Our Locations & Teams

Our office locations and teams.

Bidborough House

The UCL Finance and Business Affairs main office is located on the 1st floor of Bidborough House at 38-50 Bidborough Street, London, WC1H 9BT.

We are within a short walk of Euston, King's Cross and St Pancras stations as well as many local bus routes. The teams listed below are based in this building.

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Directorate

Director's Office

Charu Gorasia is the Chief Financial Officer of Finance and is a member of the Professional Services Leadership Team. She is responsible for the management of UCL's financial performance and strategy and for the provision of services and advice. She leads the FBA Senior Team, comprising Directors from Finance Business Partnering, Financial Services, and Financial Planning & Analysis.

Admin Team

Our Vision is to underpin the UCL Professional Services vision, and to transform the staff and student experience when interacting with Finance and Business Affairs by providing an excellent and efficient service to all.

Our Role is to provide administrative support to Finance and Business Affairs staff for financial, HR and general matters and to be the first point of contact for UCL staff, students and external visitors to the division.

The Admin team works to a set of Customer Service Principles and Service Standards and carries out a wide range of tasks and services for the division; please visit our Administration page for a comprehensive set of guidance notes, checklists and proformas.

Central and Professional Services

Overview

The Professional Services Finance team are responsible for providing financial support and guidance to all central Professional Services divisions and Vice-Provost Offices. The team includes a dedicated team for UCL Estates which supports the Estates Leadership Team (ELT) on both capital and revenue expenditure.

Professional Services Finance Team

The Professional Service Finance Team (PSF) provide financial support and guidance to the Professional Services Departments and Vice-Provost Offices. Each Professional Services department has a dedicated finance business partner within the team who provides assistance with management reporting, forecasting and budget planning and support on financial matters.

Estates Finance Team

The Estates Finance Team is responsible for providing financial analysis and support to the Estates Leadership Team (ELT) and financial reporting to the Financial Analysis and Reporting Team (FAR) in order to progress the maintenance and continued expansion of the UCL Estate.

Our services: Capital projects: Monitoring, analysis and evaluation of Capital Project Spend; Technical accounting advice; Assistance with the transfer of funding to/ from Projects; Evaluation of Business Cases; Part of the review panel at the Projects Review Group (PRG); Cashflow profiling; Reporting on the Capital Plan; Set up of Projects. Operational: Preparation of Monthly Management Accounts with analysis and commentary; Management of the Estates areas of the Annual Audit and Internal Audit; Collation of Budget and Forecast data; Advice on technical financial issues; Providing monthly data to Financial Analysis and Reporting; Identifying potential areas for inclusion in the Estates Risks and Opportunities Register; Taxation advice; Financial approval for recruitment (through SIP and Resource Link); Set up of SMP Projects; Account code set up.

Finance

Overview

We are responsible for all consolidated management and financial reporting and processing of financial transactions across UCL.

The Financial Analysts & Reporting and Financial Systems teams are responsible for all financial analysis and reporting and support the financial systems.

The Insurance team administrate UCL's insurance policies and advise on claims, including in relation to UCL travel, motor, property and buildings policies and related risk management.

Financial Accounting

Responsible for: annual Financial Statements and other statutory reporting; banking; treasury management; credit control (general & student); Financial Services Office; invoice payments; student fees; taxation; trusts and insurance.

Our services: Oversee and account for UCL's endowments and investments.

Financial Analysis and Reporting

The Financial Analysis & Reporting (FAR) team is responsible for the Financial Regulations and other associated policies. The team provides advice and guidance to School Finance teams and departments on UCL practices and processes.

The Financial Systems team has oversight over all Financial Systems (see section below).

Our services: FAR: Producing consolidated UCL Budget for SMT & Finance Committee; Monthly reporting and forecasting; HEFCE income distributions; Purchasing card administrator; Producing UCL financial timetables; Responsible for Expenses and Consultancy Guidelines.

Financial Systems

The Financial Systems team delivers a broad systems support service to the wider UCL community and all of FBA through the maintenance of core financial systems, development of financial reports and reporting functionality, second line support to the MyFinance helpdesk for chart of accounts and reporting, and third line support to SITS helpdesk for fee income queries.

UCL uses MyFinance (Oracle eBusiness Suite) to record and store all financial information and Axiom EPM as its main financial reporting, budgeting and forecasting tool.

Our services: Oversight over all Financial Systems; SAM & Axiom; Maintenance of the chart of accounts; Month end closure; Year end processing; Ad hoc reporting.

Insurance Team

The Insurance team administrate UCL's insurance policies and advise on claims, including in relation to UCL travel, motor, property and buildings policies and related risk management.

Our services: All matters relating to UCL insurance.

Taxation

We provide advice mainly on VAT and Corporation Tax issues effecting UCL.

Our services: We provide Tax advice to departments mainly on VAT and Corporation Tax issues; We approve Departmental sales invoices.

Maple House

The SLMS Finance Team has an office located on the 1st floor of Maple House at 149 Tottenham Court Road, London, W1T 7NF.

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SLMS Finance Team

Providing a modern, professional and effective financial service - delivering timely management information on SLMS financial performance.

Our services: Management of the budget setting process in SLMS; Monitoring of Faculty and Divisional performance against budget; Quarterly forecasts and variance analysis; Provision of Management Information on SLMS financial position; Strategic advice and financial modelling; Evaluation of and assistance with business cases; Approval of SiP forms for new/extended contracts and changes in funding; Approval of student payments on Portico; Month end procedures including accruals and prepayments; Management of the SIFT budget and related payments to Trusts; MBBS student load calculations.

Wilkins Building

The BEAMS and SLASH Finance Teams have an office located on the 1st floor South Wing of Wilkins Building on Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT.

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BEAMS Finance Team

BEAMS Finance provide a comprehensive and wide-ranging service to the School, producing detailed budgets and five-year forecasts as well as providing support and guidance to all our departments.

Our services: Budgeting and forecasting at a departmental, faculty and school level; Strategic planning at a medium and long range; Support and guidance for Departmental Administrators and Heads of Departments.

SLASH Finance Team

SLASH Finance provide a comprehensive and wide-ranging service to the School, producing detailed budgets and five-year forecasts as well as providing support and guidance to all our departments.

IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society

The IOE Finance Team has an office located in room 506 at the Institute of Education on 20 Bedford Way, London, WC1H 0AL.

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IOE Finance Team

The IOE finance team provide financial information and assistance to IOE staff.

Our services: Support departments in managing their budgets effectively; Produce management information and analysis on IOE’s finances; Undertake monthly closing of accounts including journal adjustments for accruals and prepayments; Year End closing of accounts and review; Quarterly re-forecasting of income and expenditure; Manage the annual three year budget planning process and associated processes such as tuition fee setting and student number intake planning; Provide operational advice, support and local training on financial systems and processes, including how to raise sales invoices and extract information from the MyFinance accounting system; Provide strategic advice, costings and financial modelling; Review and approve staff changes and payments.

Former FBA teams

Information on teams that were formerly part of UCL's Finance and Business Affairs division is provided here for ease.

Accounts Payable, Credit Control, Financial Services Office, NHS Billing, Student Fees and Treasury (now part of the PS Hub)

The Professional Services Hub teams (PS Hub) are located at Bidborough House.

Accounts Payable

Accounts Payable deals with:

processing and payment of supplier invoices and expense payments for the whole of UCL
foreign payments
setting up new suppliers
purchase ledger control
approval of orders over £50K
assessment of applications for self-employment status

AP Services: Invoice processing (all currencies); Providing advice on invoice matching exceptions; Providing advice on payment transaction types and processes; Expense Claim processing (all currencies); New supplier requests (both UK and overseas based suppliers); Payment generation – BACS, cheque and electronic foreign payments; POs Over £50k – checklist assessment; Self Employment Applications – assessment and approval of gross payments to external individuals; Supplier liaison – statement reconciliation, following up non-payment, invoice queries; Advice on purchase to payment policy and procedures; Manage payment cycles; AP Frequently Asked Questions.

N.B. UCL is a no PO, no pay organisation and invoices received that do not quote a valid UCL Purchase Order number will be returned to the supplier. The PO number must be on the actual invoice, not as an attachment or in the body of an email.

Credit Control

Credit Control is responsible for:

management of UCL’s Research debt and income
management of UCL’s General debt and income
management of UCL’s NHS debt and income

Please note that Student Finance, Student Residences and Bloomsbury Theatre debt is not part of Credit Control's remit (there are specific teams within UCL dealing with it).

Credit Control services: Collection of Research, General and NHS debt; Customer records: set up of new accounts and maintenance of existing accounts; Credit checks; Credit approval; Debt and debtor queries; Income queries; Cash allocation; Sales ledger maintenance; Accounts reconciliation; Banking; Customer Refunds.

NHS Billing

The NHS Billing Department recharges salary costs incurred by UCL to NHS Trusts and other Government Heath providers.

NHS Billing services: Financial approval of SiPs for salary remuneration of staff being recharged to Government Health Providers; Updating UCL HR system (Resource Link) for related costs; Creating budgets for all agreed costs to be recharged; Monitoring and updating budgets through the Spreadsheet CFAL (Confirmation Funding Award Letter) system; Raising & approving invoices on the FIS system and delivery of Invoices and backing data of all salary costs incurred that have an agreed recharge contract; Monitoring and checking of all job plans completed by Consultant academics, including Threshold scales Monitoring HEE contracts relating to CCT dates Reconciling of all recharges to source G general ledger accounts and related internal source 7 accounts; Raising and uploading Journals between general ledger accounts; Deal with any query relating to the above.

Financial Services Office (FSO)

The FSO provides a wide range of services and support to departments and students across UCL.
Their aim is to provide excellent service whilst striving to enhance the customer experience whether that be a department, student or UCL customer.

FSO services: Deposit of sterling & foreign income; Deposit of cash income via UCL’s drop safe facility; Foreign Advances; Research Advances; Credit/Debit card payment facility for Invoice payments; Online Store payment (card payments only) facility and administration for non-invoice payments; Student Loan Services (Cash payments); Research Floats; MyFinance Authorised Signatories.

Student Fees

The Student Fees team is responsible for the setting, administraton and collection of tuition (and related) fees.

Student Fees services: Administer the setting of tuition fees - guidance for UCL staff; Generate and collect fees from students and sponsors; Record all fee income; Chase debtors and apply sanctions in line with policy; Administer fee refunds.

Treasury

The Treasury team is responsible for the management of UCL's cash position, bank accounts, associated accounting, reconciliations and income control procedures.

Treasury services: Daily analysis of cash position; Investment of surplus cash; Forecasting cashflow position over the longer term to establish investment and/or borrowing requirements; Devising and disseminating procedures for receipting cash and making payments; Ensuring the accurate recording in MyFinance of all cash receipts and payments; Monthly reconciliation of 25+ bank and control accounts; Ensuring compliance with PCIDSS requirements.

Legal Services