BID Company Finance Protocols and procurement policy

1. Authority

  • The Board of Directors (Board) is ultimately responsible for the financial management of all activities.
  • The BID Director is responsible for the day-to-day financial management of the organisation. The Board authorises the BID Director to hire and supervise staff and independent consultants, pay bills, receive funds, and maintain bank accounts. The BID Director is authorised to manage expenses within the parameters of the overall approved budget, reporting to the Board of Directors on variances and the reason for these variances.

2. Cheques, Disbursements and Accounts Payable: delegated authority

  • Authorisation levels:
    • The BID Director is authorised to sign cheques or approve electronic transactions up to £6,000.
    • Cheques or electronic transactions for amounts greater than £6,001 but less than £25,000 shall require the additional signature of a member of the EMG.
  • Any amount over £25,000 will require Full Board approval.
  • The Full Board of Directors must approve any use of the Board designated cash reserves or funds.
  • The EMG shall pay all agreed obligations and file required reports in a timely manner.
  • The EMG shall limit vendor credit accounts to prudent and necessary levels.

3. Income and Other Receipts

  • The BID Director shall account for BID Levy, voluntary contributions, grants, sponsorship and all other income, clearly defining the restrictions applicable to these funds.
  • The BID Director shall record fixed assets with a purchase price of £500 and above as capital assets in accounting records.

4. Financial Transactions with Staff, Directors

  • No advances of funds to employees or Board Directors are authorised. Direct and necessary expenses including travel for meetings and other activities related to carrying out responsibilities shall be reimbursed.
  • In no case shall the company borrow funds from any employee or Board director of the organisation without specific authorisation from the Board Chair.
  • The Board Chair’s signature of approval is required on all reimbursement requests. Original receipts must accompany requests to be reimbursed. Items without a receipt will not be reimbursed.

5. Donation and Gift Acceptance

  • The Company may accept contributions of goods or services, other than cash, that are related to the programs and operations of the organisation. Any other contributions of non-cash items must be entered into a register and reviewed and approved by the Board of Directors.

6. Procurement process

At all times the Romford Bid Company must to seek to achieve the best possibly return on investment from any goods or services purchased with BID funds. To this end the following principals are applied to the procurement of all services. This policy refers to the levels of delegated of authority outlined in point 2 and 7 of this document and also included in the Romford BID company terms of reference.

  • Any services procured up to £10,000 will require 2 further quotes and a decision will be made using a 50% quality (measured by the evaluation of previous examples work of supplier) and 50% cost (the cheapest value of goods or service to be purchased).
  • Any services procured above £10,001 must go through a full tender process including submission and evaluation of service proposal by the appropriate level of delegated authority (point 2).
  • The procurement process will include an expression of interest phase, an evaluation phase (where submissions are scored on submission alone) and, if deemed necessary, an invitation to all potential providers to present and receive questions from either the full board, EMG or selected member/board representatives chosen by skill set. A decision will be made by scoring out of 10 in two sections using a 50% quality (measured by the evaluation of previous examples work of supplier) and 50% cost (the cheapest value of goods or service to be purchased).

7. Contracts and Agreements

  • Authorisation:
    • The BID Director is authorised to enter into contracts for activities that have been approved by the Board as a part of budgets or plans up to and including £10,000.
    • The EMG must authorise any contracts outside of these parameters and all contracts with a financial value equal to or greater than £10,001.
    • Contracts from £1 to £10,000 are reviewed and signed by the BID Director.
    • Contracts in excess of £10,001 are reviewed by the BID Director and signed by the Board Chair.
  • The BID Director shall make no contractual commitment for bank loans, corporate credit cards, or for real estate lease or purchase without specific approval of the Board.
  • Unless otherwise designated as a representative of the Company by the BID Director, no other staff person has the authority to sign contracts or agreements on behalf of the Company.

8. Financial Reporting

  • The Board of Directors shall review financial reports at each board meeting.
  • The BID Director shall report the financial results of the Company to the membership on the schedule established by the Board. As part of this reporting, the BID Director shall provide adequate information to members to enable each member to fulfill their financial oversight role.

9. Budget

  • In order to ensure that planned activities minimize the risk of financial jeopardy and are consistent with Board-approved priorities, long-range organisational goals and specific five-year objectives may be set.
  • The BID Director will be responsible for preparing the preliminary operating and capital budgets using responsible assumptions and projection backgrounds, with a general goal and an unrestricted surplus.
  • The preliminary budget will be presented to Board of Directors for discussion in March.
  • The final draft budget will be presented to the Board of Directors for approval in April.

Annual budgets are used for:

  • Monitoring actual and budgeted costs for the Board’s review by way of presentation of scheduled financial statements.
  • Assisting the organisation to focus its resources on the goals and objectives set forth by the Board.
  • Controlling financials by setting practical limits to be spent on specific programs and activities.
  • Budgets may be amended during the fiscal year when circumstances change substantially, and subject to Board of Directors approval.

10. Asset Protection

In order to ensure that the assets of the Company are adequately protected and maintained, the BID Director shall:

  • Insure against theft and casualty losses to the organization and against liability losses to Board members, staff, or the organisation itself to levels indicated in consultation with suitable professional resources.
  • Plan and carry out suitable protection and maintenance of property, building, and equipment.
  • Avoid actions that would expose the organization, its Board, or staff to claims of liability.
  • Protect intellectual property, information and files from unauthorised access, tampering, loss, or significant damage.
  • Receive, process, and disburse funds under controls that are sufficient to maintain basic segregation of duties to protect bank accounts, income receipts, and payments.