Skip to main content

Finance record 2020/21 - Table 7: Expenditure by activity and HESA Cost Centre

Back to C20031

Version 1.0 Produced 2021-09-17

Contents:

    Table 7 provides a further analysis of the five main expenditure headings in Table 1.

    Totals shown in Head 8 will automatically populate sub heads 2a to 2e in Table 1, therefore should match with audited financial statements.

    Each row represents the standard academic and non-academic cost centre codes as defined in the 'HESA cost centres' section in the ‘Coverage of the record’.

    The rows in the table analyse expenditure by the activity or operation it relates to, broken down by

  • Academic department
  • Academic services
  • Administration and central services
  • Premises
  • Residences and Catering operations
  • Research Grants and Contracts
  • Other

Expenditure that can be attributed to academic department cost centres should be entered in the relevant subheads 1a to 1as (HESA cost centres 101 to 145).

The columns in the table analyse expenditure by activity type; further details on columns below.

Columns

    Column 1 (Academic staff costs)

  1. Column 1 should cover all academic staff for whom the HEP is liable to pay Class 1 National Insurance contributions and/or who have a contract of employment with the HEP.
  2. Column 2 (Other staff costs)

  3. The pay of departmental administrators and of other non-teaching staff employed in academic departments should be included under Head in column 2 (other staff costs). Where staff are shared between a number of departments, the cost should be allocated on a basis that equates to the effort input to each department. Payments to non-contracted staff or individuals should be included in other operating expenses (Column 5).
  4. Column 2 should contain any costs associated with non-academic staff, not attributable under column 1.
  5. Other staff are those that do not have an academic employment function. They include managers, non-academic professionals, student welfare workers, secretaries, administrators, caretakers and cleaners or any other staff whose contract of employment does not include an academic function.
  6. Restructuring or one off redundance cost should not be included here, instead should be returned under column 4, Head 7b.
  7. Column 3 (Total staff costs)

  8. Column 3 is automatically populated and is the sum of columns 1 and 2.
  9. Column 4 (Restructuring costs)

  10. Restructuring costs should be returned in this Column 4 under Head 7b (Other expenditure). Restructuring costs include redundancy or other on off costs relating to the restructure of the organisation.
  11. Column 5 (Other operating expenses)

  12. Column 5 should allocate operating expenditure of the HEP to academic department cost centres (HESA cost centres 101 to 145) or to the non-departmental heads according where these costs are incurred. The costs included should be all other non-staff costs incurred (except for depreciation of tangible fixed assets and interest and other finance costs, which are shown separately).
  13. Costs for non-contracted staff should be included in this column.
  14. Equipment that has not been capitalised should be recorded under this Column against the appropriate HESA Cost Centre.
  15. Expenditure on maintenance contracts should be included under this column. Where costs that occur centrally are charged to departments, e.g. telephone costs, they should be included in academic departmental expenditure under the appropriate cost centre. If not split by HESA cost centre, the total should be included under Column 5 Head 3a (Central administration & services).
  16. Other operating expenses on residential, catering and conference operations should be shown against Column 5 Head 5.
  17. Column 6 (Depreciation and amortisation)

  18. Column 6 should show depreciation on capitalised equipment and should be recorded according to where the assets being depreciated are located. It is not necessary to apportion the depreciation for 'central' equipment over the cost centres.
  19. Depreciation on buildings used other than for residential, catering and conference operations should be recorded under Sub-head 4b (Other expenditure). This Sub-head should include depreciation relating to embedded accommodation in hospitals involving clinical and pre-clinical departments.
  20. Depreciation on all assets employed on residential, catering and conference operations should be shown against Head 5 (Residences and catering operations (including conferences)).
  21. Depreciation which cannot be allocated to Heads 1 to 6 should be recorded under Head 7b (Other expenditure).
  22. Amortisation should be recorded under this Column against the appropriate HESA Cost Centre.
  23. Column 7 (Interest and other finance costs)

  24. Column 7 should include interest payable on borrowings and financing from external sources including directors, where applicable. This column should also include the interest element of finance leases and service concession payments and interest on pension scheme deficits.
  25. Interest and other finance costs should be allocated to the relevant rows under Heads 4 – Premises, 5 – Residences and catering operations) and 7 – Other expenditure (including row 7a Pension cost adjustments).
  26. Column 8 (Total expenditure)

  27. This head is automatically populated and is calculated as the sum of columns 3 to 7.
  28. Head 1 (Academic departments)

  29. This Head should cover all expenditure directly incurred by or on behalf of academic departments, including departments of Continuing Education, and expenditure incurred in connection with special and short courses, which is not reimbursable by Research Councils or other external bodies in respect of work carried out on their behalf.
  30. Sub-heads 1a - 1as (HESA Cost Centres 101 to 145) refer to departmental cost centres providing postgraduate, undergraduate and any further education award or credit bearing courses.
  31. Where these departments also run Continuing Education courses, expenditure on these courses should be attributed to the parent departmental cost centre rather than Sub-head 1aj Continuing Education (cost centre 136). Sub-head 1aj (136 - Continuing Education) should cover expenditure on Continuing Education courses, which are run by separate Departments of Continuing Education or Extra-Mural Studies.
  32. Sub head 1at is automatically populated and is the sum of sub heads 1a to 1as. Totals are populated for columns 1, 2,3,5,6 and 8.
  33. Head 2 (Total academic services)

  34. This Head should show expenditure incurred on centralised academic services such as the library, learning resource centres, central computers, etc. All expenditure on all libraries and learning resource centres (central and departmental) should be included here. Also, expenditure on binderies; audio-visual aids; television; slide and tape production; e-learning production; photography; language centres etc.
  35. Recurrent expenditure on departmental computers or by departments on computers in other HEPs should not be covered by this head, but instead should be included under Head 1.
  36. Include here the running costs of central administrative computers and computer networks for the administrative (including maintenance, operating costs, materials costs and the pay of staff involved in managing and running the central administrative computer networks.
  37. This Head should also cover expenditure on museums, galleries and observatories, except those that are run by academic departments and included in Head 1; expenditure on any other general academic services not covered above, e.g. radiation protection, liaison office and industrial liaison. If teaching is carried out by an academic services unit these teaching activities should not be included under this head but should be included under the appropriate academic department under Head 1.
  38. Head 3 (Administration and central services)

  39. This Head should include expenditure incurred on central administration, staff and student facilities and amenities, and general educational expenditure. It should not include the cost of departmental administration which should be covered by Head 1, nor expenditure on premises, including estates maintenance and administrative staff, which should be shown under Head 4.
  40. Sub-head 3a (Central administration & services)

  41. This head should include the costs of central administrative staff, and such payments to heads of HEPs, Professors, Deans, Tutors, Faculty Officers and the like, as are made in respect of central (as distinct from departmental) administrative work.
  42. This Sub-head should include costs associated with the following, unless charged to the relevant cost centre:
    • Public relations
    • Advertising of and recruitment to all vacancies
    • Removal expenses of all staff
    • Publications, excluding educational publications
    • Rating or council tax advisers
    • Security of wages
    • Bank charges, excluding interest (which should be shown under Column 7, within appropriate sub head)
    • General advertising
    • Other costs of faculty offices in respect of central administrative work
    • Legal and audit fees
    • Internal audit
    • Superannuation management (including where outsourced)
    • Postage where centrally charged
    • Expenses of Head of HEP
    • General insurance costs not included elsewhere
    • Telephone costs (calls, rental and non-capitalised equipment) where centrally charged.
  43. Sub-head 3b (General educational expenditure)

  44. All HEPs are required to separate out national and provider specific bursaries and scholarships from 3b (General education expenditure) into Sub-heads 3bi to 3biii. HEPs in Northern Ireland and Scotland are required to complete these Sub-heads.
  45. Sub-head 3bi (National Bursaries)

  46. Sub head 3bi should show national bursaries expenditure incurred by the HEP.
  47. Sub-head 3bii (HEP specific (including departmental) bursaries and scholarships)

  48. This Sub-head should include the cost of any cash payment made to a student for a bursary, prize, scholarship, or other similar award paid from a HEP's own funds. This should include bursary payments made available by Research Councils and charities under Doctoral Training Centre type arrangements, where the HEP acts as principal.
  49. Bursaries paid from the funds of third parties, where the HEP is acting in an agency capacity, will not be included in this heading, or within the HESA Finance record, as they will have been accounted for as an 'Agency Arrangement'.
  50. Sub-head 3biii (Other general expenditure)

  51. This Sub-head should not have any bursary spend. This should include expenditure incurred on:
    • Examinations (including external examiners, printing etc.)
    • Fellowships
    • Provisions for bad debts in respect of unpaid fees (if, however, the teaching service has not been provided, then the fees written off should instead be shown as a reduction in income against the appropriate Head in Table 5.)
    • Educational publications
    • Public lectures, concerts and exhibitions
    • Subscriptions and contributions to learned societies and similar bodies
    • Contributions to representative bodies and agencies
    • Works of art
    • Contributions to the HEP's press
    • Research projects not returned under other Heads
    • Explorations and expeditions
    • HEP representation at conferences, seminars, etc.
    • Administration of non-departmental Arts Centres, Theatres, etc. excluding expenditure appropriate to Head 5
    • Widening participation activity, including schools liaison, outreach programmes, summer schools etc.
    • Student recruitment costs (home and overseas).
  52. This Sub-head should not include fee waivers, which should be netted off against tuition fee income. Similarly, the provision of free or discounted services such as student accommodation should be netted off against the income stream to which they relate and therefore should not appear in expenditure.
  53. Sub head 3biv is automatically populated.
  54. Sub-head 3c (Staff and student facilities)

  55. This Sub-head should cover expenditure incurred on the provision of facilities and amenities for the use of students and/or staff, including:
    • Careers Advisory Services (where staff involved have more than one function, an appropriate apportionment of pay should be made)
    • Grants made to student societies, including additional subventions to student unions for specific purposes
    • That proportion of the emoluments of wardens of halls of residence in respect of all duties performed in that role
    • Accommodation Services (where staff involved have more than one function, an appropriate apportionment of pay should be made)
    • Health Services
    • Athletic and sporting facilities except maintenance
    • Transport of staff and students between colleges sites, etc.
    • The Officer Training Corps (OTC) and the Air and Naval Squadrons
    • Chaplaincy Centres
    • Student counselling
    • Créches
    • Expenditure on staff and student amenities and facilities not covered above.
  56. This Sub-head should not cover any expenditure on physical education as an academic subject which should be shown under Head 1. Income received for the use of athletic facilities should be shown under Sub-head 4h of Table 6. Maintenance of sports premises should not be included under this Sub-head, but should be included under Head 4.
  57. Sub head 3d is automatically populated and is the sum of sub heads 3a, 3biv and 3c.
  58. Head 4 (Premises)

  59. This Head should show all expenditure incurred (whether centrally or departmentally) on the management of premises (including academic buildings, central academic services, art centres, HEP's health service premises, pavilions, sports buildings etc.) and on roads and grounds except residences and catering (which should be covered by Head 5).
  60. Sub-head 4a (Repairs and maintenance)

  61. This Sub-head should record the expenditure incurred on the maintenance of premises, including the pay of staff involved (including estates administration staff). It covers expenditure to keep premises in good repair, and to replace and or maintain existing systems.
  62. Maintenance provision charges are included under this Sub-head. Any charge to (or release from) a maintenance provision should comply with FRS 102. Provisions are still permissible where there is a legal or constructive and quantifiable liability.
  63. Sub-head 4b (Other expenditure)

  64. This sub head should cover expenditure on premises not covered by Sub-head 4a (Repairs and maintenance). This should include:
    • Rates (the uniform business rate charged by local authorities)
    • Payments made for the rental of premises
    • Recurrent costs of energy (fuel, gas and electricity), water and sewerage
    • Depreciation of all buildings except residential, catering and conference buildings
    • Cost of insuring all premises and their contents
    • Cost of cleaning (i.e. salaries, wages and materials, and payments in respect of contract cleaning)
    • Cost of portering and security services.
  65. Sub head 4c is automatically populated and is the sum of sub heads 4a and 4b.
  66. Head 5 (Residences and catering operations (including conferences))

    Head 5a (Residences operations (including conferences))

  67. This Head should show the gross expenditure incurred in providing the residence and any conference operations, including the cost of maintenance of residential premises, salaries and any other identifiable costs relating to these operations. The depreciation costs and financing costs of these operations should be included under Column 6 (Depreciation) and Column 7 (Interest and other finance costs) within this Head. The long-term maintenance provision charge for residences and catering operations should be returned under Column 5 (Other operating expenses).
  68. Head 5b (Catering operations (including conferences))

  69. This Head should show the gross expenditure incurred in providing the catering and any conference operations, including the cost of maintenance of catering premises, salaries and any other identifiable costs relating to these operations. The depreciation costs and financing costs of these operations should be included under Column 6 (Depreciation) and Column 7 (Interest and other finance costs) within this Head. The long-term maintenance provision charge for residences and catering operations should be returned under Column 5 (Other operating expenses).
  70. Sub heads 5c is automatically populated and is the sum of 5a and 5b.
  71. Head 6 (Research grants and contracts)

  72. This Head should provide a total of the direct costs attributed to research grants and contracts with appropriate analysis between the sources of income, as defined in the column definitions.
  73. Sub heads 6ai to 6ax should show research costs analysed between BEIS Research Councils and The Royal Society, British Academy and The Royal Society of Edinburgh.
  74. Sub heads 6b to 6m should show other UK, EU and non-EU sources. Costs should be further analysed by cost type as defined in columns 1, 2, 5 and 6.
  75. Under the implementation of fEC the costs of Higher education providers (HEP) activities remain as they would otherwise have been. On the face of the consolidated statement of comprehensive income and expenditure the categories of staff costs, fundamental restructuring costs, other operating expenses, depreciation of tangible assets and interest and other finance costs remain the same; for those institutions that have disclosed the direct costs of research in the notes to the accounts the same treatment is also appropriate here. HEPs should therefore note that there is no change to the guidance for reporting of research expenditure.
  76. Sub head 6n is automatically populated and is the sum of 6ax to 6m.
  77. Head 7 (Other expenditure)

    Sub-head 7a (Pension cost adjustment)

  78. In accordance with FRS 102 current and past service costs should be returned under staff costs in the HEP's income and expenditure account. However, for the purposes of the Finance record the actual pension costs for any scheme treated as a defined benefit scheme under FRS 102 should be analysed out by department but any FRS 102 adjustment made to staff costs in the income and expenditure account (i.e. difference between actual contributions made and current service cost figure) should be included against this Head, rather than against departments - pro-rata between academic and other staff costs.
  79. This includes the adjustment made to reflect the difference between actual contributions made and service costs for Local Government Pension schemes (LGPS) and a provider’s own defined benefit scheme and the pension provision movement in respect of new deficit recovery plans for other multi-employer pension schemes, such as the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) and the Superannuation Arrangements of the University of London (SAUL). These costs should be pro-rated between academic and other staff costs in columns 1 and 2. The interest and finance costs should be recorded in column 7. Pension contributions should be recorded as a staff cost (in columns 1 and 2) under the cost centres described above.
  80. Sub-head 7b (Other)

  81. This should include direct costs attributed to other services rendered and any expenditure not covered by the other expenditure Heads in this table.
  82. Head 8 (Total expenditure)

  83. This head is automatically calculated and shows the total expenditure of the HEP. The totals in each of the columns in Head 8 automatically populates relevant expenditure heads in Table 1.

Need help?

Contact Liaison by email or on +44 (0)1242 388 531.