Developing good practice

How finance works ... at the University

Internal Audit at the University of Sheffield

There are a number of common themes that have been identified by the Internal Auditors through the internal audits.

The most common themes, together with good practice guidance, are:

Budget monitoring

Some examples of the common themes arising from internal audit reports involve a lack of formal procedures to control and monitor budgets within departments. Examples include:

lack of evidence to support the authorisation of budget virements
failure to retain documentation to support the monthly budget monitoring process for both the overall department and the individual teams/areas of activity
lack of formal evidence of a monthly review being undertaken by the Head of Department and/or discussion at departmental management team meetings
lack of evidence of reconciliations between the core financial system and any sub-systems used by departments
failure to identify and explain variances

Guidance is available for departments in the form of a Financial and Budget Management Good Practice Guide which outlines processes and procedures that should be in place to facilitate effective budget management.

Departmental Asset Registers

A departmental asset register is in effect an inventory of departmental furniture and equipment.

The common themes arising from the reports arise from risks in relation to the lack of controls over assets held by the individual departments and some specific examples of identified weaknesses include:

additions and disposals to the register not being recorded on a timely basis
lack of security marking
lack of a regular verification of assets

The Financial Regulations relating to the value of assets above which an inventory must be maintained were amended in 2011 from £500 to £2000. However, Heads of Department may select a threshold value lower than £2000 for the recording of acquisition and disposal of assets if this is more appropriate for the nature of furniture and equipment held in their Department.Value is not the only consideration and portable and attractive items such as laptops, mobile phones and other electronic media may not be included in the threshold determined above and hence should be recorded in the Departmental Asset Register.

Full guidance on the recording and disposal of Departmental Assets can be found within the University’s Financial Regulations on Departmental Assets.

Controls over the recording of cash received by departments

This theme covers instances where departments receive income for the sale of goods or services such as course materials and the sales of tickets for events. Examples of the common themes arising include:

lack of records covering items sold and receipts issued
weaknesses in security over the holding of cash
lack of reconciliation of cash received to banking records

Guidance on the recording of income received and insured cash levels can be found within the University’s Financial Regulations on Income and Banking and Insurance.

Portable Electrical Appliance Testing

These requirements arise from the University’s compliance requirements with the “Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (1998)” and “The University of Sheffield Health and Safety Code of Practice (part II)” which require departments to conduct a formal programme of maintenance, inspection and testing of portable electrical appliances.

Departmental Risk Registers

Previous themes have been identified from the lack of preparation of a formal risk register by each department to assist them in managing identified risks.

The requirement for a departmental risk register is part of the annual planning round and these risks are reviewed by the Risk Review Group.

The risk management web site provides more information on the University’s risk management policy.

Need help or more information?

Who to contact
If you have any questions about these web pages or about Audit Committee and Internal Audit at the University of Sheffield, please contact us.

Helen Dingle
Deputy Director of Finance

Julie Marples
Management Accountant