Finance and payment structure

Ref: FOI22075

RE: FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 REQUEST

I am writing to confirm that the West Midlands Fire Service has now completed its search for the information you requested further to your freedom of information request.

Please find below a summary of our findings.

Request
Travel & Expenses
1. What finance system do you use?
2. What system do you use to manage and process your staff’s expenses?

Reply

Oracle Fusion

Request
3. What is the expense process?

Reply

The process used is the standard Oracle process

Request
4. What is the current period of reimbursement for staff expenses?

Reply

Three days from authorisation to payment

Request
5. Are expenses required to be pre-approved?

Reply

Expenses are not required to be pre-approved

Request
6. How long does it take on average to process 1 expense claim?

Reply

This information is exempt under section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 as we do not hold this information. We do not keep a record of how long it takes to process expense claims

Request
7. How many expense claims were made in FY21/22? And what was total value of expense claimed in FY21/22?

Reply

4473 claims.

Total amount paid £136,451.42.

Request
8. Can your staff submit expenses remotely?

Reply

Staff are able to submit expenses remotely.

Request
9. Are staff able to submit claims on their mobile device?

Reply

Staff are able to submit claims on their mobile device

Request
10. How are you claiming VAT on mileage? Do your staff have to deduct commute from mileage manually?

Reply

When an e-expense for mileage is approved a valid VAT valid fuel receipt is supplied, the system automatically calculates the VAT element within that claim and creates an entry in our balance sheet that our VAT consultants, who then pick up and add to a monthly VAT return sent to HMRC.

Staff have to deduct their commute from mileage manually.

Request
11. What percentage of expense claims are you auditing?

Reply

Approximately 10% of claims are audited

Request
12. How many FTEs (full time employees) do you have processing expense claims?

Reply

3 staff members within Revenues are responsible for staff’s expenses as part of their role.

Request
13. What is the average time to reimburse your staff’s expenses?

Reply

This information is exempt under section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 as we do not hold this information. West Midlands Fire Service does not keep a record of the average time taken to reimburse staff expenses.

Request
14. Which department oversee' s/owns the expense processes/workflows?

Reply

The expense processes/workflows are overseen by our payrolls department

Request
15. Are there direct data integrations for expense spend directly into your main finance system? Alternatively, are they bulk uploaded via JPEG etc.?

Reply

There are direct integrations for the expense spend

Request
Invoices
16. What system do you use for managing/processing invoices?

Reply

Oracle Fusion

Request
17. What is your current invoice process for handling supplier invoices, from receipt to when it is posted in the ERP/finance system and ready for payment?

Reply

Budget holder raises a purchase order via Procurement. Orders are receipted to confirm goods/services have been received/accepted. Invoices are processed for payment by the Revenues team if details match PO and have been receipted.

Request
18. How many invoices were processed in FY21/22?

Reply

Approx. 13.7k invoices were processed in 2021/22

Request
19. How many FTEs (full time employees) do you have in your accounts payable team who process invoices?

Reply

3 staff members within Revenues are responsible for accounts payable and receivable.

Request
20. What percentage of invoices were paid late in FY21/22?

Reply

This information is exempt under section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 as we do not hold this information. Delays could be due various reasons included incorrect/disputed invoices.

Request
21. Are there cases where Invoices are duplicated and paid out more than once?

Reply

Safeguards are built into the system to prevent duplicate payments

Request
22. What is the approval workflow for Invoices?

Reply

Budget holders are responsible for approval, Segregation of duties exists for the procure to pay process.

Request
23. Do you use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to scan invoices?

Reply

Invoices are requested electronically and sent directly to the Revenues team.

Request
24. Do you have to manually validate the scanned invoices from the OCR capture?

Reply

n/a

Request
25. Do you currently have a PO system or a non-PO system? If you use both types – what is the percentage of PO invoices vs. non-PO invoices?

Reply

The Authority has a “no PO no pay” policy and therefore supplier are requested to quote a purchase order on the invoice, in order for the Revenues team to process it.

Request
26. Are you claiming VAT on invoices? If so, are you doing this in-house?
How are you currently reporting on invoice spend?

Reply

Yes, VAT is claimed on invoices via Sandwell MBC

Request

27. How are you currently reporting on invoice spend?

Invoice spend is reported on our Transparency Reports

If you have any queries about this Freedom of Information request, please contact us. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

For service complaints, issues or comments regarding this request please contact The Public Relations Department, West Midlands Fire Service, 99 Vauxhall Road, Birmingham, B7 4HW

Further information concerning Freedom of Information requests can be found on the Information Commissioner website at either the following link: https://ico.org.uk/ or at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF.