Please can I raise an FOI for a response to the following questions around expense and invoice, thanks.
Expenses
1. What finance system do you use?
Itrent – Midland HR
2. What system do you use to manage and process your staff’s expenses?
Itrent – Midland HR
3. What is the expense process?
Online self service or claim forms approved by line managers
4. How many expense claims were made in FY22/23? And what was total value of expense claimed in FY22/23?
Approx 35,700 expense claims were made in 22/23, the value was £2,339,551
5. Can you submit expenses remotely?
Yes
6. How are you claiming VAT on mileage? Finance update Payroll with VAT Rates onto itrent? Do your staff have to deduct commute from mileage?
Yes
7. What percentage of expense claims are you auditing?
The last full audit relating to Relocation Expenses was undertaken in 2018 where 17% of the expenses were looked at. There is no specific annual audit of expenses nor is testing of expenses an element in it’s own right as part of our payroll audit therefore specific testing on expenses is not undertaken annually.
However, expenses testing may be picked up as part of our testing on ‘amendments to payroll’ but this is a small sample of 5 and not specific to expenses. As part of the 2023/24 audit plan we have a specific audit of expenses which we are currently in the process of scoping ready to start audit work next month.
8. How many FTEs (full time employees) do you have processing expense claims?
There are 17.74 Payroll Officers and HR Admin for Expenses
9. What is the average time to reimburse your staff’s expenses?
All staff expenses need to be claimed by the payroll deadline which is the 11th of each month to be paid on payday which is the 25th of each month
10. How are you reporting on expense spend, PSA expense types and scope 3 emissions reporting Control and Compliance report on PSA and Climate team report on emissions receiving a download of mileage claimed and rail/taxi/air claims
Compliance report on PSA and Climate team report on emissions receiving a download of mileage claimed and rail/taxi/air claims
11. What are your strategies and initiatives around employee expenses for 2023 and 2024?
Our aim is to offer a reward package that is flexible, equitable, and transparent to provide benefits to our workforce, by connecting them to what they value. We will do this by:
• * developing a one council approach to reward and celebrating achievements
• * modernise our terms and conditions and policies to ensure they are fit for purpose,
provides best value and are equitable and transparent
• * Have a flexible approach to work ensuring policy and process are aligned and
support the priorities of the organisation.
• * Provide a total reward package that is more than just pay and connects staff to
what they value
Invoices
1. What system do you use for managing/processing invoices?
Readsoft/Unity Client
2. What is your current invoice process for handling supplier invoices, from receipt to when it is posted in the ERP/finance system and ready for payment?
Invoice submitted by email, post, scanned into Readsoft where the information is captured. This is sent electronically across to Unity Client where it is matched to a purchase order, checked approved for payment and sent to our main accounting system to await payment.
3. How many invoices were processed in FY22/23?
54,460
4. How many FTEs (full time employees) do you have in your accounts payable team who process invoices?
5
5. What percentage of invoices were paid late in FY22/23?
3.25% after 30 days
6. Do you use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to scan invoices?
Yes
7. Do you have to manually validate the scanned invoices from the OCR capture?
Yes
8. Do you currently have a PO system or a non-PO system? If you use both types – what is the percentage of PO invoices vs. non-PO invoices?
Both 86.5% with PO 13.5% without PO
9. Are you claiming VAT on invoices? If so, are you doing this in-house?
Yes
10. How are you currently reporting on invoice spend?
Reports from FINEST (our finance system) are utilised to extract the data required to fulfil our reporting obligations.
11. What are your strategies and initiatives around invoice management for 2023 and 2024?
2023 no change / 2024 New Finance system mid-year.