Accounts Payable

OneFinance is the School's financial management system.

Please see the OneFinance web pages for more information on how to use OneFinance and how processes have changed.

 To view the data that shows the throughput on OneFinance, please click here. This data will be updated on a monthly basis. 

• Paying suppliers
• Staff expense claims
• Non-staff expense claims 
• Advances 
• Purchasing Cards  

The School has introduced a Purchase Order system. This requires all suppliers to be set up in advance and for a Purchase Order requisition to be created and approved before an order is made. For more information about Purchase Orders and supplier set up, please see here.

From 1 August 2019, there will be an interim process for handling invoices which have no associated Purchase Order, designed to ensure all transactions are captured within OneFinance. All invoices should be sent to Lse.Onefinance.Apinvoices@lse.ac.uk. Please note that this email account must only be used for the submission of invoices, and not for general queries. For more information about this process, please see here.

OneFinance will automatically route invoices requiring additional authorisation to LSE Research and Innovation (for research project expenditure) and/or payroll (UK self-employed payment - Schedule D status) 

It is the School’s policy to make payments by BACS only. All foreign payments are sent by wire transfer. 

Accounts Payable payment schedule

Staff out of pocket expense claims must be submitted and approved via OneFinance. There is more information about this process here. 

Expense reimbursement should only be used for expenses personally incurred in the pursuit of LSE business, i.e. it should not be used for general work expenses, such as buying tea and coffee for a meeting or teaching materials. Paying for business expenditure personally and then reclaiming confuses the legal position regarding liability, guarantees and refunds, and VAT cannot be reclaimed on such expenditure.

Please see How to obtain goods and services.

All claims must be in accordance with the Travel, Subsistence and Personal Expenses Policy and Procedures.

It is the School’s policy to make payments by BACS only. 

Accounts Payable payment schedule

Payments for external parties must be submitted and approved via OneFinance. There is more information about this process here.

For information about paying students, see here.

It is the School’s policy to settle expenses by BACS transfer directly to the claimant’s bank account. It is the School’s policy to settle supplier invoices by BACS only. All foreign payments are sent by wire transfer. 

Accounts Payable payment schedule

Physical cash advances have been discontinued. Advances must be requested via OneFinance. Please see here for information about how to do this. 

Funds will be transferred directly to your bank account and receipts should then be subsequently uploaded and matched off to the advance within the Travel and Expenses function in OneFinance. This process can be delegated to another member of staff.  

Barclaycard is the School’s Purchasing Card scheme, available to staff members with regular business travel and procurement responsibilities. For more information, please see here.

Cardholders should abide by the:

Travel, Subsistence and Personal Expenses Policy and Procedures
School’s Financial Regulations
Procurement Policy and Procedures
Purchasing Card Policy and Procedures

Purchasing Cards should not be used where the School has an ongoing contract with a Preferred supplier (e.g. Diversity Travel; Office Depot). Please see How to obtain goods and services

Purchasing Cards should not be used for multiple purchases with one supplier where the cumulative amount may breach the £8,000 threshold for competitive tendering. 

The cardholder should adhere to the transaction limits set . Purchases should not be split in order to circumvent the transaction limit set. Contact the Purchase Card Administrator to arrange temporary increase. 

Timetable

Purchasing card transactions are usually posted to OneFinance every day.

All transactions should be coded, a narrative added, receipts attached and necessary approval(s) granted within 30 days of the transaction date.

If transactions are not completed and approved on a regular basis, the card may be suspended until the acount is up to date.

Continuing late completion of coding may lead to the card being withdrawn.

The account limit for each card relates to expenditure within a calendar month.

New Amazon Business Account Q &A

I have been using my LSE email address for my personal purchases AND work purchasing (using the correct payment method accordingly), if I am being asked to join the School account I will lose my personal one, what should I do? If you login to your account, you can change your email associated with your personal account to a personal email address, this will move all of your purchasing history to that email, then you can create a new amazon account using your LSE email. Then use the link we provided which should upgrade your LSE account to Amazon Prime Business. Any problems, please get in touch.

I have already purchased amazon prime for business what do I do? The School have purchased an Unlimited license centrally, we are waiting on Amazon to provide us a form (Account authority) that will refund any other amazon prime for business payments directly to the card it was bought from.

Myself and my colleague used to use the same Amazon account, should we close it down?  No, transfer/upgrade that account using the link provided, but as we have an unlimited license you can have your own accounts linked to your own LSE email addresses. If it was helpful to see what your colleague was buying and vice versa, get in touch with us to discuss further the options.

Can my administrators can use this single account or should they also create accounts?  If your current methodology works for you, it is your responsibility as the card holder to be accountable for purchases made to the card. That said there are options:

Option 1 – They create their own accounts which are private to them.

Option 2 - We can link your accounts by creating a sub group.

Option 3 – You continue as you are.

Get in touch if required.

I have already setup an account, can I keep it?  No. There are many Pcard holders in the School and setting up individual business accounts with separate Prime Memberships is not the solution we have chosen for Pcard holders and the wider School.

If you have paid for business prime, the subscription fee will be refunded. When doing so you can choose to transfer or delete your purchasing history.

If I purchase an item via the business account in error (i.e. it is for personal use) what do I do?   It will work the same way as it does already, you will be asked to refund the School using your personal funds.

Telephone number: +44 (0)20 7107 5555

Finance Division enquiry form

Please see the OneFinance website for more help and support.