Financial procedures and regulations
This page is here to help you manage money for your club or society. Before leaving this page, please read the information regarding subs accounts and familiarise yourself with our Student Group Financial Procedures and Regulations.
Subs account
- Every club and society have their own subsidiary (subs) account, which is your student group's personal bank account. When students buy membership to your group, the money automatically goes into your subs account. When you pay for things or pay people back; money is taken from your subs account.
- Your subs account with the SU is equivalent to a trustee bank account (more on this here). For this reason, your club and society does not have access to a debit card or account details for your subs account.
- You are still able to spend money from your subs account and add money to your subs account. To see information on how to do this, see our pages below.
- We also have a simple document to explain what you can and cannot spend your subs money on.
Jump to:
Expenses365 - the app
The expenses365 app is used to track the financial situation of your club or society, and to spend money from your subs account by reimbursing your members who may have purchased something on behalf of your club or society.
For example, if Rob, the Event Offiicer of a society, bought balloons for an event their society was running with his personal money, he could make a claim on the expenses365 app to be reimbursed with money from the society's subs account. For Rob to receive this reimbursement, the President, Treasurer and Secretary would have to approve the claim.
The app can be downloaded for Android and iOS.
You must be paid member of your club or society to use the app.
Signatories (Presidents, Vice Presidents and Treasurers) can use the app to:
- Keep track of spending in your subs account
- Approve or deny claims from members
- Submit claims for reimbursement for the money they have spent on behalf of the society. You must only make claims for yourself; you cannot make a claim on your account for someone else's reimbursements.
- Check balances
Other committee members and non-committee members of your student group can use the app to:
- Submit claims for reimbursement for the money they have spent on behalf of the society. You must only make claims for yourself; you cannot make a claim on your account for someone else's reimbursements.
- General committee members will not be able to see balances on the app.
For step by step instructions on how to register for the app, please see this powerpoint.
For step by step instructions on how to make a claim on the app, please see this powerpoint.
As committee, you can decide how much you want to allow members to claim for petrol from your subs account. The max you can set this as is 45p a mile. This is standard government amount. When setting this price, think about your funds. For example, if you don't have a lot of money in your subs account, you can say that members can only claim up to 10p for a mile.
Once decided how much you will set per mile, you need to let your members and su.accounts@uea.ac.uk know.
To claim petrol costs back, the claimant must write the journey and price per mile in the description line of the app claim. We do not need receipt for petrol for this claim; we need a screenshot of the journey you are claiming for with the mileage visible (for example a screenshot from google maps) OR you can also take a picture of the milometer before and after the trip and submit that instead. Make sure to calculate the distance there and back.
For more information on this, please see our guide for claiming for fuel on the app.
As President, Treasurer and Secretary, you are responsible for accepting app claims. All claims on the app must be approved by 2 of of the 3 signatories (President, Secretary and Treasurer). All 3 signatories will be able to review and approve claims, but we only need 2 approvals before we can action anything.
If the President, Secretary, or Treasurer is the claimant, then the other two signatories must review the app claim. For example, if the President puts in a claim, the Secretary and Treasurer will need to approve the request.
For step by step instructions on how to approve expenses on the app, please see this powerpoint.
When you are reviewing app claims, you should look for the following things:
- The claim is for yourself, not for a friend or fellow group member
- It has an attached receipt
- The receipt price matches up for the claimed amount
- The claimer has claimed back all of their expenses on one claim rather than making multiple small claims
- The purchase has happened this year
- The claimant isn't claiming money for alcohol or illegal items
- The claimant isn't claiming for a refund of a product/membership sold via the SU website
- Two signatories have approved the claimant
All app claims are monitored by the SU finance team.
The ledger on the app shows you your club or socs finances broken down on money coming in, and money leaving your subs account. Please see this document to help you understand the ledger on the app.
Fundraising
Fundraising for an external charity
This section explains how a club, society or peer support group can raise money for an external charity either. Your group may wish to raise money for charities that align with the purpose or ethos behind your student group, as part of a liberation month campaign, or just as a good will gesture.
Your club or society can raise money for an external charity through three methods: via UEA SU's Just Giving Portal, via running an event and donating ticket sales, or by running a bucket collection. This page explains the different options and how you would go about setting up and running these fundraising options.
Please read our fundraising policy for more information.
Clubs and societies are not permitted to set up Just Giving platforms using independent Just Giving profiles as we cannot ensure that money is being donated to the chosen charity. However, we have set up a UEA SU Just Giving Portal which will enable you to have Just Giving page for your fundraiser via the SU. To set up a fundraiser, please follow the steps below:
Step 1 - Ensure the charity is recognised and legitimate
When selecting an external charity, student groups should ensure the charity is checked before setting up a Just Giving campaign. You can check the charity is recognised and legitimate by searching the charity’s name and registration number on the government charity register.
You can often find the charity number at the bottom of a charity's website.
Step 2 - Set up a fundraiser on the SU Just Giving Portal
Once you have researched the charity and checked the charity on the government's charity register, you can now set up a campaign on UEASU's Just Giving Portal. To set up a campaign, follow these instructions:
- Click here to access UEASU's Just Giving Portal.
- Select ‘Raise money for us’
- Select ‘Make your page’
- Log in or create a JustGiving account
- Select the type of event you’re taking part in - taking part in an organised event, doing a personal challenge….
- Input the details of your fundraiser and choose your JustGiving web address.
- Once happy, click 'Create your page'.
Once you have completed these steps, the SU team will review the fundraising application and approve it.
There’s also a video which takes fundraisers through creating their pages.
Step 3 - Raise money for your external charity
After the SU has approved the fundraiser, you will be able to share this link with group members, friends and family to raise money.
Step 4 - Donate the money to your external charity
All money that is raised via your Just Giving fundraiser will first come to the SU first and we will then donate it to the chosen charity or charitable campaign.
Once the fundraiser is over, please send an email to su.accounts@uea.ac.uk detailing the total amount you raised, a link to your Just Giving Fundraiser and details for the charity you want the money to be donated to.
You can run an event to raise money for charity. If you are doing this, you need to follow events procedures, which will include:
- Creating a Risk Assessment
- Booking a Space
- Uploading events onto the SU website
- Following the Guest Speaker Process (if relevant)
- Following Outside Spaces Processes (if relevant)
If you are running an event to raise money for an external charity, please consider the following:
- All publicity and tickets for this event should clearly state on them who you are fundraising for.
- If you are wanting to use an event to raise funds for yourself as well as an external charity, you need to make this clear in the publicity and tickets, and discuss this with the SU finance team before the event is set up on the SU website.
- All tickets should be bought online via the SU website. All sales from tickets sold on the SU website goes immediately into your subs account. You can then talk to our finance team about donating this money to an external charity.
- If you are planning on running a collaborative event between three or more student groups, then you need to notify SU opportunities to avoid complications with profits.
Though we are a cashless union, we understand that sometimes the only way to collect money for charity is using a bucket collection method. For example, events like Jailbreak rely on bucket collections. Please see below for our guidelines on organising a bucket collection.
- If you are holding a fundraising collection (fundraising on the street or in a public space) you must obtain a license from the local council prior to the event date. You can apply for this on the first day of the month before the collection is due to take place. Here is a link to Norwich City Council fundraising licensing page. Please note there will be specific stipulations outlined to you via the council when fundraising on the street and these must also be strictly adhered to.
- If you are raising money on private property (e.g. in a supermarket) you must ask the company/owners directly for permission.
- Should you wish to do a collection on campus, you must get this approved by the Open Spaces team. You can find the Open Spaces application form here.
- When collecting money - ensure you have the charity name/sticker clearly written on any buckets or tins and that they are sealed lids.
- Contact the SU immediately after you have finished your bucket collection so we can help you pay this in to your subs account.
Though we are a cashless union, we understand that sometimes the only way to collect money for charity is using a bucket collection method. For example, events like Jailbreak rely on bucket collections. Please see below for our guidelines on organising a bucket collection.
- If you are holding a fundraising collection (fundraising on the street or in a public space) you must obtain a license from the local council prior to the event date. You can apply for this on the first day of the month before the collection is due to take place. Here is a link to Norwich City Council fundraising licensing page. Please note there will be specific stipulations outlined to you via the council when fundraising on the street and these must also be strictly adhered to.
- If you are raising money on private property (e.g. in a supermarket) you must ask the company/owners directly for permission.
- Should you wish to do a collection on campus, you must get this approved by the Open Spaces team. You can find the Open Spaces application form here.
- When collecting money - ensure you have the charity name/sticker clearly written on any buckets or tins and that they are sealed lids.
- Contact the SU immediately after you have finished your bucket collection so we can help you pay this in to your subs account.
Fundraising for your club or society
In the majority of cases, a student group should use the product admin tool to raise money for their student group. We have a video on how to create a product on club or society's SU webpage here.
Your student group can be very flexible with the sort of donation product they want to set up. For example, you could create a £1 product called ‘donation to club or society’ which members of the club or society, students at UEA, and general members of the public could buy. You could also choose to set up a few different donation products set at different prices, for example a £1 donation product, a £5 donation product, and a £10 donation product so people have options of how much to donate.
There is an admin fee applied at checkout to all product sales on the website. The charges are applied on UEASU by the bank and UEASU are not able to subsidize this.
Once an individual has bought this item, or multiples of this item, the money from this sale will automatically go into your group’s subs account.
You should be clear on your society page that these products are virtual and therefore buyers won’t be receiving a physical item when buying this product.
You can also run an event to raise money for your group and collect money for this event using the tickets and events admin tool. This option involves more effort and preparation from the student group as you will have to run an event rather than just set up a product people can buy.
If you are looking to run an event, we recommend you look through our events section of the committee hub to get an idea of what events you can run and the requirements of running an events before proceeding. You can also contact us to discuss your event idea.
If after researching and talking to the SU you decide to proceed with a fundraising event for your society, please consider the following:
- All publicity for this event should clearly state on them that this is a fundraising event for your student group.
- If you are wanting to use an event to raise funds for yourself and an external charity, you need to make this clear in the event publicity, and discuss this with the SU finance team before the event is set up on the SU website.
- You cannot use personal card readers to collect money at events and all tickets should be bought online via the SU website.
- If you are planning on running a collaborative event between three or more student groups, then you need to notify SU opportunities to avoid complications with profits.
- All sales from tickets sold on the SU website goes immediately into your subs account.
You can also run an event to raise money for your group and collect money for this event using the tickets and events admin tool. This option involves more effort and preparation from the student group as you will have to run an event rather than just set up a product people can buy.
If you are looking to run an event, we recommend you look through our events section of the committee hub to get an idea of what events you can run and the requirements of running an events before proceeding. You can also contact us to discuss your event idea.
If after researching and talking to the SU you decide to proceed with a fundraising event for your society, please consider the following:
- All publicity for this event should clearly state on them that this is a fundraising event for your student group.
- If you are wanting to use an event to raise funds for yourself and an external charity, you need to make this clear in the event publicity, and discuss this with the SU finance team before the event is set up on the SU website.
- You cannot use personal card readers to collect money at events and all tickets should be bought online via the SU website.
- If you are planning on running a collaborative event between three or more student groups, then you need to notify SU opportunities to avoid complications with profits.
- All sales from tickets sold on the SU website goes immediately into your subs account.
Grants
As a society, peer support group, or club, there are grants open to you from the Union. These do not need to be paid back and are designed to help your society or club develop and meet its objectives by providing funding for things it couldn't afford otherwise.
Grants Available
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What is it?
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Who can apply?
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Maximum Amount you can apply for
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Who reviews your application?
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Guidelines and Application Form
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Societies Grant
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The societies grant has a pot of £10,000 to fund society expenses and activities.
This is a flexible grant and can fund a range of different things.
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All societies and peer support groups, excluding the media collective
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Unlimited
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Activities and Opportunities Officer and Activities and Communities Coordinator
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For more information on the societies grant click here.
To apply, fill out this grant application form.
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Club Grant
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The sports grant is a pot of money designed to help fund club expenses, such as equipment and travel.
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All clubs
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Unlimited
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Sports Executive
To find out who your Sports Executives is, click here.
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To apply for this, fill in the grant request form here and send to your Sports Exec Rep, the Activities and Opportunities Officer and your Club Coordinator.
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Cultural and Liberation Grant
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The Cultural and Liberation grant is a £3000 pot to help fund clubs and societies to run events for cultural and liberation events for things like Black/Women+/LGBTQ+/Disability Awareness History Months, This Girl Can, Holi, Chinese new year etc.
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All clubs, societies and peer support groups
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Unlimited
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The Activities and Opportunities Officer and The Equity and Inclusion Coordinator
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For more information on the campaigns, fundraisers and liberation events grant, click here.
To apply, fill out this grant application form.
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Give it a Go
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Give it a Go funding is a pot of money to help clubs and societies run free taster sessions throughout the year.
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All clubs, societies, and peer support groups
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£50
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The Activities and Opportunities Officer and the Activities and Communities Coordinator
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For more information about Give it a go funding, click here.
To apply, fill out this grant application form.
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Peer Support Funding
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Peer Support funding is a pot of £2000 that is split between Pride, Mature Students, Disability Awareness, and Neurodivergent Peer Support Groups to help you develop and run activities.
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All peer support groups, excluding nightline
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£500
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The Equity and Inclusion Coordinator
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For more information about peer support funding, click here.
To apply, fill out this grant application form.
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Societies
If you are from a society and applying for a grant, the table below indicates when your grant application will be reviewed and the deadline you need to send the application in by.
If you apply for a grant by this deadline…
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Your grant request will be reviewed by the Activities and Opportunities Officer by this date…
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Tuesday 1st October 2024
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Tuesday 8th October 2024
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Friday 1st November 2024
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Friday 8th November 2024
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Sunday 1st December 2024
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Sunday 8th December 2024
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Saturday 1st February 2025
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Saturday 8th February 2025
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Saturday 1st March 2025
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Saturday 8th March 2025
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Thursday 1st May 2025
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Thursday 8th May 2025
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Clubs
If you are from a sports club and applying for a grant, the table below indicates when your grant application will be reviewed and the deadline you need to send the application in by.
If you apply for a grant by this deadline…
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Your grant request will be reviewed by Sports Executive and the Activities and Opportunities Officer by this date…
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Tuesday 1st October 2024
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Friday 11th October 2024
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Friday 1st November 2024
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Friday 8th Nocember 2024
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Sunday 1st December 2024
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Friday 6th December 2024
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Saturday 1st February 2025
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Friday 7th February 2025
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Saturday 1st March 2025
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Friday 7th March 2025
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Thursday 1st May 2025
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Friday 9th May 2025
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Societies
If you are from a society and applying for a grant, the table below indicates when your grant application will be reviewed and the deadline you need to send the application in by.
If you apply for a grant by this deadline…
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Your grant request will be reviewed by the Activities and Opportunities Officer by this date…
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Tuesday 1st October 2024
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Tuesday 8th October 2024
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Friday 1st November 2024
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Friday 8th November 2024
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Sunday 1st December 2024
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Sunday 8th December 2024
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Saturday 1st February 2025
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Saturday 8th February 2025
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Saturday 1st March 2025
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Saturday 8th March 2025
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Thursday 1st May 2025
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Thursday 8th May 2025
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Clubs
If you are from a sports club and applying for a grant, the table below indicates when your grant application will be reviewed and the deadline you need to send the application in by.
If you apply for a grant by this deadline…
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Your grant request will be reviewed by Sports Executive and the Activities and Opportunities Officer by this date…
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Tuesday 1st October 2024
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Friday 11th October 2024
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Friday 1st November 2024
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Friday 8th Nocember 2024
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Sunday 1st December 2024
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Friday 6th December 2024
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Saturday 1st February 2025
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Friday 7th February 2025
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Saturday 1st March 2025
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Friday 7th March 2025
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Thursday 1st May 2025
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Friday 9th May 2025
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Issuing refunds
Sometimes you might need to refund your members for something they have purchased. This guide will help you navigate how to do this.
Tickets and productsIf a member of your student group wants a refund for a ticket or product sold via the website, they need to contact the committee and request a refund. When making this decision, take into account your budget and current financial situation to ensure you do not go overdrawn by issuing refund. If someone is requesting a refund for a product like a hoodie, consider if the order has already been placed.
- Once the committee are happy to provide a refund, one of your three signatories (President, Treasurer or Secretary) should send an email to su.accounts@uea.ac.uk requesting the refund and include details of the refund. For example:
- Email subject line: Gymnastics Taster Session Ticket Refund, £5, Rob Roberts
- Email body: As [committee position] of [club or society name] I authorise a refund of [£amount] for [name of person requesting refund] for [ ].
- If you are refunding lots of people for the same product/ticket, please include a list of names and UEA usernames (e.g. abc19def) and details of the item being refunded (e.g.name of product/ticket, ticket/product code, price of the item being refunded)
- You should CC the other two signatories in your email. One of the other two signatories should then use the reply all function and reply to the email saying 'I (committee position e.g. secretary) authorise this refund.
- We only require two approval emails, so once we have received two signatory authorisations via email, we will process the refund within 7 – 10 days. For example, if the president sends in the intitial email, and the secretary responds saying they approve the refund, we will action the refund without authorisation from the treasurer. This helps speed up the process and ensure everyone gets paid quickly.
We will not issue a partial refund on tickets or products, unless under exceptional circumstances.
Memberships
Automatic Membership Refund Entitlement
If a member requests a refund within 14 days of purchasing their membership to your club or society, they are automatically entitled to a full refund. In this scenario, please ask the member requesting a refund to email union.opportunties@uea.ac.uk for the opportunities and finance teams to process the refund. For more guidance on refund entitlements, see here.
Membership Refund Approval Process
If a member requests a refund later than 14 days after their purchase, the member is not entitled to an automatic refund. In this scenario, committee members need to decide if they are happy to authorise a refund. When making this decision, take into account your budget and current financial situation to ensure you do not go overdrawn by issuing refund.
- If the committee are happy to authorise a refund, one of your three signatories (President, Treasurer or Secretary) should send an email to union.opportunities@uea.ac.uk requesting the refund and include details of the refund. For example:
- Email subject line: Men’s Rugby Membership Refund, £40, Sally Smith
- Email body: As [committee position] of [club or society name] I authorise a refund of [£amount] for [name of person requesting refund] for [ ].
- You should CC the other two signatories in your email.
- One of the other two signatories should then use the reply all function and reply to the email saying 'I (committee position e.g. secretary) authorise this refund.
- We only require two approval emails, so once we have received two signatory authorisations via email, we will process the refund within 7 – 10 days. For example, if the president sends in the intiial email, and the secretary responds saying they approve the refund, we will action the refund without authorisation from the treasurer. This helps speed up the process and ensure everyone gets paid quickly.
Partial refunds due to membership price changes
We do not offer partial refunds for members if you change your membership prices after the academic year has started, unless there is exceptional circumstances. Please ensure you let us know how much you would like to charge for memberships well before the new academic year commences to ensure people are purchasing your memberships at the correct cost.
Refunding members for items not purchased via the SU website
The expenses365 app is used to track the financial situation of your club or society, and to reimburse your members who may have purchased something on behalf of your club or society.
For example, if Rob, the Event Officer bought balloons for an event their Society were running with their personal money, they could make a claim on the expenses365 app to be reimbursed with money from the society's subs account. For Rob to receive this reimbursement, the President, Treasurer and Secretary would have to approve the claim.
For a full guide on how to use the app to reimburse members, see here.
Making and Collecting Money
To provide opportunities for your members, you need to think of your student group as a business and work out how you will make and collect money throughout the year.
This doesn’t mean you need to prioritise making money from your members over the enjoyment members will get from being in your student group. However, you should be realistic. Running large events, trips and unique activities can be expensive, so we have put this guide together to help you think about ways you can make and collect money for your student group.
You should always collect money for your student group via the SU website using ticket sales, memberships sales and product sales. This page explains how the difference between memberships, tickets and products and how to set them up.
Memberships
Memberships are the fundamentals to your student group. Buying a membership to your student group means that someone is paying to be in your group and therefore become an official member. Being a member means you have access to all the events and activities the group puts on and it opens the door to making friends, meeting new people, gaining leadership skills and trying new things. It is also the main source of income for the majority of clubs and societies.
To set up memberships for your student group, you need to contact union.opportunities@uea.ac.uk as a member of staff has to set this up for you. If you are a club, you should talk to your UEA Sport coordinator first.
Standard Memberships
Standard membership is the basic membership that the majority of student groups will sell. It is also is what we automatically set up new societies with.
The cost of standard membership should be decided as a committee and club committee members should consult their UEA coordinator. The price standard membership is set at varies as it depends on how expensive the activity your student groups focuses on is, but typically, societies standard membership ranges from £3 to £7 and clubs standard membership ranges from £25 - £60.
Half Year Memberships
A half year membership is a membership that will only last for half a year. You could sell a half year membership in the second semester and make it slightly cheaper than your standard membership.
In reality, half year memberships are more applicable to clubs than societies as clubs are usually more expensive to join.
Associate Memberships
An associate membership is a membership that non-UEA students can purchase. However, currently, due to Covid-19, we are only allowing clubs to have associate membership on sale if the club has a non-UEA student that needs to be part of the club for an essential reason, for example, they drive the club’s mini-bus driver.
You can choose whether you want to charge associates (non-UEA students) more, however we recommend that you sell associate membership at the same price as standard membership as associate members have to pay a £50 fee on top of their membership fee and potential SAM fee.
Other Memberships
We may be able to arrange other memberships for your student group to sell.
Some societies like to sell memberships such as a three-year or five-year membership, which we can set up to prevent members repurchasing membership yearly. This is useful for political and academic societies.
For clubs, we can also set up memberships to reflect the needs of your group. For example, sub-aqua sell a qualified diver’s membership and an unqualified divers’ membership. These sorts of memberships are rare and we expect most clubs to sell standard memberships. However, if you are a club committee member and you feel you a specific membership set up, please contact your UEA Sport Coordinator and union.opportunities@uea.ac.uk.
Products
The product tool, which you can find in your student group's admin tools, can be used to sell physical products and is a great way of collecting money for non-physical items.
Some example things you can use the product tool to sell and collect money for are:
- Hoodies and merchandise
- Equipment, such as yoga mats
- Deposit fees for trips
- Donations (for example: make a £5 donation button when running a fundraising campaign)
- Club add-ons (for example: an extra fee for BUCs squad members to purchase)
Watch this video to see how to make a product on the SU website, how to customise the product, and to monitor sales information.
If you have detailed requirements for your product sales, please contact union.opportunities@uea.ac.uk for assistance. Examples of requirements for your product would include ensuring someone has bought SAM or your standard membership before purchasing a BUCs add on product, or only allowing members of your student group to purchase a hoodie product.
Events and Tickets
If you are running an event, you should be making an event on the SU website. You should also be selling tickets for your event through the SU website.
Watch this video to see how to make a ticket on the SU website and how to customise the ticket.
What is a sponsorship?
A Sponsorship is an agreement between an advertiser and a business or individual. In return for promoting its services or products, a business or individual will receive something in return from a sponsor – usually financial.
In regard to student groups, you could have a sponsor of your student group who give you money for promotion. You could also have a sponsor for a single event or campaign that your student group is running.
Why get a sponsorship?
The primary reason of having a sponsor is for immediate financial gain as you can make money from a company for promotion. Having a sponsorship can also lead to further business relationship with that company, and therefore more future opportunities and financial gain.
Having a sponsor can also lead to unique opportunities or discount for your student group members. For example, if a taxi company sponsors your student group, your student group members may be entitled to discounted taxi journeys.
How to get a sponsorship?
The simple answer to this question is that message companies and sell yourselves. External companies are looking for what they will gain from this sponsorship so you need to impress them.
There are a few things you can consider when doing this.
- Firstly, analyse your student group and compile a list of things about your student group that you can offer to your potential sponsorship. For example:
- Do you run a large event every year that may interest a sponsor?
- Do you run a fundraising campaign every year that may interest a sponsor?
- Do you have a large membership base?
- Do you have a large group of a specific demographic within your members that may be of interest to a sponsor? For example, do you have a large female demographic? Do you have a large LGBTQ+ membership?
- Look around for companies that will fit your student group members and the activities your student groups undertakes. This isn’t essential as unrelated companies may still want to sponsor you. However, companies with a link to your activities, for example, a wool producer sponsoring knitting and crochet society, may be more likely to sponsor you and may make more sense from your members perspective. It is also means members may have access to unique promotions that they are more likely to use.
- Send a well-worded email to companies and pitch a sponsorship. You could either detail what you are looking for, for example a sponsor for a specific fundraising event, or you send a more general email pitching yourself and ask if there was a chance to negotiate what a sponsorship agreement could like. Be sure to sell yourselves in this email by letting companies know the great things you do and the people you can reach.
- Be confident and negotiate if you feel it is necessary. You can always ask for something ot be amended, increased, decreased or clarified to lead to a better deal. Even if you don’t get the answers you want, at least you know you tried to improve the deal and can then either move on or accept the agreement.
What to look for in a sponsorship?
Generally, a good sponsorship is one where the agreement is...
- Fair in terms of payment and what the company expects of you.
- Realistic; your student group has to be able to deliver what you are agreeing to.
- A good fit for your student group; Consider how your members will perceive this sponsorship, whether it will be beneficial in the long run, and the image and morals of the company you are allowing to sponsor you.
- Professional and legitimate; All sponsorships should be written and signed, ideally in a contract form.
You should avoid sponsorships if...
- The company is asking for too much or is unrealistic. For example, they are asking for a percentage of your membership sales
- The company is unprofessional
What to do before you sign a sponsorship?
Before you sign any sponsorship agreement, you need to send it to su.accounts@uea.ac.uk or union.opportunities@uea.ac.uk to review. They will look at it to ensure it is achievable within our financial processes and parameters and will ensure you are not being ripped off.
What is a sponsorship?
A Sponsorship is an agreement between an advertiser and a business or individual. In return for promoting its services or products, a business or individual will receive something in return from a sponsor – usually financial.
In regard to student groups, you could have a sponsor of your student group who give you money for promotion. You could also have a sponsor for a single event or campaign that your student group is running.
Why get a sponsorship?
The primary reason of having a sponsor is for immediate financial gain as you can make money from a company for promotion. Having a sponsorship can also lead to further business relationship with that company, and therefore more future opportunities and financial gain.
Having a sponsor can also lead to unique opportunities or discount for your student group members. For example, if a taxi company sponsors your student group, your student group members may be entitled to discounted taxi journeys.
How to get a sponsorship?
The simple answer to this question is that message companies and sell yourselves. External companies are looking for what they will gain from this sponsorship so you need to impress them.
There are a few things you can consider when doing this.
- Firstly, analyse your student group and compile a list of things about your student group that you can offer to your potential sponsorship. For example:
- Do you run a large event every year that may interest a sponsor?
- Do you run a fundraising campaign every year that may interest a sponsor?
- Do you have a large membership base?
- Do you have a large group of a specific demographic within your members that may be of interest to a sponsor? For example, do you have a large female demographic? Do you have a large LGBTQ+ membership?
- Look around for companies that will fit your student group members and the activities your student groups undertakes. This isn’t essential as unrelated companies may still want to sponsor you. However, companies with a link to your activities, for example, a wool producer sponsoring knitting and crochet society, may be more likely to sponsor you and may make more sense from your members perspective. It is also means members may have access to unique promotions that they are more likely to use.
- Send a well-worded email to companies and pitch a sponsorship. You could either detail what you are looking for, for example a sponsor for a specific fundraising event, or you send a more general email pitching yourself and ask if there was a chance to negotiate what a sponsorship agreement could like. Be sure to sell yourselves in this email by letting companies know the great things you do and the people you can reach.
- Be confident and negotiate if you feel it is necessary. You can always ask for something ot be amended, increased, decreased or clarified to lead to a better deal. Even if you don’t get the answers you want, at least you know you tried to improve the deal and can then either move on or accept the agreement.
What to look for in a sponsorship?
Generally, a good sponsorship is one where the agreement is...
- Fair in terms of payment and what the company expects of you.
- Realistic; your student group has to be able to deliver what you are agreeing to.
- A good fit for your student group; Consider how your members will perceive this sponsorship, whether it will be beneficial in the long run, and the image and morals of the company you are allowing to sponsor you.
- Professional and legitimate; All sponsorships should be written and signed, ideally in a contract form.
You should avoid sponsorships if...
- The company is asking for too much or is unrealistic. For example, they are asking for a percentage of your membership sales
- The company is unprofessional
What to do before you sign a sponsorship?
Before you sign any sponsorship agreement, you need to send it to su.accounts@uea.ac.uk or union.opportunities@uea.ac.uk to review. They will look at it to ensure it is achievable within our financial processes and parameters and will ensure you are not being ripped off.
Managing Money
Managing money is a key part of running a student group. Treasurers should be taking a lead on managing money, however, all committee members should have a general understanding of the financial situation of your club or society. We have put together this page to provide you with some advice and templates that you can use to stay on top of your student group's finance.
Managing money
Plan out your year
Plan out your year using the Student Group Development Plan 2020/21
This will help you plan out what you want to do during the academic year and help you set financial goals to work towards.
Track your spending
Get accustomed to your finances by tracking it. Work out where your money went last year and then keep on top of tracking it this year. You don’t want to overspend and go overdrawn, nor do you want to be so frugal that you don’t offer any activities for your members.
We have a template budget spreadsheet to help keep track of clubs or socs finances, which you may find helpful for this activity.
We also have a guide on how to read your subs account ledger.
Budget
At the start of the year, your treasurer could make a budget forecast and predict your student groups' financial year. You can do this by taking into account the financial year you had last year (including number of members, spending from last year and sources of income from last year), and the plans you have for this year. This gives all committee members a visual guide of what you are aiming for.
We have a template budget forecast template which you may find helpful for this activity.
You should also budget throughout the year. By tracking your spending and income as you go, you will have an accurate picture of your student group's financial situation. You may find that you have more money than you anticipated from your budget forecast and can therefore afford to put on more activities, or you may find that you need to cut back a bit or charge members more to attend activities.
You do not need to leave money for next year’s committee, however you can leave some if you think this would be beneficial and will not detrimentally impact your current members experience. You must not leave your committee in a negative figure.
Consult
Consult with your members and listen to what they have to say regarding the cost of activities. Where possible, try and adjust your activities based on their feedback.
For example:
- After consulting with members, you may find members are happy to spend an extra pound each for an activity if it means the activity can happen more frequently
- After consulting with members, you may find members are put off from attending events due to a high cost. Think if there is any way you can cut the costs at all.
- After consulting with members, you may find members are keen for a certain product, such as a hoodie. You could use the sales of this product as a way of making a small profit which could then contribute towards another activity or event.
Be transparent
In our student group survey in June 2019, we found that 20% of those surveyed said that the membership did not live up their expectations. Others commented that they did not know where their membership fee was spent or felt that there hidden costs within the club or society.
Members should not expect to get everything for free within your student group. However, below are some tips we have put together to prevent your members feeling like there are hidden costs.
What can you do to prevent members feeling like this?
- Be more transparent about what your membership goes towards and additional costs before members join. For sports clubs, be clear that SAM is an additional, compulsory fee. Being transparent will help with those who have unrealistic expectations of what they can get from their membership and more likely to increase the satisfaction of members
- Be clear about what is not included in your membership. For example, “Once you are a member, you can purchase one of our hoodies that are only £20”. This can also help manage unrealistic expectations.
- Members will have to pay for things throughout the year, this is normal.However, you should explain this to members before they purchase their membership. You can also remind members of this when running an event. Break down why members are being asked to pay for a ticket. It is likely that without their input, the event couldn't take place. Explain this.
- Update your homepage on the SU website to make it clear what the membership fee contributes towards.
- Make a handout to give out at sports and societies fair so potential members are clear on all costs before purchasing a membership. You could breakdown what the membership fee will get you (e.g. access to events and activities we run), what membership fees are spent on (e.g. 50% contributes towards events we run), and any additional costs that you may be offered if joining your club or society (e.g. we sell hoodies to our members that cost £20)
Paying In Money - Cash and DonationS
Where possible, your club and society should not be taking cash payments. See the bullet points below for guidance on collecting cash.
- Never take money from other society members or committee members. This includes having money sent to personal bank accounts for events or deposits, taking money for products or events on sale on the website, or collecting money for memberships and expense app reimbursements.
- All payments from your club society members should be taken through the website via ticket sales, product sales or membership sales. For guidance on setting up events and tickets on the website, see here. For guidance on creating a product on the website, see here.
- Cash payments should only be made between society/committee members under exceptional circumstances. For example, if an International student does not have a bank card that works in the UK and will not.
Paying in cash process
There are some occasions where you may have collected cash, for example, if you ran an event, organised a float and took cash payments on the door, or if you ran a bake sale in the hive. Or, you may have 'old' cash at home belonging to your club and society that you would like to put into your club or society's subs account. If this is the case, please follow the process below.
- Count the amount of cash you want to pay in and make a note of the amount.
- Contact su.accounts@uea.ac.uk to arrange an appointment where you can drop the cash off at the SU office.
- Once you have booked your appointment, make sure you come to the office wearing a face mask and, if possible, alone. If you need assistance bringing the cash to your campus, you can bring a friend or fellow committee member who can wait outside of the SU office during your appointment.
- After your appointment, our finance team will process the cash and pay it in to your subs account.
You may be in a situation where a committee member, or a member of your club and society, wants to donate money from their personal bank account to your subs account. This isn't something we recommend doing regularly we never want members to be out of pocket because of a club or society. However, if you do have a committee member that wants to donate to your subs account, please follow the process below.
Paying in donations from members process
- Use this guide to help you set up a product for your club and society using your admin tools. For example, you could make a product called £5 donation product. If someone buys this product, the money will automatically go into your subs account.
- You can customise the products you set up. For example, If you have a specific individual that wants to donate a large sum, say £100, you could create one donation button of £100 and set the sales limit as 1.
- You can also use the process for fundraising campaigns. For example, if Alzheimer's society wanted to raise money for Alzheimer's charity, they could create a few donation products and set them at different prices, such as £2, £5, and £10.
- Use this guide to help you take your product off of sale if you no longer want the donation product to be on sale.
If you have an exceptionally large amount that you would like to donate to your club or society (£500+), please contact su.accounts@uea.ac.uk and request a direct payment by BACs.
Certain companies may wish to give your club or society money. This is likely if you have a sponsor (for information on sponsors and the best way of securing a sponsorship, please see here).
Paying in donations from external companies or sponsors process
- One of your three signatories (President, Treasurer and Secretary) should send an email to su.accounts requesting an invoice to be raised and including the below bullet points. You should CC the other two signatories in your email.
- The company details (company name, email address, phone number)
- Name and email of the individual from the company you have made the agreement with
- The amount the company has agreed to donate (and whether this includes VAT or not)
- Details of what you have agreed
- One of the other two signatories should then use the reply all function and reply to the email saying 'I (committee position e.g. secretary) authorise this invoice to be raised'.
- We only require two approval emails, so once we have received two signatory authorisations via email, we will raise an invoice with the company. When the invoice is paid, the money will automatically appear in your subs account. If the president sends in the initial email, and the secretary responds saying they approve the invoice to be raised, we will raise an invoice without authorisation from the treasurer. This helps speed up the process and ensure everyone gets paid quickly.
Certain companies may wish to give your club or society money. This is likely if you have a sponsor (for information on sponsors and the best way of securing a sponsorship, please see here).
Paying in donations from external companies or sponsors process
- One of your three signatories (President, Treasurer and Secretary) should send an email to su.accounts requesting an invoice to be raised and including the below bullet points. You should CC the other two signatories in your email.
- The company details (company name, email address, phone number)
- Name and email of the individual from the company you have made the agreement with
- The amount the company has agreed to donate (and whether this includes VAT or not)
- Details of what you have agreed
- One of the other two signatories should then use the reply all function and reply to the email saying 'I (committee position e.g. secretary) authorise this invoice to be raised'.
- We only require two approval emails, so once we have received two signatory authorisations via email, we will raise an invoice with the company. When the invoice is paid, the money will automatically appear in your subs account. If the president sends in the initial email, and the secretary responds saying they approve the invoice to be raised, we will raise an invoice without authorisation from the treasurer. This helps speed up the process and ensure everyone gets paid quickly.
Spending Money From Your Subs Account
Your subs account with the SU is equivalent to a trustee bank account (more on this here). For this reason, your club and society does not have access to a debit card or account details for your subs account. However, you are still able to spend money from your subs account either via invoice and purchase orders, or by reimbursing members who spend on behalf of your club or society with money from your subs account.
Paying individuals, such as umpires, coaches, teachers and guest speakers can cause complications. However, this guide details three ways you can go ahead and pay an individual for their time and services.
Paying someone via invoice
Where possible, you should aim to pay external individuals via an invoice.
If the individual you need to pay does not know how to, or does not want to, create an invoice, committee members can liaise with the individual to create an invoice on their behalf. Online platforms such as this allow you to make an invoice and download it for free.
For ease, if this individual regularly receives payment from your club or society (for example every week), you could ask or create an invoice that covers their payment for the month.
For more advice on creating an invoice and paying someone directly via an invoice, please contact su.accounts@uea.ac.uk.
Paying someone on the day
There will be times when the only option is to pay someone for their services on the day, rather than upfront. For example, clubs may have to pay coaches and umpires on the day of play, and dance societies may pay for dance teachers before the start of a lesson. If it is essential to pay someone on the day for their time and services, you can either pay using cash, or via BACs (bank transfer).
Paying someone in cash
Whether it’s taking cash, or paying with cash, we advise committees deal with cash as little as possible. However, there will be times where paying an external company or person with cash is the only option. If you need to pay via cash, follow this process:
- A committee member should pay the individual using cash from their personal funds. Make sure to get some sort of receipt from the individual you are paying. Some individuals will have their own template of a receipt that they generally provide to their customers, however some may not. Here is a template receipt we have created which you can use for this purpose. It’s worth printing this off beforehand so that you can be ready to ask your external company or person to sign this straight away.
- Use this receipt to make an app claim and receive reimbursement. For information on the app and raising a claim, see here.
Paying someone via bank transfer (BACs)
If you need to pay someone on the day and wish to do this via bank transfer (BACs), follow this process:
- A committee member should pay the individual electronically via bank transfer (BACs). By doing this, you do not need to worry about having a physical receipt as you will have proof of the transacton in your personal banking.
- Make an app claim and receive reimbursement. For information on the app and raising a claim, see here.
Invoices
To pay an external company for their product or the use of their facilities/venue, the general rule is to use an invoice. For example, if you are paying for a venue or placing an order for items such as hoodies, you would pay the company via an invoice.
An invoice is a bill for what you have purchased. It will contain the products or services you are buying, the total cost of the order and the bank and contact details of the company you are buying from. Usually invoices are paid in advance, however it depends on the company. Some companies are happy if invoices are paid after the goods or services have been delivered.
If the amount you need to pay is large, we recommend using invoices rather than the expenses365 app.
To read how to pay for something via an invoice, see the steps below:
Process to pay for something via an invoice
- Contact the company you want to purchase from and request an invoice (a bill) for what you want to purchase.Once you have received the invoice, review it and make sure you are happy with the costs they are charging you.
- When you are happy with the invoice, one of your three signatories (President, Treasurer or Secretary) should send an email to su.accounts@uea.ac.uk with the invoice attached. You should CC the other two signatories in your email. The email needs to give authorisation to pay the invoice. For example:
- Email subject line: Dance Squad + £230 + Hoodies
- Email body: As [committee position] of [club or society name] I authorise payment of the attached invoice for £230 to [company] for our hoodies.
- One of the other two signatories should then use the reply all function and reply to the email saying 'I (committee positon e.g. secretary) authorise the payment of this invoice.
- Once su.accounts@uea.ac.uk has received two committee authorisations, the invoice will be paid within in 7 – 10 days. If this is not enough time, you can pay the invoice yourself using personal funds and raise a claim on the app to get reimbursed.
- We only require two approval emails, so once we have received two signatory authorisations via email, we will pay the invoice. For example, if the president sends in the intitial email, and the secretary responds saying they approve the payment of this invoice, we will action the payment of the invoice without authorisation from the treasurer. This helps speed up the process and ensure everyone gets paid quickly.
Purchase Orders
A purchase order is effectively the step before an invoice. It is an authorisation that you'll pay for something. Some businesses – mostly the UEA's print services and UEA Sportspark require a purchase order before they will do the order. If you can get an invoice, you have already skipped this step so make sure you always ask for an invoice first.
To read how to pay for something via a purchase order, see the steps below.
Process to pay for something via a purchase order
- Unlike an invoice, where a company raises the invoice and sends it to you, your club and society raises a purchase order and sends it to a company. To raise a purchase order, one of your three signatories (President, Treasurer or Secretary) should send an email to su.accounts@uea.ac.uk requesting a purchase order to be raised. You should CC the other two signatories in your email. The email needs to provide specific details regarding what you want to buy and give authorisation to raise the purcahse order. For example:
- Email subject line: Games Society – Purchase Order for UEA Printing?
- Email body: As [committee position] of [club or society name] I authorise the raising or a purchase order for 100 glossy posters from [company name].
- One of the two signatories should then use the reply all function and reply to the email saying 'I [committee positon] authorise this purchase order to be raised.
- Once su.accounts@uea.ac.uk has received two committee authorisations via email, the purchase order will be raised and sent to the company in question.
- After the purchase order has been sent and products or services have been delivered, the company will then send an invoice to su.accounts@uea.ac.uk with the Purchase Order number attached to it. Su.accounts@uea.ac.uk will then be in contact with the signatories (President, Treasurer and Secretary) of your society to pay the invoice. You will then need to follow the steps above detailing how to pay an invoice.
Invoices
To pay an external company for their product or the use of their facilities/venue, the general rule is to use an invoice. For example, if you are paying for a venue or placing an order for items such as hoodies, you would pay the company via an invoice.
An invoice is a bill for what you have purchased. It will contain the products or services you are buying, the total cost of the order and the bank and contact details of the company you are buying from. Usually invoices are paid in advance, however it depends on the company. Some companies are happy if invoices are paid after the goods or services have been delivered.
If the amount you need to pay is large, we recommend using invoices rather than the expenses365 app.
To read how to pay for something via an invoice, see the steps below:
Process to pay for something via an invoice
- Contact the company you want to purchase from and request an invoice (a bill) for what you want to purchase.Once you have received the invoice, review it and make sure you are happy with the costs they are charging you.
- When you are happy with the invoice, one of your three signatories (President, Treasurer or Secretary) should send an email to su.accounts@uea.ac.uk with the invoice attached. You should CC the other two signatories in your email. The email needs to give authorisation to pay the invoice. For example:
- Email subject line: Dance Squad + £230 + Hoodies
- Email body: As [committee position] of [club or society name] I authorise payment of the attached invoice for £230 to [company] for our hoodies.
- One of the other two signatories should then use the reply all function and reply to the email saying 'I (committee positon e.g. secretary) authorise the payment of this invoice.
- Once su.accounts@uea.ac.uk has received two committee authorisations, the invoice will be paid within in 7 – 10 days. If this is not enough time, you can pay the invoice yourself using personal funds and raise a claim on the app to get reimbursed.
- We only require two approval emails, so once we have received two signatory authorisations via email, we will pay the invoice. For example, if the president sends in the intitial email, and the secretary responds saying they approve the payment of this invoice, we will action the payment of the invoice without authorisation from the treasurer. This helps speed up the process and ensure everyone gets paid quickly.
Purchase Orders
A purchase order is effectively the step before an invoice. It is an authorisation that you'll pay for something. Some businesses – mostly the UEA's print services and UEA Sportspark require a purchase order before they will do the order. If you can get an invoice, you have already skipped this step so make sure you always ask for an invoice first.
To read how to pay for something via a purchase order, see the steps below.
Process to pay for something via a purchase order
- Unlike an invoice, where a company raises the invoice and sends it to you, your club and society raises a purchase order and sends it to a company. To raise a purchase order, one of your three signatories (President, Treasurer or Secretary) should send an email to su.accounts@uea.ac.uk requesting a purchase order to be raised. You should CC the other two signatories in your email. The email needs to provide specific details regarding what you want to buy and give authorisation to raise the purcahse order. For example:
- Email subject line: Games Society – Purchase Order for UEA Printing?
- Email body: As [committee position] of [club or society name] I authorise the raising or a purchase order for 100 glossy posters from [company name].
- One of the two signatories should then use the reply all function and reply to the email saying 'I [committee positon] authorise this purchase order to be raised.
- Once su.accounts@uea.ac.uk has received two committee authorisations via email, the purchase order will be raised and sent to the company in question.
- After the purchase order has been sent and products or services have been delivered, the company will then send an invoice to su.accounts@uea.ac.uk with the Purchase Order number attached to it. Su.accounts@uea.ac.uk will then be in contact with the signatories (President, Treasurer and Secretary) of your society to pay the invoice. You will then need to follow the steps above detailing how to pay an invoice.