General Payment Processes
Any payment out of a club/society account needs a money request form. The Student Group Finance (SGF) system allows you to submit one online, or in the case of credit card payments, you have to fill out a paper copy of the money request form. You can find the form here: https://www.warwicksu.com/societies-sports/exec-resources/finance/financeforms/
A general rule of thumb: you cannot pay for something out of the club/society account if the account doesn’t have the money in it. Please make sure that you ticket your events/trips/tours/balls/conferences and sell those tickets with enough time to allow payments to be made before deadlines.
Clubs and Societies must process all transactions through the SU’s Finance Office and are not allowed to operate their own separate bank accounts - Regulation 9
Student Group Finances (SGF)
The SGF system allows you to submit a money request online. Although the SGF will state PAID, it can have a delay of around a week before the money reaches the payee, so please submit these with enough time. The general process for creating an online money request is:
Step-by-step how to create an SGF request
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To enter the system, log on to the SU website and navigate to your Admin Tools area. Select the Finances icon.
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This will take you to your dashboard screen where you will be able to view a list of recent requests (and see their progress status) and raise new requests.
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Clicking on the “New Money Request” command will take you through to the online form
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From here you can identify the event that the expenditure relates to (from a list of those events for which event pages have been set up), the payee (yourself, another member, or an external payee or company), and the payment method (bank transfer or cash).
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Where appropriate, boxes will appear to allow names, contact details and bank account information to be provided.
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Then a description of the item purchased should be input, along with a justification giving the reason for the purchase, the amount, and the Club/Society account line that it should be charged to (X01 is non-BUCS, X09 is BUCS). There is also a box to drag a scanned receipt to, or you can browse your computer for the receipt image file.
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After adding the first item, hit the “Create” button. You can then add further items (these do not need to be against the same account code as the first). If a single receipt covers several items there is no need to upload it more than once.
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When you are happy with your request, press the “Submit” button. This will return you to your dashboard screen and you will see your request in the Pending/Recent list.
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If you need to view or amend the request, simply click on it in the list to open it.
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Once submitted, the request needs to be authorised by your Treasurer or President, whereupon it will pass to Student Activities for approval, then on to Finance for payment. At any time you will be able to see what stage of the process your request has reached from your dashboard list.
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NOTE: If there are any problems with a request at the authorisation or approval stage, it will be referred to the originator for correction or clarification. Once amended please make sure you resubmit the request (you don't have to delete it and make a new one), don't just leave it.
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If at any stage of the process you encounter a technical problem please take a screenshot and email the image and a description of the problem to your Sports Coordinator.
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When asking to make a payment to a third-party, the only attachment you need is an invoice.
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When asking for reimbursement to an individual, you have to attach an invoice (or something showing the company asking for £x), AS WELL AS proof that you have paid £x.
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This can be an invoice stating “paid”, or a screenshot of your banking that says that amount has come out. We only need to see the relevant transaction, not your whole statement. Lacking either of these things will delay your SGF being approved and it will be referred back to you.
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For fuel reimbursement, you submit a mileage form found here – fuel receipts will be rejected (unless you have a separate agreement with the SU) https://www.warwicksu.com/societies-sports/exec-resources/finance/financeforms/.
SU Credit Card (on website or over the phone)
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If you wish to pay via the SU credit card straight out of your club account:
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You need your president and treasurer to sign it, then bring it to your sports coordinator to sign, (for big payments Gerard or Louise have to sign), then you can go to finance and they’ll help you make the payment in the SU finance department.
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You also need to bring along an invoice or something to show that the company is requesting £x to be paid to them and to what account.
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This has to be done in person at the SU.
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Please note: the transaction costs for your purchase can take up to a month to show in the club/society account.
In theory we can do same day payments; however, these require multiple levels of approval within the Student Activities department and within the Finance Department, and therefore can only be done if all the required people are in the office on the day. It’s not worth risking this if you can make the payment earlier. We’ll do our best but sometimes it just may not be possible. Same day payments also incur an additional charge to your club account. FINANCE WILL STOP PROCESSING PAYMENT REQUESTS AT AROUND 2 EVERY DAY, SO IF YOU NEED A RUSH PAYMENT MADE COME IN AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE.