Financial Regulations and Policies

Financial Regulations

The University has Financial Regulations to ensure that it properly looks after the money it is paid by students, funders, donors, organisations and governments.

The UK Government will only pay money to the University if it has Financial Regulations in place. All staff and students should adhere to the regulations. The Financial Regulations and the Scheme of Delegation combine to inform the University's decision making processes. The Financial Policies below give further guidance on the operation of the Financial Regulations.

Read the full regulations.

Key points of the Financial Regulations

A summary on how to comply with the Financial Regulations.

Find the answers to the most common questions about the Financial Regulations: 10 Things Everyone Should Know about the Financial Regulations.

Improve your understanding of the Financial Regulations by completing a short online course 

Scheme of Delegation

The Scheme of Delegated Approvals sets out who can take decisions and who can sign documents on behalf of the University.

View the Scheme of Delegated Approvals

In addition to the above scheme there are two approvals documents which set out the approvals for research, studentships and other contracts, claims etc

1. Research and other activities (PDF , 93kb)
2. Studentships (PDF , 73kb)

Financial Policies

The policies below give further guidance on the operation of the Financial Regulations:

Fraud response plan

• Fraud should be reported to fraud-group@york.ac.uk and using the University's Fraud Response Plan. 
• Requests for staff or student bank account changes that look suspicious will be reported to the affected person (or supplier) and the relevant bank fraud line.

Expenses and Purchase cards

• Travel and Expenses policy (please note new policy February 2020 onwards)
• How to claim Expenses
• Purchase card policy (new February 2020 onwards)

Payments to Participants

The purpose of this policy is to set out the procedures for payment of lay persons for their involvement with, or participation in, research trials, surveys, interviews, physical tasks etc. The policy includes guidance on how much to pay etc.

Gifts and hospitality

Please refer to Policy on declaring interests, managing conflicts of interest, and gifts and hospitality.

Bribery

• Find information about what to do if you are approached to give or accept bribes and what to do if you discover a bribe: Anti-Bribery Policy.
• Bribery should be reported under the University's Speak up (public interest disclosure) policy.

Investments

• Treasury Management policy (PDF , 133kb)
• University of York Statement on Responsible Investment (PDF , 376kb)

Credit and debit cards

• ‌Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliance (MS PowerPoint , 352kb)
• Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) policy (PDF , 21kb)

Money laundering

• Advice about protecting staff from receiving large cash payments can be found on our anti-money laundering policy page.
• Please use the Money laundering reporting form to report potential money laundering events to the University's Money Laundering Officer.

Sanctioned countries

• Staff must follow the University's Sanctioned Countries Policy before entering into arrangements with customers or suppliers. 
• The UK Government publishes two useful documents that are relevant to Universities:
  • Overview
  • Document for Charities 

• the University of York also has to comply with US government sanctions as a condition of its loan financing:
  • US Office of Foreign Assets Control

Equipment inventory registers

Finance document retention

• February 2019 interim guidance (UoY login required) on retention of expenses claims, purchase card records and supplier invoices.

External Auditor Provision of Non Audit Services

• External Auditor Provision of Non Audit Services (PDF , 772kb) This policy sets out the rules surrounding the use of the University external auditors for services other than statutory accounts audits.

Internal Audit Protocols

• Internal Audit Protocols May 2021 (PDF , 79kb) This document sets out how internal audit assignments are managed and reported.

Donations to Other Charities

• This guidance sets out the considerations when making donations to other charities (eg Oxfam) from the University. It also provides some guidance on what to do when a person/member of staff wants a their fee donated to a charity.