All invoices for sales must be raised on UFS, unless written permission is given by the director of Finance and be in the name of the University of Cambridge showing the University's VAT number.
Detailed guidance on how to raise invoices on UFS [1] [1]is provided on the web.
Transactions should be raised in the currency of GBP whenever possible. Sales made to customers in foreign currencies may result in a loss in value in the GBP equivalent due to market exchange rate fluctuations. Banking of foreign currency will result in the Department incurring related bank charges.
Exchange rates for a number of foreign currencies are pre-loaded into UFS each month. This action is to facilitate payments made to foreign Accounts Payable Suppliers and should not be seen as authorisation to raise Accounts Receivable transactions in foreign currencies.
The exceptions to the above guidelines are:
The University holds bank accounts for both of these currencies and therefore cheques received will be banked directly into the relevant accounts. Transactions may be raised in these currencies without further charges to the Department. If you know that the customer will be settling in either USD or Euros then raise the invoice in the corresponding currency using the corporate rate as identified on UFS.
It is the department's responsibility to ensure that all invoices comply with VAT regulations and are raised promptly -certainly not more than one month subsequent to the transaction to which it relates. For example:
If the sale takes place on the 15th June then the invoice must be raised by the 31st July. |
The University's policy is:
These are the exception to the rule. If payment is received before the goods are delivered or the services are performed and an invoice hasn't already be raised then you must raise the invoice when you receive the payment.
If you decide to ask for stage payments or a deposit, then an invoice should be raised for each instalment and the narrative on each invoice should clearly state this e.g. '25% deposit' ; 'instalment 2 of 3', 'final balance'
Additionally, departments should endeavour to post invoices to the General ledger accounting period that reflects when the actual goods were delivered or service performed.
So for example:
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You are able to back post for as long as the AR module is open for the previous month (currently open for three working days after the month end). Simply change the 'GL date' on the invoice header screen within UFS but ensure that you leave the invoice date as the current date.
Within UFS each invoice line has three account codes allocated to it:
Receivables account | The University's debtor control account | Do not change |
Tax account | The University's VAT account | Do not change |
Revenue account | The departmental account that the sale attributed to | Must be specified |
Departmental AR users will need to specify for each invoice line the appropriate revenue account that the sale will be attributed to in their accounts. They can select the cost centre of their choice but:
Source of funds = GAAA (External Trading)
Transaction code = must be selected from the K or L range
The terms 'recharges' and 'reimbursements' are commonly used inter-changeably however, for taxation purposes they are treated slightly differently. Please see VAT & Other Taxes [2] pages the Financial Procedures Manual.
If you are recharging an external customer for goods or services that your department has previously received from a supplier then there are two separate transactions:
There are three options:
Subsequent resale
A sales invoice should then be raised in the normal way using an appropriate L transaction code to describe the supply and the source of funds code GAAA.
Donations
Occasionally, you may be asked to provide an invoice to a benefactor to document for both parties, the monies pledged. Although, donations are not technically a 'sale', this practice is accepted within the University. In these instances: