Finance & Accounts

Finance sits in the middle of every money request: it treats and checks the request, raises the payment voucher once the CMD authorises it, and marks it disbursed. This page shows who does which part and where in the suite they do it.

Who this is for

Everyone in the Department of Finance & Accounts (FIN, units 021–029). The suite gives each person a role from the unit they sit in or head:

Director of Finance & Accounts (DFA)

Head of FIN / 021. Role Director of Finance & Accounts (DFA_OFFICE): treats every finance request, approves and processes payments, manages Voucher Types, plus everything a head of department has.

Finance officers, units 022, 024, 025, 027, 028, 029

Role Finance Officer (Units 022–029) (FINANCE_OFFICER): process the finance requests routed to their unit, raise and process vouchers, invoices, expenses, accounts and payroll. The heads of these units decide their unit’s level.

Checking officers, unit 023

Role Checking Officer (023) (CHECKING_OFFICER): recommend finance requests at the Checking level and see the vouchers they check. Otherwise the same menu as any employee.

Billing & Refunds, unit 026

Role Billing Officer (026) (BILLING_OFFICER): prepare final bills and refunds, and decide refund levels.

The general Finance & Accounts Officer role (ACCOUNTANT) is the base these are built on. Its menu is below.

What you’ll see in your menu

1. My Desk. Finance requests and vouchers waiting on your level.
2. Payment Vouchers. Every voucher you can see, with its status.
3. Accounts Queue. Approved requests that are still owed a payment voucher.

1. Payroll. Payroll runs, allowances and deductions.
2. Customers. Payees and patients you bill.
3. Voucher Types. Only the DFA manages these. See Payment types.

The full menu of the base Finance & Accounts Officer role:

How a finance request moves

Every finance request (codes FIN-REQ-001 to FIN-REQ-015: cash advance, imprest, retirement, refund, duty tour allowance and so on) follows the same levels. Your level arrives on My Desk.

1. CMD · Initial Evaluation. Approved or Not Approved, often with the amount approved in the comment.
2. DFA · Review & Direction. The DFA chooses Treat or Don’t Treat. Don’t Treat ends the request.
3. The units involved. For example 022 · Processing for a cash advance, 025 for a retirement, 026 for a refund. The head of that unit recommends or does not recommend.
4. 023 · Checking. Any checking officer can take it. The first one to decide, decides for the unit.
5. Audit · Pre-Audit & Verification. Internal Audit recommends, partly recommends or does not recommend.
6. CMD · Payment Authorization. Authorized or Not Authorized.

A not recommended from a unit, Checking or Audit is recorded and the request carries on; the CMD sees it before deciding. After authorisation the request lands in the Accounts Queue.

Your working day

Every morning

1. Clear your level on My Desk. Read the earlier levels’ comments and the line items, then decide with a comment. See Approve, return or reject.
2. Work the Accounts Queue (finance officers). Open each approved request and select Raise voucher. The voucher opens with the request’s line items filled in. Check them, choose the payer account and save. See Raise and pay a payment voucher.
3. Confirm vouchers (heads of 024 and 026). Disbursement and imprest vouchers need the head of 024 Central Payments to confirm; refund vouchers need the head of 026. They arrive on My Desk.
4. Pay out (024 Central Payments). A confirmed voucher reads Authorized — awaiting disbursement. Open it in Payment Vouchers and select Mark as Paid. The status becomes Disbursed, the originator is told and so is Internal Audit.

Billing & Refunds (026)

• Raise a Final Bill / Patient Account Clearance (FIN-BIL-001) from New request: patient, hospital number, admission period and bill lines. The DFA endorses it, and the printed copy carries the biller’s and the DFA’s signatures.
• Refund requests (FIN-REQ-010) come to your unit’s level, and the refund voucher comes back to the head of 026 to confirm.

Other regular work

• Invoices for money owed to the hospital: Raise an invoice.
• Expenses paid outside a request: Record an expense.
• Payroll each month (024 Salary): Run payroll.
• Accounts: balances, fund transfers and adding funds in Accounts.

How do I…

Things only you can do

• Treat or not treat a finance request (DFA).
• Raise the voucher for an approved request, from the Accounts Queue (finance officers and the DFA).
• Mark a voucher as paid (people with the right to process payments: the DFA and finance officers).
• Create and change Voucher Types: the form, the printed voucher and who confirms it (DFA).
• Decide the Checking level (023 officers).

Common pitfalls

• No Raise voucher button. The request is not approved yet, a voucher already exists for it, or its template has no voucher type attached (Payment follows approval). Only requests owed a voucher appear in the Accounts Queue.
• No Mark as Paid button. The voucher has not been confirmed yet. It must read Authorized — awaiting disbursement; until then it is on the confirming head’s desk.
• Your own request does not come to you. The suite never makes you decide your own request. A DFA’s own advance goes up to the CMD instead.
• Checking: two officers opened the same request. Only the first decision counts. The item disappears from the other officer’s desk.
• The amount is wrong on the voucher. The voucher copies the request’s line items, not the amount the CMD wrote in a comment. Adjust the lines to the approved amount before saving.

Related

• Payments & payment types
• Accounts · Invoices · Expenses · Payroll
• Internal Audit, the level after Checking