
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 Delegated Approvals combine to inform the University's decision making processes. The Financial Policies below give further guidance on the operation of the Financial 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 via the 10 Things Everyone Should Know about the Financial Regulations.
This handy Financial Regulations poster summarises some of the typical staff-related regulations.
Improve your understanding of the Financial Regulations by completing a short online course.
Financial Policies
Contact us
Group Financial Accounts
finance-accounts@york.ac.uk
Group Financial Accounts, Heslington Hall
Related links
- Fraud should be reported to fraud-group@york.ac.uk.
- See the full 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.
See the VAT page for more information about VAT at the University of York, as well as the University Tax Policy (MS Word , 33kb).
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.
- 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.
Please note that at the University of York we have to comply with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards when we deal with payment by credit and debit cards. These standards apply to people, processes and systems, and their purpose is to protect the integrity of cardholder data and reduce the risk of a breach.
It is important that we follow these standards in relation to cardholder data, for example it is University policy to not store or hold cardholder data in any format. Breaches of data have to be reported and the consequences of this are serious for the University. Below are some key points for you to note:
- Only authorised people who have received training can process payments
- Report any concerns or suspicions about a device to your manager
- Only allow trusted people to handle payment card terminals
- Check payment processing equipment (eg payment card terminals) for evidence of tampering
- 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.
- 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:
- The University of York also has to comply with US government sanctions as a condition of its loan financing:
- Guidance for University departments and subsidiary companies on the format and procedure for keeping equipment inventory registers: Equipment Inventory Register Guidance.
- A template equipment inventory register to be used as a guide by departments and subsidiary companies to develop a register: Equipment Inventory Register Template (MS Excel
, 18kb)
- Asset Disposal Form (MS Excel
, 21kb)
- 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 (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 - January 2023 (PDF
, 145kb) This document sets out how internal audit assignments are managed and reported.
- 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.
Scheme of Delegated Approvals
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
Approval Documents
In addition to the above scheme there are two approvals documents which set out the approvals for research, studentships and other contracts, claims etc
Contact us
Group Financial Accounts
finance-accounts@york.ac.uk
Group Financial Accounts, Heslington Hall