Finance policy

Financial management is key to a business’s sustainability.

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to describe how PEER Construction’s financial management activities are to be carried out

Scope

This policy applies to all PEER Construction employees, apprentices, subcontractors, and service providers.

Requirements

The following are requirements of the policy.

Invoice requirements

The following criteria must be met before invoices are processed:

Invoice must be addressed to PEER Construction.
Invoice should include vendor or supplier name, business address, amount, and description of goods and or services provided.
Australian vendors must provide a tax invoice. A tax invoice must include the price of sale, whether it includes GST and the vendor’s Australian Business Number (ABN).
If goods and or services are ordered using a PEER Construction purchase order the vendors or suppliers’ invoice must contain the relevant purchase order number.
Invoices must match the PEER Construction purchase order requirements.

Any invoice with an exception must be held until the exceptions are resolved. Accounts Payable will coordinate with the relevant person to resolve exceptions to enable processing of invoices.

A PDF of the invoice must be emailed to invoice@peerconstruction.com.au. Paper copies of invoices received by Accounts Payable will be returned to the relevant employee to scan and submit as a PDF.

PEER Construction financial team must receipt goods or services when they are delivered and accepted. You do not require a tax invoice to receipt the goods or services.

PEER Construction prefers to pay vendors through a purchase order accompanied by the vendor invoice. There are approved one off payments where a purchase order and invoice are not appropriate. In this case a payment request form should be used.

Invoices and other requests received by Accounts Payable that meet all invoice and purchasing requirements will be processed within 3 business days. Payments will be made according to agreed PEER Construction’s terms and schedule.

Authorisation

Only authorised employees have access to the financial account to protect client funds and confidentially. These are the CEO, senior manager and Finance department.

All passwords to the financial account must be kept confidential at all times. If there is a breach a risk assessment should be completed.

Confidentiality

Clients are entitled to have their personal information kept confidential and not disclosed to other parties without their express consent. Employees must ensure client information is kept confidential.

The Australian Privacy Principles form the basis of the privacy protection framework under in the Privacy Act 1988 and must be adhered to.

Access to information

The Privacy Act 1988 covers the collection, storage, use and disclosure of information and opinions about people whose identity can be ascertained.

The impact of this legislation extends into all areas of PEER Construction practice. Any written records should be stored in a way that ensures information cannot be seen by customers and clients.

PEER Construction has a clear desk policy which dictates that all files and accounts books must be returned to the secure holding when not in immediate use, and not left open or unattended on desks. Archived documents and records should be stored in secured containers in a place where unauthorised entry is prevented. Information displayed on computer monitors should not be visible to unauthorised persons.

Records that do not need to be kept should be destroyed, by shredding or de-identified by ensuring names are removed.

Maintaining client records

Check that all documentation is present in the client file. Manager will select one client file to check compliance with legislative and privacy requirements.

Client file checklist should include the following:

client contact details
contract
emails
receipts
final tax invoice
copy of invoices.

Bank reconciliation

All bank statements are given unopened to the manager. The manager will review statements for unusual balances and/or transactions.

The manager will give the statements to the Finance department for timely reconciliation with:

a comparison of dates and amounts of deposits as shown in the accounting system and on the statement
a comparison of inter-account transfers
an investigation of any rejected items
a comparison of cleared cheques with the accounting record including amount, payee, and sequential cheque numbers.

The Finance department will verify that voided cheques, if returned, are appropriately defaced and filed. The Finance department will investigate any cheques that are outstanding for 6 months.

The Finance department will attach the completed bank reconciliation to the applicable bank statement, together with all documentation.

The reconciliation report will be reviewed, approved, dated, and initialled by the manager.

Other requirements

Discrepancies

Any discrepancy identified must have a resolution and emailed to the senior manager immediately.

Backup

The financial accounts must be backed up on mainframe computer and a copy of the financial accounts backed up according to IT processes.

Compliance audit

Compliance audits are to be completed internally every quarter. Client files are to be checked for compliance

Audit

An independent auditor must complete an external audit annually.

Reconciliation

Bank reconciliations must be completed monthly, and any discrepancy is to be emailed to the senior manager immediately. The email should include a resolution for the discrepancy.

Advances

Advances will only be provided under the following circumstances.

Travel cash advance

In exceptional circumstances, a travel cash advance may be required to cover significant expenses of a business nature that are not covered by a travel allowance.

A travel cash advance must be approved by a financial delegate and will be paid before the date of travel.

Travel cash advance must be reconciled and acquitted upon return. Employees must submit all tax invoices and receipts no more than 30 days after the return date of travel. Any unused funds must be repaid,

If an employee has an outstanding travel advance that has not been acquitted no further travel allowance advance will be issued. There are FBT implications if a travel allowance advance is not acquitted in a timely manner.

Travel allowance for meals, accommodation, and incidentals can be paid in advance and is not required to be reconciled or acquitted.

Non travel advance

Where a PEER Construction credit card or other means to purchase is not available (excluding travel) an employee can be paid a non travel advance.

The advance must be approved by a financial delegate. The employee must submit tax invoices and receipts to acquit the advance within 6 months of the date of request.

Employee reimbursement

A reimbursement is made to an employee when they use personal funds incur a business-related expenditure. Reimbursements can be completed by the employee who incurred the expense or entered on their behalf by another employee. The reimbursement must be approved by a financial delegate.

To ensure prompt and efficient payment changes to personal details must be updated with PEER Construction administration. The financial delegate must ensure the expenditure is appropriate in accordance with the Business expense procedure and that receipts and tax invoices are attached to the claim. Once a claim is approved payment will be made in the next payment run.

All enterers will receive a system generated report monthly to review and action any aged expenses.

Receipts and tax invoices must be provided for all transactions for advance acquittals and expense reimbursements. If invoices or receipts are lost or unobtainable you must complete and submit a Transaction declaration form if the transaction is less than AUD$75.00 (including GST).

Privacy Act 1988

Code of conduct and ethics policy

Compliance policy

Version 1.0 – Last updated 6/2/2022