AW-11 — Payments, Claims and Travel: Suppliers, Consultants, External Faculty, Expenses

1. Purpose and scope

Purpose. To ensure that every payment leaving an IoL cost centre is for something that was received, delivered or properly incurred, is approved by someone other than the person who confirmed it, sits within policy and delegation, and reaches MBRU finance with the evidence that lets it be paid without a query. Money is where a department's controls are tested first; this procedure is written so that the test is passed by design.

Scope statement. This procedure manages IoL payment requests from the point a payable obligation is confirmed (a matched invoice, a delivered service, an incurred expense, an authorised journey) to the release of the request to MBRU finance, and the subsequent reconciliation.

Applies to. Supplier invoices released from AW-10; consultant and external-faculty payments against an AW-08 appointment or an AW-23 contract; honoraria; staff expense claims; travel authorisation, advances, per diems and reconciliation; and foreign-currency payments in any of these categories.

Does not apply to. Payroll and salary. Payment execution, banking and supplier master data, which are MBRU finance's. Purchasing and receipt (AW-10). Contract negotiation and legal review (AW-23). Revenue and refunds (AW-12).

2. Trigger, boundary and interfaces

3. Roles and accountability

Process owner. IoL Operations Manager or equivalent [IoL to confirm], with the IoL finance administrator as operator [IoL to confirm].

[CONTROL] Segregation. The person who confirms that a deliverable, session or journey happened is not the person who approves the payment. The claimant never approves their own claim, and a manager's claim is approved one level up. The finance administrator who checks and releases does not approve. Where IoL is too small to separate all four, the minimum is confirmer versus approver, with the release check by a third person.

4. Procedure

1. Establish the basis for payment. Every request rests on one of four bases, and the basis is named on the request: a matched invoice (AW-10), a deliverable against an appointment (AW-08) or contract (AW-23), an expense under policy, or an authorised journey. [CONTROL] A request with no basis, or with a basis created after the fact, is returned; a pattern of these is reported through AW-24.

2. Confirm the deliverable for consultant and external-faculty payments. The lead who commissioned the work confirms in writing what was delivered (sessions taught, dates, hours, milestone met) against the appointment or contract terms. Honoraria follow the rate and basis stated in the AW-08 letter; nothing is paid above the letter. [CONTROL] Confirmation names the confirmer and the evidence (register, timetable, deliverable file); a confirmation that says only "approved for payment" is not a confirmation.

3. Check expense claims. The claimant submits the claim in the MBRU expense system with itemised receipts, purpose, attendees where hospitality is involved, and cost centre. The finance administrator checks each line against policy limits [IoL to confirm], the receipt, and duplication against prior claims and any advance. Decision point. Missing receipt: the claim line is held; policy provides for a signed declaration in stated circumstances [IoL to confirm], and outside those it is not paid.

4. Authorise travel before booking. A journey is proposed with purpose, dates, destination, estimated cost, class of travel per policy, and the budget line. The approver at the AW-05 level authorises before any booking is made. Bookings go through the institutional route [IoL to confirm]. [CONTROL] Travel booked before authorisation is a policy breach; the traveller bears the cost unless the process owner accepts a documented exception.

5. Issue advances and per diems. Where policy allows an advance, it is requested with the travel authorisation, paid by MBRU finance, and recorded against the traveller. Per diems are at the MBRU rate for the destination; no receipts are required for per diems, and no receipts are reimbursed for items the per diem covers. [CONTROL] No second advance while a first is unreconciled.

6. Confirm budget and approve. The budget holder confirms the line has capacity; the approver at the AW-05 level for the value approves or returns with reasons. Approval is in the system, not by email. [CONTROL] Approval is by someone other than the confirmer in step 2 and the claimant in step 3.

7. Handle foreign currency. Foreign-currency invoices and claims are submitted in the original currency with the document; MBRU finance applies the institutional conversion rule [IoL to confirm]. The claimant may not convert and round themselves. Card statements showing the charged amount are accepted as the rate evidence for expenses.

8. Release to MBRU finance. The finance administrator checks that the request carries its basis, the confirmation, the approval, the evidence and the correct cost centre, and releases it. Incomplete requests are returned with the missing item named. [CONTROL] Release is a completeness check, not a second approval, and it is performed by someone who neither confirmed nor approved.

9. Reconcile. Travel is reconciled within 10 working days of return: actual costs against authorisation and advance, balance repaid or claimed. Consultant contracts are reconciled at final milestone against total contract value. Decision point. Unreconciled advance beyond 30 days: the finance administrator notifies the budget holder and MBRU finance for recovery from the individual.

10. Watch for fraud indicators and escalate. The finance administrator reviews monthly for: claims just under an approval threshold, round-sum invoices, a supplier or consultant with a bank change request, duplicate receipts across claimants, expenses on non-working days without a stated purpose, and the same confirmer and approver appearing together repeatedly. Any indicator is raised with the process owner, and suspected fraud goes to MBRU finance and internal audit [IoL to confirm] on the day it is identified. [CONTROL] Bank-detail changes are never actioned by IoL; they go to MBRU finance for independent verification with the payee.

Exception routes. Urgent payment to prevent a learner-facing failure (visiting examiner about to travel, venue deposit): the process owner may approve release ahead of full evidence with the missing item obtained within 5 working days and the exception logged. Disputed deliverable: payment held, the contracting lead and the payee resolve it, AW-23 consulted where a contract is involved.

5. Service standards

6. Records, retention and controls

Key controls. (1) Every payment has a named basis. (2) Confirmer, approver and releaser are three different people. (3) No self-approval; managers' claims approved one level up. (4) Travel authorised before booking. (5) No second advance while one is unreconciled. (6) Bank-detail changes never actioned by IoL. (7) Fraud indicators reviewed monthly and escalated the same day.

OBEF touchpoint. None. Industry revenue and in-kind valuation are captured in AW-12 and AW-10, not here.

7. Performance measures

8. Change control