Finances
Guide to Clubs & Societies Finance
Using the Clubs & Societies Finance Office
Accessing the Finance Office online
Location
The SU Finance Office is located on the top floor of the Students’ Union. From the stairs, walk up to Level 3 and then turn left. Walk down the left side of building until you reach the office labelled 'SU Clubs & Societies Finance Office'. From the lift, turn right, walk past the soft seating area, and then walk along the side of the building until you reach the office.
Opening Times
The SU Finance Office is open from 8.30am – 4.15pm each day. It is usually less busy in the morning. The office closes over lunch from 1pm - 1.45pm.
Occasionally, the office door may be closed at other times during the day. This is a necessary security measure, so please just call back later if the door is closed when you arrive.
Using the SU Finance Office
Club and Societies should use the SU Finance Office to manage all their financial activity.
You may not use any external financial services, including external bank accounts, online banks, websites which generate income, and so on. Any Club or Society found to be using external financial services, including bank accounts, may face disciplinary action from the SU and University.
Accessing the Finance Office online
You can email the Finance Office with any financial queries or to submit TAFs on su.clubsandsocsfinance@qub.ac.uk.
Committee members should always use their student QUB emails when communicating with the Finance Office.
To make a purchase remotely, email your TAF to su.clubsandsocsfinance@qub.ac.uk with all of your current committee signatories copied into the email thread. Each one then needs to reply into the thread to clearly say that they approve the payment (including details of the amount and supplier).
So for example, if your Club or Society is emailing in a TAF for a clothing order from Signature Works, you need to email us the completed TAF and ensure that your Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer are all copied in to the thread. Each one then needs to confirm their approval by replying to the thread to say: "I approve this payment of £XXXX to Signature Works".
The breakdown of your account
Each Club / Society has an account in the SU Finance Office. All money that you have collected or fundraised should be brought to the office and lodged into this account. Grant awards from the University or SU will automatically be transferred to your account. Please note that every transaction, whether it is lodging or spending funds, must come through the Finance Office.
Each account is broken down into three sections with slightly different rules on how the funds in that section can be spent:
1. Own Funds
This part of your Club / Society account can be spent on almost anything as long as the appropriate paperwork has been submitted. Income which you generate yourselves will be lodged in your Own Funds (e.g. formal ticket sales, sponsorship, fundraised monies).
2. Recurrent Grant
This is where your grants from the SU will be lodged. This part of your account has some restrictions on how its funds can be spent. Essentially, you must spend your Recurrent Grant in line with the main aims and objectives of your Club / Society (as listed in your constitution). Alcohol and food cannot be purchased with this part of your account, and it cannot be spent on social events.
Be aware that a proportion of each membership fee you take will be lodged into your Recurrent Grant section and is subject to the same spending restrictions. Over Freshers', £2 per member will be lodged into your Grant pot. During the rest of the year, it's £3 per member. This money always stays in your account - it isn't taken back at the end of the year and the SU never takes any membership money from Clubs & Societies.
3. Special Fund/Grant
If you apply for any particular 'special' grants within the University (e.g. from the Queen's Annual Fund, or a Capital Grant from Queen's Sport), it will sit separately in its own section. You must spend this money on specifically what you applied for in the relevant grant application.
Grants / Special Funds available for Clubs and Societies
Each year, eligible Clubs & Societies can apply for grant funding from the Students’ Union. Religious, Political, and Charitable Societies are not eligible to apply.
Grants must be spent in the academic year they have been received. Any unspent grant money is returned to the overall pot at the end of July.
1. Recurrent grant – Available for any eligible Club / Society to cover their activities and costs for the year.
2. Hosting Grant – Available for any eligible Sporting Club which is hosting a recognised intervarsity event at Queen’s in that academic year. Societies seeking support to run intervarsities should include this in their Recurrent grant application.
3. Capital Grant – Available for any eligible Sporting Club which is in need of equipment (including buying new items, and repairing or upgrading existing items). You must be able to supply a complete, accurate Club inventory in order to apply for a Capital grant. Your inventory should list all of your equipment, along with each item's estimated value, current state of repair, and location. Societies seeking support with equipment costs should include this in their Recurrent grant application.
Application forms are emailed out to all Clubs & Societies after 1st August and can also be downloaded here. This link will be updated with the current year's forms when the application process opens.
Please note that the overall funding pot is limited and needs to support a growing number of Clubs & Societies each year. If you anticipate significant costs, you shouldn't rely solely on grant funding to cover them. Instead, financially effective Clubs & Societies should develop their own fundraising ability and be proactive in researching other funding opportunities.
Within the University, Clubs and Societies are also eligible to apply for the Queen's Annual Fund and the Clifford Arbuthnot Fund. These funds are administered by the University, not the SU, so make sure to send your applications to the correct department in advance of the deadline.
Lodging Money
Cash
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Count up the money and take a record of what you’re lodging for your own records.
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Bring the money to the SU Clubs & Societies Finance Office.
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Tell us how the money was raised (e.g. fundraising from a pub quiz / memberships fees / sponsorship from a local business)
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We will then lodge the money into your account. Any money you have raised yourselves will be lodged as Own Funds (except a portion of membership fees which will be lodged into your Recurrent Grant, as noted above).
Note: It is preferable that all cash is lodged in the local currency (GBP, pound sterling). Euro notes can be lodged (if absolutely necessary). We can't lodge Euro coins or any other currencies.
Cheque
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Cheques can be written out to your Club / Society and lodged at the SU Finance Office.
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The cheque must be made payable to “Queen’s University Belfast [Club / Society name here]”
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If the cheque doesn’t include "Queen’s University Belfast", then it can’t be processed. If it doesn’t include your Club / Society name then it may not reach your account. Please make sure both parts are written clearly on the cheque.
Note: It is preferable that any cheques are made payable in the local currency (GBP, pound sterling). Euro cheques can be accepted (if absolutely necessary).
Bank Transfer from a Company / Organisation
If an organisation wants to pay you by bank transfer, speak with the SU Clubs & Societies Finance Office as soon as possible.
To receive the funds, we need to invoice the organisation. To prepare the invoice, we need the detail below:
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Organisation name
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Address
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Contact Person
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Contact Telephone Number
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Contact Email Address
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Amount to be transferred to your Club / Society
The organisation can then transfer the money to Queen’s University using the details on the invoice we prepare. Please note that once we issue the invoice, it's the organisation's responsibility to make the payment to you and to keep you updated the status of the payment.
Online Payments from Members
Clubs and Societies can opt-in to use Fixr to collect payments from members online. See here for more details.
Spending Money
There are a variety of ways you can spend money from your Club / Society account. Just come up and speak to the staff in the SU Finance Office and they will let you know what method best suits your Club / Society’s situation.
Be aware that for purchases or payments valued at £2,500 or more, you will need to source three like-for-like quotations from different suppliers. You must provide the Finance Office with proof of all three quotations. If you cannot provide this proof, your payment will not be processed. For guidance on sourcing quotations, just drop the Clubs and Societies team an email.
Reimbursement - PLEASE DISCUSS WITH FINANCE OFFICE IN ADVANCE OF PURCHASE
If a committee member has paid for something on behalf of the Club / Society, they can be reimbursed from your account as long as you have sufficient funds in the relevant section of your account. Reimbursements should be organised promptly - do not let these build up and do not leave them all until the end of the academic year. We recommend that TAFs for reimbursements are submitted within one week of the purchase. They must be submitted within six months and in the same committee year as the purchase.
Reimbursements are organised as follows:
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The committee of the Club / Society fill in a Transaction Authorisation form (TAF) with the details of the purchase(s).
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Note that the TAF cannot be signed by the individual who is due to be reimbursed - if this person is an executive committee member, the TAF must be approved by the two other executive committee members.
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The receipts are provided with the TAF.
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Note that the receipt must show that the named individual actually paid for the purchase and completed the transaction. It must show evidence of the payment, not just the total cost of the order.
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The individual provides their bank account details on the TAF (including name, student number, bank account number, and sort code).
Clubs and Societies Purchase Card (Credit Card)
If your Club / Society wishes to pay a supplier directly, you can do so via the Clubs and Societies Purchase Card (Credit Card) located in the SU Clubs & Societies Finance Office. The following criteria must be met:
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The committee of the Club / Society submit a completed Transaction Authorisation Form (TAF).
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The supplier can accept card payment online or over the phone.
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The Club / Society can provide an official quote from the supplier, and / or a link to the webpage where the item / purchase is listed.
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The transaction is under £2000.
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Important: The Purchase Card does have some limitations, particularly around data security online. This means that the card can't be used on any website which would store the card details for future charges (e.g. to pay for a rolling software subscription). There are also limitations on using the card on international sites or to pay in different currencies, so we would always encourage you to look for a local / national supplier in the first instance. There may be other limitations (e.g. non-secure websites) so always check in advance whether your supplier can be paid this way. Just drop the SU Finance Office team an email before you organise your order or collect any contributions from members.
Non-card payments, including Purchase Orders and RFPs
If a card payment isn't possible, then we can pay a supplier by Purchase Order (PO) or sometimes by a Request for Payment (RFP). Please note that paying this way is a slower process than using the card, and you should allow around two weeks for the payment to go through. The following criteria must be met when paying this way:
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The committee of the Club / Society submits a completed Transaction Authorisation Form (TAF).
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For purchase orders, the supplier needs to be on the University's supplier list. We can check this for you and help to add them to the list if necessary.
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The Club/Society can provide an official quote from the supplier, and / or a link to the webpage where the item / purchase is listed.
Payment to an individual for their services
To pay a Sporting Coach or another recurring service provider, see the guidance here.
To pay someone like a one-off guest speaker or workshop leader, you just need to supply the SU Finance Office with their bank account details and agreed sum of payment when you submit your TAF. Please note that you cannot pay someone in this way more than three times a year.
Key things to remember
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Be organised – try to think two weeks in advance for all transactions. Letting the Clubs & Societies staff know early about a payment means they can help out as early as possible. Please don’t leave it until 2 or 3 days before as this will mean a delay in payment to a supplier and possible reputational damage to your Club / Society and Queen’s University Belfast.
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If you have a question, don’t be afraid to ask – the Students’ Union is here to help! No question is silly or too small and we will be happy to help.
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Make sure your President, Treasurer and Secretary are all signed up online as soon as they are elected. They will become account signatories on 1st August. The committee year runs from 1st August - 31st July annually.
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When spending money, you must fill in a Transaction Authorisation Form (TAF) in all cases.