Opportunities for existing members

Group Chairs/Other Roles 

Our working groups chairs and any other roles on the groups are undertaken by BUFDG members, and some of our members are BUFDG representatives on groups for other H E organisations too.  

At present we have the following vacancies: 

• Payroll and Expenses Group Chair – we’re looking for a Finance Director or Deputy to chair the national Payroll and Expenses Group (‘PEG’). You can find out more by reading this role description and then contacting Julia, our Employment Taxes Specialist. 
• Financial Reporting Group members - We are looking for enthusiastic financial accountants who would like to extend their knowledge of financial reporting in higher education by getting involved at a national level. The Financial Reporting Group is the custodian of the model accounts excel workbook and provides technical support to the FEHE SORP Board. There is an annual programme of work involving reviews of annual reports and accounts, the USS pensions modeller, changes to financial reporting standard FRS102 and any impact on the FEHE SORP and practice in higher education providers who use the SORP and reporting to other organisations such as UK national regulators and the USDE.  Involvement can range from drafting practice notes to taking part in the annual update seminar but if you prefer to work in an advisory role, we welcome colleagues who are prepared to read papers and offer opinions before, after and during meetings. Finance directors are particularly welcome at this group as financial reporting evolves alongside environmental, social and governance reporting. For more information or to express an interest, please contact Karel or Karen. 

Projects 

We often run projects where we need member input – either to understand what you are struggling with specifically in relation to the project subject matter, to share your experience of best practice in your H E I, or to review the outputs of the project. 

At present we need input into the following projects: 

• Financial Systems – we are currently working with a number of BUFDG and UCISA members to put together a new document and some case studies regarding best practice when procuring and implementing a new finance system. If you would like to be involved, please contact Matt.
• Chart of Accounts – we will soon be working with a number of BUFDG members (some who have contributed to this discussion or this one) to pull together some guidance on how best to review and restructure your chart of accounts. If you would like to be involved, please contact Matt.
• Procurement Value Survey: Review of Sector Benefits Methodology - HEPA will be reviewing the sector Benefits Methodology. If you would like to be involved in the working group which will progress this project then please do get in touch with Ashley. 

E-learning testing 

All our e-learning is created with higher education in mind, so that it meets the specific needs of our members. This means we need member input into the courses. This usually takes the form of testing the draft courses, but can also include input into scoping the courses. 

At present we need input into the following e-learning courses: 

• Intro to H E Procurement (course rewrite/refresh) – this course was one of the first that we created and now needs a major overhaul. We are initially looking for ideas as to what the course should cover, so please contact Ashley if you have ideas as to what should be included in this course.
  

If you would like to present a project that your H E I has undertaken, put forward a problem you’ve come across for discussion with other H E I s, or a solution that your H E I has found to a problem, we would love you to suggest these for regional/other group meeting agendas. 

The regional FD meeting dates can be found here – if you have anything to present or suggest, please contact Karel. 

The regional Deputy FD meeting dates can be found here – if you have anything to present or suggest, please contact Rachel. 

The regional tax group meeting dates can be found here – if you have anything to present or suggest, please contact Andrea or your regional chair. 

The regional payroll and expenses group meeting dates can be found here – if you have anything to present or suggest, please contact Julia. 

The HEPA turnover group meeting dates can be found here – if you have anything to present or suggest, please contact Ashley. 

We also hold meetings for our smaller H E I members (turnover <£100m) twice a year – an invitation to these is sent to the CFO/FD of all our members in membership bands 1-3. If you have anything to present or suggest for these meetings, please contact Amanda.