BUFDG Digest 5 February

BUFDG

Welcome to the February edition of the BUFDG Digest.

First-up, we are delighted to announce that Andrea Marshall, currently Tax & Insurance Manager at the University of Worcester, will be joining BUFDG as our Tax Specialist from mid-March. Andrea has worked in tax for 30 years including time as a VAT Officer at HM Customs & Excise, and working for a couple of Big-Four firms. Andrea has specialised in the not-for-profit sector for over 15 years, and in Higher Education since 2013. She is currently the Chair of the BUFDG Midlands Tax Group, has presented at BUFDG tax conferences and training courses, and will be running her first (and she says only) marathon shortly after joining BUFDG! Amanda will be transitioning more fully into her new role as BUFDG's Digital Content Manager once Andrea is on board.

On that note, over the next few months we’ll be making improvements to the website. Amanda is the point of contact, and she’d really like to know two things: What’s the thing you like most about the website, and what’s the thing you like the least? Answers via email to amanda@bufdg.ac.uk. Thanks!

We have a new date for our popular Finance for Non Finance Managers course, taking place in London on the 16^th March. It’s a brilliant one-day course that gives non accountants a basic understanding of finance, including Financial reporting, budgeting, the forecasting cycle, key financial statements, costing, financial ratios, and much more. For any queries, please contact Rachel.

ECONOMY / BREXIT

It’s been a significant few weeks for economists. Of course, the UK officially left the EU at 11pm last Friday, but not before the Bank of England’s latest rate-setting meeting had decided to hold Bank rate at 0.75%. The pound initially jumped but has since fallen again with news that the PM is likely to seek a harder Brexit in talks with the EU than initially hoped.

On the Brexit front, there’s a helpful independent website with a business focus called Ready For Brexit which should prove useful for navigating your way through the next 11 months. Here is its A-Z guide to the trade negotiations.

We’ve been led to believe a cabinet reshuffle is expected at some point this month. HE will be watching to see if the Universities minister keeps his spot. The more significant date coming up is the Budget on the 11^th March. There’s much resting on it, not least the delayed decision on the delayed consultation on scraping RPI in favour of CPI as the official government index, with implications for pensions, investments, student loans, and more. The Scottish Government Budget is tomorrow (Thursday 6^th Feb).

TAX

The next round of regional Tax meetings have been arranged, and you can now book on to North – 27 February – Principal York Hotel, London & South East – 19 March – Birkbeck, University of London, and Midlands – 25 March – Staffordshire University. The Scottish, Welsh and South West tax group meetings will be advertised shortly via the BUFDG website.

Our ever-popular introduction to the strange and complex world of VAT in Higher Education has had a full overhaul in light of the launch of our BUFDG Pro e-learning module, Introducing VAT in HE. The energetic, enthusiastic, and extremely knowledgeable, Centurion VAT Specialists will be presenting the course in London on 18 March. For more details and booking click here.

There’s also a date for our one-day Corporation Tax course, suitable for anyone responsible for tax within their university, including tax managers, VAT managers, or accountants. Delegates will combine our classroom based course with pre-work from our relevant e-learning courses from our new BUFDG Pro service to increase the breadth and depth of learning. The face-to-face element will be presented by Harriet Latham of the Open University on 3^rd March, in London. For more information and booking, click here.

70 people attended our live webinar on the Capital Goods Scheme yesterday, presented by Centurion VAT Specialists. A recording of the webinar can be viewed here, and the slides are available here. In addition, Centurion have kindly provided a sample template spreadsheet for CGS calculations, based on that shown on the slides/discussed in the webinar.

We’re doing our VAT & Property courses slightly differently this year, with the Intro and Advanced elements held separately. Centurion VAT Specialists, Liz Maher and Louise Gray, will deliver the Intro to VAT & Property course on 26^th March in London. Click here to find more details and book onto the course. Meanwhile, Martin Scammell, the leading expert on VAT and property will present the VAT & Property Update for HE on 31th March in London. The latter course is aimed at those who already have a good working knowledge of VAT and property

FINANCIAL REPORTING

The latest minutes of the Financial Reporting Group are available to download from the website.

The Financial Reporting Group (FRG) and the audit firms will once again be jointly hosting the regional Financial Statements workshops. They provide an opportunity to review best practice, ask questions and to network with other members. The workshops are aimed at practitioner level and are free to attend. The dates and links are: Midlands, 9th March, North West, 17th March, Wales, 19th March, South East AM, 19th March, South East PM, 19th March, North East, 24th March, South West, 25th March, Scotland, 31st March, Northern Ireland, 6th April. Please contact Rachel for any queries or suggestions.

IMMIGRATION / HR

There has also been plenty of chatter about Immigration policy over the last month. The CBI wrote to the government offering its help in designing a new immigration system. The government wasn’t interested, and reiterated its desire to restrict the arrival of low-skilled EU migrants. It does however appear to want more scientists, whether or not we actually need them. A points-based system looks the most likely route forward, supported in a big report from the Migration Advisory Committee.

DfE / OfS / FUNDING

The OfS has set out the Teaching grant budget for 20-21, with a cut of around half a percent, in advance of what could be a review of teaching funding in the Spring. It’s currently consulting on where the axe should fall. In Wonkhe, Sarah Stevens, the Russell Group Director of Policy, uses TRAC to suggest that HE teaching has “tipped into the red, even for low-cost subjects”. A revision of how the sector uses TRAC, and the development of new costing tools, might be a more productive long-term approach to both managing costs, and deflecting future funding cuts.

Thanks to Wonkhe for pointing out a new report from the Resolution Foundation that analyses Bank of England data to show that almost half of all student-headed households in the UK rely on consumer credit to supplement their income. Meanwhile, in one of the more provocative articles of the month, Jim Dickinson asks whether students should be encouraged to pay all university fees on Credit Card.

PAY AND PENSIONS

A bit of alternative pensions news for a change. A £30bn fund that manages pensions for 10 UK public sector bodies has threatened to sack fund managers that don’t do more to align investment with the Paris Climate Agreement. In a separate article (free login required), LGPS has warned that divestment would significantly hit returns, in a debate that is only going to become more heated. Last year’s conference attendees might remember LGIM’s excellent workshop on the topic. Here’s an updated paper from November that covers the ins and outs.

For the usual USS update, here’s UHR Executive Director Helen Scott: “The first employers’ consultation on the JEP’s second report (JEP2) and on the 2020, and future, actuarial valuations has been published and closes on 28 February. (USS will consult separately about the 2020 valuation). Meanwhile, USS announced that Dame Kate Barker is the chair-elect to replace David Eastwood in August 2020. (She’s external member of Oxford’s Council, rather than a Vice Chancellor, and an expert economist).”

There’s news that Status Determination Statements must be provided to all contractors (plus agencies/other parties) as of 6th April 2020, not just those who request it. From that date, if you have engaged with a contractor who provides their services through a personal service company, you must undertake a review of their employment status and provide your decision to that contractor, plus any agency or other organisation you contract with for those services. 

The dates for the Spring Payroll & Expenses Group national meetings have been announced. You can find more information and book on these links: London – 24/02/20, Glasgow – 25/02/20, Southampton – 10/03/20, Manchester – 12/03/20. Birmingham – 09/03/20. The Cardiff date is TBC but will appear here when it’s ready. If there is any area that you would like raised during the PEG meetings, please contact Julia Ascott.

UCEA’s annual higher education pensions conference takes place on Wednesday 18^th March in London, and covers all developments affecting the main schemes offered by HEIs. The day will include an update from UCEA on its recent and upcoming pensions work, as well as presentations from USS, TPS, SAUL and the Local Government Association on behalf of the LGPS.

FRAUD AND RISK

There’s continued concern about student fee fraud, particularly for Chinese students. The Dedicated Card & Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU) at the City of London police have provided two flyers that they have put together – one in English, and one in Mandarin – for distribution to all Chinese students in advance of enrolment periods. Please share these flyers with colleagues in your own institution in order to reach your Chinese students, and please do share them amongst your wider networks as well. There’s lots of discussion of the topic on the BUFDG discussion boards, and WPM are hosting a further webinar to provide an update on this issue on 12 February from 11am. You can register here.

On a separate topic, there has been some concern that this year (2020) could provide an opportunity for fraud through backdating important documents. That’s because most of us abbreviate the year to “ ’20 “ when writing. Anyone could then come back to the document later and write a 17, 18, or 19 on the end for example, to backdate them. So, remember – if writing anything important with a date on, write the date in full!

MISCELLANEOUS

Even before Coronavirus took off there was concern over the reliance of UK HEIs on Chinese students, which hit a record high of over 120,000 this year. For many UK HEIs – even those with a high proportion of Chinese students – there will be more troubling income risks. However, with no end to the disruption in sight, HEIs might want to look at how US and Australian HEIs are managing their country’s respective travel bans.

Those following the development of knowledge-exchange methodology will be interested in UKRI’s first stab at the Knowledge Exchange Framework, or KEF. The report outlines how they will implement the first iteration. There’s no funding hanging on it yet.

VALUE

Rachel Hewitt at HEPI thinks that 2020 is going to be the ‘Year of Value’, where the value of universities, in many different ways, is the primary HE theme. They’ve run three blogs so far on the topic, including this one from Advance HE’s Kim Ansell on communicating value, and one from Nick Hillman on how the cost of university should be spread between students and taxpayers.

Advance HE have their Let’s talk Value conference on the 11^th Feb, which this year will feature a live webinar for non-attendees. Register here. Meanwhile, the International Integrated Reporting Council have published a new report, outlining the changes they’re making to the <IR> framework.

JOB OF THE MONTH

Our Job for this month is for an Assistant Director (Financial Planning and Reporting) at Durham. The new recruit will lead the Financial Planning and Reporting Team and will drive analytics that focus on supporting strategic financial planning and the long-term financial sustainability of the University. The deadline for applications is the 9^th Feb. As usual, you can find lots of other sector vacancies on our jobs page.