Customer Charter

The division aims to provide ethical and effective management of the School’s financial resources, to ensure the high quality finance services for our internal and external customers that are necessary to achieve world class teaching and research.

• Adaptability, being receptive and enthusiastic.
• Resilience, Courage and Professionalism.
• Integrity and Honesty.
• Teamwork, Trust and Belief in each other.
• Talent Management.• Relationship Building (with peers and across the School  community).

We will be an innovative and pro-active Finance Division that:

• Provides leadership to ensure the School continues to be financially sustainable.
• Aligns our services with the delivery of the School Strategy, delivers services to support the School in achieving its stated aims and objectives.
• Supplies timely management information and analysis.
• Meets its Customer Service Charter.
• Has a culture of continuous improvement.

• Adaptability, being receptive and enthusiastic.
• Resilience, Courage and Professionalism.
• Integrity and Honesty.
• Teamwork, Trust and Belief in each other.
• Talent Management.
• Relationship Building (with peers and across the School community).

GENERAL

• Respond to all Finance Comments e-mails within three days of receipt.
• On a termly basis to request further feedback from a sample of Finance Comments e-mails.

• Meet / liaise with each service leader regularly to review spend to date and projections for the rest of the year.
• Meet / liaise with Academic Department, LSE Extend (including EMSc), Institute, RCSD managers regularly to review spend to date and projections for the rest of the year.
• Complete all Establishment fund checks within three working days of receipt.  Non Establishment fund checks will be completed as soon as possible.
• Load all agreed annual budgets by 14th July.
• Load all agreed carry forward balances by 31st October.
• Respond to all emails within two working days of receipt.
• Ensure that Budget Controllers and School staff are supported in drawing up their budgets, forecasts and financial plans to ensure that underlying assumptions are robust and deliver best value.
• Issue the monthly management accounts & commentary in line with the Finance timetable which is published annually.
• Ensure that an early warning system is in place to help School staff in identifying any areas where performance is 'off track' vs financial plans and report to Chief Financial Officer.
• Issue the monthly management accounts & commentary to relevant committees in a timely manner to allow operational issues to be debated and resolved.

• Respond to emails within 3 working days of receipt.
• Post journal requests within 3 working days of receipt.
• Post all internal debit notes and internal sales notes by the month-end general ledger close date.
• Prepare a detailed timetable for the financial year-end process and share with all stakeholders by the end of June.
• File statutory and external returns in a timely fashion.
• Provide high quality financial reporting for our external stakeholders to ensure long- term financial sustainability of the School.
• Meet the expectations of our internal customers in delivering guidance and support  they require to achieve their objectives.
• Ensure successful mitigation of financial risks by establishing and operating an effective control environment.

• Issue duplicate P60 within a week of request.
• Enter all timesheets correctly within 2 days after timesheet deadline to ensure complete payroll payments at the end of the month

Please follow this link to view the FICC Customer Charter

FICC Customer Charter 

• Providing a professional customer service response to queries and request, whether by the use of our issue tracking system, telephone or face to face contract.
• Continue to explore new processes and systems that will streamline the invoice settlement journey and enhance customer experience.
• Measure Accounts Payable staff performance using key metrics and service level agreements such as:
• Office hours cover – 9:00 to 17:00hr.
• Customer visiting times – 11:00 to 15:00hr.
• Setup new suppliers within 10 working days of notification.
• Register invoices on the Finance System (OneFinance) within 3 working days of receipt.
• Both foreign and UK payment runs to be completed by at least Wednesday in a normal working week.
• First response to queries logged on SalesForce within 24 hours.
• Resolve queries logged on SalesForce within 5 working days (excludes waiting time outside the control of the Accounts Payable Team).
• Provide clear and useful guidelines via the Accounts Payable webpage presence.
• Refine our annual objectives through both internal and external customer feedback,  with engagement through liaison meetings, forums, focus group or surveys.

• Ensure that OneFinance is available to all users during working hours (9.00 – 17.00hr). Current contractual SLAs are 99%+ over 24/7.
• To provide and publicise regular drop-in session support for all users. To resolve or refer issues to subject matter experts.
• To resolve or respond to logged SalesForce Helpdesk calls with 3 working days. Responses should indicate target resolution times.
• To update and apply user access request with 3 working days from the time full information has been supplied.
• To ensure outgoing payments systems are available and supported during working hours.
• To ensure access and training on the systems are provided. 
• To ensure all users are notified at least 24 hours in advance of any scheduled downtime.

• To provide high quality advice and guidance to users on all of their procurement requirements.
• Respond to all e-mails within 2 working days of receipt.
• Provide internet guidance documents to explain the LSE’s tendering and quotation processes and when and where to seek advice.
• Ensure suitable contracts are put in place to provide protection to the LSE, reducing  the risk of legal challenge, but also considering risk against cost.
• Discuss and agree requirements with users to ensure that LSE contracts properly reflect their requirements.
• Manage the tendering process via the LSE’s e-tendering system in line with the appropriate Financial Procedures.

• To allow the department to respond within the specified timescales.
• To be courteous and respectful in all communications to the Finance Division.
• To work collaboratively to meet any deadlines as set out by the sections within the Division.
• That any Accounts Payable queries are raised via the Finance Division enquiry form
• To contact the Procurement team as soon as a requirement is identified to ensure advice can be provided on the most suitable procurement route.
• To monitor supplier performance against contractual service levels.

Any compliments or concerns on the level of service provided should be addressed to the relevant staff member as appropriate:

• Financial Planning and Analysis – Laura Gilbert: l.c.gilbert@lse.ac.uk
• Financial Reporting and Compliance – Neal Thomson: n.j.thomson@lse.ac.uk 
• Payroll – Julie Gould: j.m.gould@lse.ac.uk
• Fees, Income & Credit Control/Cashiers - Submit the request to fees@lse.ac.uk quoting Escalated enquiry in the subject line.
• Accounts Payable – Liz Bunting: l.bunting@lse.ac.uk 
• Systems Accounting – Keith Adams: k.adams@lse.ac.uk
• Procurement – Cristian Martin: c.martin10@lse.ac.uk

If you do not receive a satisfactory response the issue should be raised with the Chief Financial Officer: Chief.Financial.Officer@lse.ac.uk

Finance Divison Equiry Form

FP&A                 Financial Planning and Analysis

FR&C                 Financial Reporting and Compliance

FICC                  Fees, Income and Credit Control

EMSC                Executive Masters courses/programmes

RCSD                 Residences and Catering Service Division

SLAs                  Service level agreements