The Treasurer’s Office is delighted to announce a new “Workshop” service which is aimed at facilitating staff members who require an overview on various College financial procedures and policies. We are happy to provide an informal session with individuals or groups who wish to recap or learn more about areas such as coding, reimbursements, managing a research account, invoices, procurement etc.

You can book your session on-line at the following link: Treasurer's Office Workshops and Frances Leogue will contact you to make the necessary arrangements.

We look forward to hearing from you.

9. The Treasurer's Office Outreach Programme

Outreach Photos

The Treasurer's Office Outreach Programme was developed in late 2008 with the aim of providing Treasurer’s Office staff with a fundamental overview of “a day in the life of” an academic. As a service provider, the Treasurer’s Office liaises with every Faculty, School and Discipline in College and the concept of the Outreach Programme was considered a unique way in which to gain an insight into the type of environment academics and their support staff work in.

The feedback has been extremely encouraging from both the academic teams kindly hosting the visits and the Treasurer’s Office staff, with many citing the programme as a mutually beneficial exercise which allows for positive interaction in an informal setting.

The Treasurer’s Office is extremely grateful for the time and effort made by the academic teams so far to accommodate us and we hope to further develop this programme over the coming months. We are always on the look out for academic volunteers/participants so if you are interested, please contact Roisin Stapleton on Extn 1942 or email stapletr@tcd.ie to arrange a visit.

10. Reminders

Audit Information

Below are some frequently asked questions during audits both in terms of the administration of your research grants and to ensure the efficient progress and best results in relation to audits on your research accounts.

Timesheets: Timesheets and hourly rates should match the staff contract and any subsequent staff transfer forms
Reimbursements: Relevant supporting documentation should be supplied with reimbursements; i.e. Meeting Agenda; Attendees, Conference Flyers, etc.
Supplier Invoices: Supplier invoices should be processed in a timely manner so that invoice transactions do not incur interest/late penalty charges
Suppler Invoices: Supplier invoices should be billed/charged to the correct research account code at the time of processing and should only be transferred to other research account codes in exceptional circumstances

Financial Management of Research Grants and Contracts

Please note that a copy of the “Explanatory Guidelines for the Financial Management of Research Grants and Contracts” is available on the Treasurer’s Office website at the following link:

Explanatory Guidelines

Maurice Ward & Co. are sole Customs Clearance Agent for Trinity College

Maurice Ward & Co. are the sole Customs Clearance Agent for Trinity College and should be used for all shipments by freight from outside the EU.

Please ensure that you notify all foreign suppliers that Maurice Ward & Co. be used where possible. Maurice Ward & Co. should be notified of relevant details of shipments in advance of goods being imported.

It is important that these procedures are followed to record the VAT correctly at the point of entry.

Please refer to the link below for further information regarding Maurice Ward under Section 1.4.5. Imports and the existing procedure.

Authorisation of Invoices for Payment.pdf

Please contact the Accounts Payable Section of Treasurer’s Office should you have any further queries in relation to the importation of goods.

We in the Treasurer’s Office aim to assist you as much as possible and we welcome comments and suggestions for improvements that may be made to the site. Please email us at treasurers.office@tcd.ie