FAQ

Below are questions asked in 2025 and previous years

Click on the question you are interested in to expand the answer.

Q. There is currently a backlog of SoftCo invoices in the Exceptions queue. How’s this going to work for year end, are you bringing in extra resources to work through these 24/25 invoices before the AP module shuts for JUL-25?

The exception queue will need to be cleared for the year end. We are working with Shared Services to ensure they get over the learning curve and can work efficiently. Once we’ve done that we look at putting in SLAs for response times. We will ensure year end is not impacted by this.

Q. Is there someone centrally I can request deletion of Concur claims / lines from? Or is this a regular CUFS helpdesk request?

It is best to ask the original claimant to delete their claim. If they won’t or can’t for any reason then email the UFS helpdesk who will delete it for you.

Q. Will the Finance Division be providing a list of potential prepayments required for dept to review like they’ve done in the past, thinking of service contracts?

Yes, as in previous years, CRA will send a list for departments to review and confirm.

Q. Could we just manually process in CUFS any invoices which are going to be affected by Softco's inability to regard accounting correct periods? For a 1st August invoice that's gone through SoftCo to AP, but wants to go into JUL-25 can we correct GL date in AP ?

All external supplier invoices (other than those that already go through an interface, such as e-invoices) must go through SoftCo.

You can adjust the invoice lines in AP once the invoice has interfaced into CUFS. Just remember not to use the Discard lines function. Instead you will need to add a negative and positive line to change the accounting date. This also has the advantage of not affecting the purchase order.

You will receive reports of invoices and can tell the Finance Division which invoices to adjust the period on rather than adjusting it yourself in AP. These adjustments will be processed through the GL and you won’t see the correction on your AP reports.

Q. Does that mean we shouldn't be accruing or prepaying invoices under £10k?

You MAY accrue or prepay any invoice amount, but you MUST accrue/prepay relevant transactions over £10k.

Q. Accruals & Prepayments - does this mean you don't wish us to prepay on journals at departmental level?

Yes, please still process at a department level. CRA will also send out a list. We won’t process anything centrally without checking so as not to double-count.

Q. Who do we email the schedule of accruals and prepayments to?

If you email it to UFS_GL@admin.cam.ac.uk [1] helpdesk, we'll pick it up there.

Q. Regarding CUEF units - In March 2023 we had the presentation about proposing the changes to buying / selling postings. I think the example was that if you if you make an instruction to buy in March, then an estimate will be posted in April and then reversed out once you know the actual. In our school some of our departments want to use their year to date surplus up to June to buy spendable units, so they invest in June. When would the June purchasing entry be posted in the year end period?

The June purchase will go in CUFS at the beginning of July, so as soon as we have an estimate of the value we will put that through July.

The only difference at year end as opposed to the previous quarters is the actual will also go in July.

In March, you put an estimate in during April, but then the actual doesn't go in until June, but at year end you put the estimate in July. But the actual will also go into July because it is year end. That's the only difference there.

Once you have the accrual, it will reverse out to July as well. So you have a July accrual, a July reversal then a July actual. Usually it is timed over the whole quarter whereas at year end everything will go in and out of July.

Q. Usually we get the top 10 or top 20 suppliers and we have to reconcile the statements. Is that happening this year? Because I can't see it on the sheet of important dates?

This year with the supplier reconciliations we have decided to do the main suppliers centrally, we’ll pick the top 30 suppliers and do as one big statement centrally, rather than individual institutions doing them. We have been getting more data on institutions including the length of time it is taking you to process invoices and then getting in contact with you to see if there is anything we can do to help you speed up the processing.

Q. Will the key dates be in the bulletin each week over the year end period?

Yes, each week the key tasks for that week will be published in the Bulletin on Monday afternoon. If people are not on the bulletin email list, email the Helpdesk and we will add them UFS_GL@admin.cam.ac.uk [1]

Q. If a conference is running 30th of July to the 2nd of August, how do you account for cut off?

The best thing to do would be to pro-rata the income and any expenditure associated with it into both Financial Years. If you do need to do this it is best to speak with your School Finance Advisor and/or Central Finance for assistance in getting this right first time.

Q. What codes should be used for departmental accruals?

Departments can either use CC/SoF = “0000”, or they can use the relevant cost centre, then use SoF “0000”

Q. At what level of certainty should income be accrued for?

The level of certainty has to be very high otherwise do not accrue. Be aware that the auditors usually run spot checks on income received in August and September against Year End income accruals.

Q. What do we do if the Head of Institution is away when the year end certificate needs signing?

Ask the Head of Institution to put delegation in writing before leaving, and this written delegation of authority should be attached to the certificate (when emailed back by individual assigned to task)

Q. Late internal AR invoices will miss the AP/Shared Services posting deadline, how can we get these into July?

Identify these in your batches going to shared services and mark as urgent. Shared Services Finance (SSF) will accept internal trading invoices beyond the August deadline date, but whilst making every effort, cannot guarantee capture. Only send current year invoices during this time.

Q. Why is clearing open POs necessary?

To remove commitment of funds and free up budget (Grants) and to identify any issues with the PO process. Good financial practice.

Q. Why are there so many open POs, some going back years?

Institutions have not taken appropriate action. There are a number of reasons why POs are still open, for example receipting was not carried out, or it may be a call-off order. The date, items bought, type of order, supplier etc should be taken into account before taking the appropriate action [2].

Q. Some POs are part of a contract which rolls over. Is this a problem?

No - it is the date of the receipt which is important for year end purposes

Q. What does finally closing an order mean?

POs will have any committment removed and be closed to any further actions being taken. This includes receipting or matching of invoices. A finally closed PO cannot be re-opened. Do not use Finally Close for orders from e-Suppliers.

Q. Where do you find the Invoice Register?

Oracle (CUFS) for all AP and AR reports. However, the AP Dashboard, AP Invoice Enquiry and AP Supplier Enquiry from Cognos provides the same information quicker.

Q. Who gets the AP holds and unaccounted transaction reports?

From July, the report is sent out weekly to the nominated department finance contact, or if requested, the department generic inbox. If there is a more appropriate contact, the Helpdesk needs to be informed. For the rest of the year, these reports are sent out monthly.

Q. Does the University encourage departments not to accrue/prepay for under £10,000?

No. It is entirely up to the institution as to what is material for them and their accounts. Best practice would be to reflect accruals and prepayments but for audit purposes, it is mandatory to do so for amounts of £10,000 or more

Q. Is the £10,000 mandatory amount for individual transactions or totalled?

It is for individual transactions. Please note that for all accruals, prepayments, income received in advance, if the total amount is £200,000 or more, all relevant paperwork should be sent to Central and Research Accounting.

Q. If an invoice is awaiting SIA, how does this impact the YE accounts?

It’s the primary validation that creates the accounting entry, delay in secondary approval does not change the accounting but it may delay the payment of the invoice. Please bear in mind that if invoices are amended after they have been secondary approved, the secondary approval process will need to be done again, even for paid invoices .

Q. In respect of Fixed Assets, what constitutes an untracked invoice?

Central and Research Accounting will check for any items of £5,000 or more, and based purely on this, ask departments to verify whether it is an asset or not

Q. How will the July VAT adjustments on Research Grants be dealt with?

These will be posted to the normal control account and then have to be allocated to the Research Grant in the new financial year

Q. Source of Funds AZZY is being used for research grants not yet set up, and what happens to these balances in the Roll Forward?

For Research Grants that haven’t been set up by the Research Office, the Finance Division suggest using the departmental suspense award that is available to all Departments on the Grants Module. The benefits of using the Grants Suspense account is that the expenditure gets included within the University’s Research Income and not reported as a General Ledger balance. At the moment you can’t post salary costs directly to the research suspense account, but the Finance Division are looking at a solution.

At the year end the balance on the suspense account is cleared to departmental overhead account (EDAA). Central and Research Accounting will be need to be notified by Departments of balances held on suspense accounts pending award set up by the Research Operations Office, so not to clear the balance down.

As at 31^st July 2019 AZZY balances held on the following transaction codes will roll into the reserves codes detailed below:

Purpose	Transaction Code	Rolls into
Barclaycard	FJAA	XEAB
Internal Trading	FKAA	XEAC
Research VAT Adjustments	EZZM	XEAD
Other A – N transaction code balances held on AZZY	????	XEAA

Q. Is there any flexibility in the year end deadlines?

The deadlines are driven by the submission of the accounts to the Office for Students.

Q. Any possibility of making General Ledger adjustments after the General Ledger closes to Institutions?

If Institutions are reviewing their accounts after the 1st September, there is a small window of opportunity to correct any errors. Send any requests to the General Ledger helpdesk [1], copying in your Finance Advisor.

Q. When will the Carbon Levy be charged?

We currently have Q1 to Q3 in Institution Accounts for FY2021. Q1 and Q2 are based on actuals. If Q3 and Q4 data is available we will revert to the actuals, however this maybe an estimate. We will confirm closer to the time.

Q. How do we do the year end Fixed Assets reporting?

The Central and Research Accounting team will send some additional reports with the June Fixed Asset Register to allow make sure that your Fixed Asset Register is correct. We will include a report detailing Additions and Retirements from the last completed review.

Q. What about University of Cambridge Assets in transit?

If a department has a wholly owned University asset in transit, then please contact the Fixed Asset helpdesk [3] and we will be able to advise on the accounting treatment.

Q. What do we do about Cash in institutions, for example Petty Cash?

As preparation for the University's annual audit it is a requirement that departments submit a Cash Holding return detailing items such as advances, petty cash and float balances as at 30th June 2023. The deadline for this is 20 July 2023. The forms are available PDF format form [4] / Word format form. [5]

Please mark the form with the date completed.
Completed forms (including NIL returns) should be returned to the Finance Division and be marked for the attention of the Cashiers [6], preferably by email [6](with PDF attachment).

Please feel free to let us know as soon as possible if you are already aware of any discrepancies on advances, petty cash and float balances that you have not previously advised us on.

Q. When will the VAT adjustments be posted?

The July VAT adjustments will be posted into Institution Accounts by the 28 August. The postings should be up to date. If any postings are going to be transferred to Research Grants, these can stay on the AZZY source of fund.

Q. When is the monthly payroll processed into Department Accounts?

All the monthly payrolls are processed into Department Accounts and Research Grants by payment date of the payroll. If the Finance Division is delayed in processing, departments will be notified through the usual channels.