Financial Regulations

University Court approval is required before any borrowing of funds from banks and other external source(s) of funds are undertaken and all borrowing must be in the name of the University.

All borrowing shall conform to any relevant funding body requirements, including those set out in the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council’s Financial Memorandum.

The Executive Director of Finance is responsible, before any agreement is entered into to borrow funds, for advising the University Court on the effect such borrowing, payment of interest thereon, and the impact repayments will have on the cash flow, income and expenditure account and balance sheet of the University.

The Executive Director of Finance is responsible for the design and maintenance of appropriate financial records for all borrowed funds, paying particular regard to ongoing compliance with the terms of all bank covenants and reporting thereon on a regular basis to the Finance Committee.

Where borrowing is for capital finance purposes. the University is required to inform the SFC before it undertakes a level of capital finance where the annualised costs of all capital finance (being the sum of the servicing and capital repayment costs of each loan or other arrangements spread evenly over the period of the relevant loan or arrangement) would exceed 4% of the total income of the University as reported in the latest audited financial statements; or of the estimated amount of total income for the current year if that is lower. The Executive Director of Finance is responsible for informing the SFC of any instances which meet these criteria.

The approval of the Executive Director of Finance is required prior to entering into any contract or similar arrangement for any finance lease or hire purchase agreement.  All finance leases or hire purchase agreements entered into must be in the name of the University.