Credit risks of activities

• minimise the potential financial loss to the institution of non-attendance 
• insure against the impossibility of recovering intangible assets such as knowledge gained from an educational course

Payment must be made at the time of booking via the University’s online store (eSales). Non-payment should result in non-attendance.⁴  Contact the Head of Accounting Services if there are exceptional circumstances.

The consequences of non-settlement before the event or course commences must be clarified explicitly with customers at the time of booking and reinforced when invoicing.

Collect these fees in advance. Fees relating to facilities hire can be of small value and are uneconomical to chase if overdue. To ensure against non-payment, when institutions allow external parties to hire University facilities, payment in advance of the event is required.

Exceptionally, if you do agree to extend credit, the nature of the customer should be considered. You may agree to extend credit to recognised University clubs and societies, whereas other customers will be informal, transient organisations, and may be difficult to locate for payment.

Where facilities are hired continuously over a period of months, e.g., bench fees, some payment must be received before access to the facilities is granted. Where an invoice cannot be raised in advance, i.e., full costs are not yet known, the fixed costs for the entire period could be billed instead. Then any further costs and rates are billed retrospectively at specified intervals. Failure to settle as per the terms of the invoice should result in the customer’s access to the facilities being denied.