Financial Policies
Financial Procedures
Hospitality expenses may be incurred for receiving guests and business partners by offering meals, beverages and souvenirs and can only be incurred for the business purposes. Hospitality expenses are intended to entertain outside individuals at business level, not at personal level and may be charged to UGC and/or non-UGC funds. When staff members/students are involved in entertaining the outside individuals, budget controllers should exercise their own discretion to limit the number of staff members/students and ensure that such expenditure is not extravagant. Hospitality expenses are not meant for entertaining staff members/students only, but may be used to pay for light refreshments during internal meetings and reasonable sponsorship to student bodies to support their activities. Although there are no written restrictions on charging hospitality expenses for staff members and students, such expenses should be charged to non-UGC funds as far as possible because it is a norm in the Government that hospitality expenses for activities/meetings without external guests are not reimbursable. Please find the updated guidelines on hospitality expenses from the FO website at [Staff Intranet -> Financial Guidelines -> Guidelines on Hospitality Expenses].
All departments/offices are provided with standard office furniture and equipment funded centrally from the U-wide furniture & equipment (“F&E”) budget. If departments/offices wish to use their departmental recurrent budget to purchase F&E, they have to vire the required fund from their budget to the U-wide F&E budget according to the budgetary control rules. Purchases of office furniture are subject to the Purchasing & Tendering Regulations (“PTR”) irrespective of funding sources.
Purchasing and Support Services (PSS) of FO has sourced and selected furniture items that meets health and safety standards as well as ergonomic features, which could fit most of our colleagues. Departments/offices may only request non-standard furniture provided that they have adequate justifications (i.e. special needs arising from health conditions which may not be met by the standard furniture provided by FO-PSS) acceptable by PSS. The purchase of nonstandard furniture has to be conducted by PSS through proper procurement exercise.
All minor works are administered by the Estate Office (EO). Approved minor works will be financed by the minor works budget controlled by EO.
If department/office wants to pursue a minor work which is endorsed by EO but cannot be funded by EO’s minor works budget, the minor work can be funded by their departmental recurrent budget. The department/office has to vire funds from their departmental budget to EO’s minor work budget according to the budgetary control rules.
Departments/offices can also use their non-UGC funds to pursue a minor work subject to the Guidelines for the Use of Non-UGC Funds.
What are the rules governing the purchase of smart phone and service plan?
The relevant rules are:
(a) The University funds (irrespective of funding source) can be used to purchase smart phone for regular uses on functional grounds.
(b) The functional need of the Head of Office/Department is presumed.
(c) Given that all staff have their own smart phones, Strong justifications should be provided if the mobile phone is acquired for
(i) a section/unit head within an office/department, or
(ii) a group of specific staff members (e.g. carpool )
(d) One person can normally have one smart phone and one sufficient but not excessive service plan.
(e) As it is common for all staff to have their own smart phones, the Head of Office/Department should carefully assess whether there is a need for the University to provide smart or mobile phones to their staff for business purposes.
(f) Budget controllers are also reminded to observe the Guidelines for the Use of Non-UGC Funds approved by SECO and/or other relevant guidelines announced by the funding bodies.
Reimbursement of personal membership subscription from UGC fund is not allowed under UGC rules and regulations. Only institutional membership subscription can be paid from UGC fund.
Reimbursement of 50% of personal membership subscription from non-UGC funds is however allowed provided that the professional association is one approved by the Dean or the reporting VP and President for reimbursement purposes. The current approved list can be found from the FO website at [Staff Intranet -> Financial Guidelines -> Use of Non-UGC Funds] or Click Here.
According to the UGC rules and regulations, all UGC funds including the Matching Grants cannot be used to pay scholarships with an exception for the 2nd Matching Grant Scheme. The matching grants from the 2nd Matching Grant Scheme can be used to offer scholarships for non-local students and for student exchanges. Effective from the 6th Matching Grant Scheme, scholarships may be offered to local students enrolled in UGC-funded Programmes.
Yes, but budget controllers are strongly advised NOT to make this type of decision all by themselves to avoid criticism of favoritism. For reasons of accountability and transparency, awards should only be made under a scheme with rules and regulations governing the financial awards approved by a committee at a level equivalent to or above the management committee of the respective Faculty/School/Department/Unit before implementation. The approved rules and regulations and their implementation should be in line with the principles of equity, fairness and openness.
Items of expenditure, which were included in the budget of the program/project at the time of approval by an approving authority (e.g. Academic Development Committee) were deemed to have been approved.
All financial awards must be work- or study-related. If it is for financial assistance to meet study-related expenditure, payments should preferably be made on a reimbursement basis.
Yes, but budget controllers are strongly advised NOT to make this type of decision all by themselves to avoid criticism of favoritism. For reasons of accountability and transparency, awards should only be made under a scheme with rules and regulations governing the financial awards approved by a committee at a level equivalent to or above the management committee of the respective Faculty/School/Department/Unit before implementation. The approved rules and regulations and their implementation should be in line with the principles of equity, fairness and openness.
The financial awards must be study-related which may include extra-curricular activities. If it is for financial assistance to meet study-related expenditure, payments should preferably be made on a reimbursement basis.
The terms and conditions of all staff appointments, irrespective of funding, are approved by the University Council. Budget controllers do not have the freedom to change the approved terms and conditions. The funding source is normally irrelevant except that some project funding bodies may have more restrictive guidelines relating to the appointment of staff. The more stringent rules will prevail.
For the approved terms and conditions of appointment, please refer to the website of the Human Resources Office at http://hro.hkbu.edu.hk/index.php.
Yes, all staff are required to seek approval from his/her supervisor for their self-consumed expenditures starting from 29 January 2021. Self-consumed expenditure represents any expenses being incurred for the claimant’s own consumption (i.e. conference fee, flight fare/intown travelling, taxi, hotel accommodation, daily subsistence allowance, telephone/data service fee, training allowance, etc) regardless of funding sources.
Please refer to relevant policy at FO website [Staff Intranet -> Financial Guidelines -> Policy on one level up approval for self-financed expenditure] for details.
Staff reimbursement of business expenses can be claimed via i-Expense Module. Please be reminded that all reimbursement claims must be submitted within 180 calendar days from the date of receipts/invoices. Unless your claim is selected for sample check, submission of original receipts/invoices to FO is not required.
Please refer to the FAQ on Claims Creations via i-Expense Module under FO website at Here for details. Full set of user guide, e-learning videos, manual and training materials are available under FO website -> New FIS Project -> Training and Materials.
The actual exchange rate will be used if the documents (such as bank advice, credit card statement) showing the transacted exchange rate can be provided. If not, FO will use the monthly exchange rate, which is the exchange rate of the first business day of the month when the reimbursement is processed. The monthly exchange rate can be obtained from the FO website [Staff Intranet -> Useful Information -> Monthly Exchange Rates].
If the payee is an individual and a non-HKBU staff, the claim should be submitted using the PRV Module. If the payee is a HKBU staff, then the claim should be submitted via Staff Expense Claims.
No, the University administrative offices will only provide support to University’s official functions or activities.
The Internal Transfer Summary Form is to effect a transfer of expenses from one cost centre to another. The charging cost centre has to complete the Form by giving the nature of expenses, account codes/names and the month to effect the transfer. The Form has to be approved by the budget controller of the cost centre being charged before sending it to FO. The Form can be downloaded from the FO website [Staff Intranet -> Download Centre -> 2. Accounting -> 2.3 Internal Transfer Summary] or click Here.
Staff at AVP, Dean, Head of Administrative Offices at Band “I” is entitled to Business Class if the flight time is 9 hours or above.
Regardless of funding sources, you should seek approval according to the following approving authority with strong justifications (e.g. medical needs) for any upgrade of flight class.
You may claim daily subsistence allowance according to the Daily Subsistence Allowance Rates set out in FO website at [Financial Policies and Procedures], subject to fund availability and discretion of budget controllers.
To support the claim for a subsistence allowance, you have to submit proof of staying overseas indicating the duration of the trip, such as airline tickets/boarding pass and hotel bills.
Yes, you can claim subsistence allowance for your stay in the USA according to Business Travel Policy, which is available from the FO website [Staff Intranet -> Financial Guidelines -> Business Travel Policy]. However, please note that the grant from your Dean is the maximum subsidy for your trip including air-ticket, accommodation and local expenses. Your total claimed amount will be capped by the lump sum grant of $20,000.
According to the Immigration Department, visitors coming to Hong Kong to deliver speeches/presentations should not be remunerated. Provision of accommodation, passage (i.e. transportation within city), meals, etc. relating to the event, or the reimbursement of such expenses is, however, allowed. Thus, no honorarium should be committed by department/office to overseas visitors without an employment visa. Reimbursement of expenses, inclusive of accommodation, local travelling, meals, etc. up to a cap of HK$3,600 per day and a maximum of seven days, could be arranged. Air fare based on actual cost incurred by the visitor could be reimbursed.
Please refer to relevant guideline at FO website [Staff Intranet -> Financial Regulations and Procedures -> Guidelines on reimbursement of expenses to non-local speakers or visitors] or click here for the details.
No, the University will only pay salary of the sabbatical leave in accordance to the approved policies and procedures governing the grant on Sabbatical Leave Programme (SLP) under Human Resources Office. The staff should be responsible for all other expenses, SLP cannot be a justification for reimbursement of the expenses relating to the trip irrespective of funding source.
All non University-wide budget items (such as staff costs, equipment, general expenses and hospitality) are combined into a one-line budget. Budget controllers may allocate their Recurrent Fund budgets among different items subject to the restrictions of the latest Budgetary Control Rules which is available from the FO website [Staff Intranet -> Financial Regulations and Procedures -> Budgetary Control Rules] or Bugetary Control Rules with effect from 1 Jul 2018.
Budget virements are subject to the prevailing Budgetary Control Rules. All exceptions have to be endorsed by Deans, VP, PVC and approved by VPAS. Please refer to the latest Budgetary Control Rules at FO website [Staff Intranet -> Financial Regulations and Procedures -> Budgetary Control Rules] or Bugetary Control Rules with effect from 1 Jul 2018 for the details.
The new FIS can be accessed thru BUniPort (https://buniport.hkbu.edu.hk/). Similar to the old FIS, please click on the hyperlink under Works > Finance > New Financial Information System (Oracle EBS) to access the new FIS.
Please refer to the New FIS Project under FO website for details. Full set of user guide, elearning videos, manual and training materials are available under FO website -> New FIS Project -> Training and Materials.
The reports are available on the close of the 5th working day of the following month.
Expenses claims on Uber fares incurred in Hong Kong will be disallowed. The HKSAR considers that it is illegal for Uber to offer public transportation service in Hong Kong as it does not possess a license nor a valid hire car permit to offer taxi or public transport service in Hong Kong. However, expense claims on Uber fares incurred overseas are allowed as Uber services are acceptable in most overseas countries. Please note that claims for Uber taxi are allowed as Uber taxi carries a valid hire car permit. Please find the updated guidelines from the FO website at [Staff Intranet -> Financial Guidelines -> Disallowing expenses claims on Uber fares in Hong Kong and plastics bottled water].
Similarly, unlawful hiring of cars without valid hire-car permit is strictly prohibited and any related costs would be disallowed.
Last Updated: February 2022
Overhead Charge for Self-financed Programmes/Activities (SFPA)
All activities which are not within the definition of UGC-funded activities are regarded as SFPA. UGC-funded activities are those approved by the UGC within the Academic Development Plan. Resources from UGC are given to support UGC-funded activities through the existing annual budget allocation exercise approved by the Council and Budget Controllers are normally not responsible for the income of such activities. A SFPA does not receive regular resource allocation from the University and therefore Budget Controllers of SFPA are responsible for both the income and expenses of the SFPA and likewise the net surplus/deficit of the SFPA. They are required to make good any deficit by the carried-forward cumulative surplus of the SFPA or other nonUGC-funded resources within their control in case a SFPA ends up in a deficit position.
According to UGC Notes on Procedures and the Cost Allocation Guidelines issued by UGC in September 2015, the University should charge overhead on SFPA to ensures that no cross-subsidisation of UGC resources to non-UGC-funded activities or vice versa.
UGC Notes on Procedures Paragraph 3.15: “…….. To avoid hidden subsidy to nonUGC-funded activities, the institutions should, as a matter of principle, levy overhead charges on such activities, including projects funded by other Government departments/agencies and projects / programmes conducted by their self-financing subsidiaries or associates. …….”
The University centrally provides certain facilities, administrative and support services in supporting SFPA in a similar way as it supports UGC-funded activities. These central services are largely supported by UGC funds. The costs of such central services are not readily and cost-effectively traceable to each activity and are therefore collectively recovered from SFPA by means of overhead costs.
Examples of such services include IT/telecommunication network support, campus security services, purchasing services, recruitment services, accounting and reporting services, etc. SFPA is required to pay the overhead charge in recognition of the fact that some UGC-funded resources are consumed in supporting SFPA.
By paying overhead charge, SFPA can obtain regular standard services from various non-teaching units as follows:
(a) Finance Office – purchasing, accounting and reporting, payroll, payment, car pool, standard insurance coverage, mailing etc.;
(b) Human Resources Office – staff recruitment, performance review, etc.;
(c) IT Office – communication network services, email account, etc.;
(d) Library – general library services;
(e) Estate Office – securities, cleaning services, campus repair and maintenance etc.;
(f) General Admin. Office – legal advice on agreement formation; and
(g) Various offices including but not limited to Academic Registry, Graduate School, Student Affair Office to provide various relevant services.
This activity is subject to 10% overhead charge rate irrespective of the venue. Other example of this kind of SFPA is HKICPA’s revision courses.
The overhead charging rates applicable to your case are listed in the table below:
| Self-financed academic programmes | Overhead charging rate (as a % of income) | |
| 1st and 2nd year | From 3rd year onwards | |
| Local programmes in Hong Kong | 15.0% | 30.0% |
| Overseas programmes | 9.5% | 19.0% |
| Surcharge for PRC tax services | 1.25% | 2.5% |
Waiver of overhead charge has been specifically mentioned in the following paragraphs of UGC Notes on Procedures:
Paragraph 3.17: “Institutions may waive overhead charges and / or faculty principal investigators costs, in whole or in part, or take on research or other projects where charging full overheads and / or faculty principal investigators costs is not possible because of the rules imposed by the funding agency, if they are satisfied that the value of the projects to their academic development justifies exceptional treatment or proposed waiver is in compliance with the Guidelines (the Cost Allocation Guidelines for UGCfunded and non-UGC-funded Activities). In such cases, however, they should be prepared to assure the UGC that this is the case. …..”
To apply for a waiver of overhead charge for non-research project, please write to your respective account manager of FO with justifications for Director of Finance’s consideration. To justify a waiver of overhead/PI cost, two conditions have to be satisfied:
(i) The funding agency does not allow the charging of full or partial overhead/ PI cost; and
(ii) The Principal Investigators (PIs) have to justify that the project will benefit the strategic/academic development of the University and in particular the benefits to UGC-funded programmes and research.
For overhead waiver application of research project, please refer to FAQ – Research Q11.
The retreat is a SFPA and all income received from the church should be regarded as income to the University for the project, which is subject to 10% overhead cost charging rate. To apply for a waiver of overhead charge for non-research project, please write to the Director of Finance Office with justifications for consideration. Please note that the traveling allowance of $1,000 to the HKBU colleagues, via the University, will be taxable unless it represents actual expense reimbursements.
According to paragraph 4.4 of the “University Policies on Overhead Costs Charge” (version 2 – Aug 2021), your department is not required to pay overhead charge for the income generated from this collaboration agreement. The overhead charge will be paid by the CIE.
For academic conferences, the standard overhead charge rate of 10% is charged on registration fee income only.
If the conference is partly supported by the Research Committee, it can be regarded as a UGC-fundable activity and therefore no overhead will be levied on it.
Overhead charge may be charged on an ITF project up to 15% of the grant if the overhead charge has been included in the approved budget. Please check for an updated set of guidelines from the ITF website: https://www.itf.gov.hk/.
If the actual overhead charge approved by the ITC is less than the prevailing overhead charging rate of the University, a waiver of overhead is required. Please refer to paragraph 7 of the “University Policies on Overhead Costs Charge” (version 2 – Aug 2021) for the application and the conditions required for a waiver of overhead.
The prohibition by the funding body to levy overhead on a project as the sole justification is not acceptable to the UGC. You have to follow the procedures detailed in the FAQ – Research Q11 to apply for a waiver of overhead charge.
Out of the 30% overhead charge paid by the programme, a certain percentage is designated for library books. You may liaise with the Library on the acquisition of books and, subject to the decision of the Library. The programme may need to provide additional funding to the Library for book acquisition.
All Self-financed Programmes are required to pay a standard fee to enable its students to receive free medical services at the campus clinic.
The standard overhead charging rates for different categories of non-UGC-funded activities are tabulated as below:
| Activity Type | Overhead charging rate (as a % of income) | |
| Self-financed academic programmes (note) - Local programmes in Hong Kong - Overseas programmes - Surcharge for PRC tax services | 1st and 2nd year | From 3rd year onwards |
| 15.0% 9.5% 1.25% | 30.0% 19.0% 2.5% | |
| Research projects | 15.0% | |
| Chinese medical clinics | 7.7% | |
| All other activities such as consultancy projects and conferences ** | 10.0% | |
** Overhead charge on academic conferences is restricted to registration fee income only.
Note: The above overhead charging rates are not applicable to the School of Continuing Education and subsidiary companies of HKBU. Lump sum service fees will be charged to recover the full costs incurred for supporting their operations.
Last Updated: February 2022
Research Projects
In general, the budget that is approved by the funding body will serve as the reference for monitoring and controlling the spending of a research project. Different funding bodies will have different budgetary control rules and restrictions on their funded projects. Principal investigator (PI) is advised to read the funding conditions/rules carefully and observe the relevant conditions/rules accordingly. The budget or grant must be spent between the Start Date and the End Date of the project (both dates included). To properly reflect the project expenditure and meet the financial reporting requirements of the funding body, please forward the reimbursement claims via the Oracle i-Expense Module to the Finance Office (FO) as soon as practicable but no later than 180 calendar days from the date of receipts/invoices. The key restrictions on the following projects are listed below for easy reference:
a) Projects awarded by the Research Committee (RC)
Please find the funding schemes and detailed guidelines from the website at https://research.hkbu.edu.hk/funding-opportunities.
b) Projects awarded by the Teaching Development Grants (TDG) Panel
The internally approved TDG grant is a lump sum allocation. Budget virement between two different budget lines is therefore not required. Please find the detailed guidelines from the website at http://chtl.hkbu.edu.hk/main/teaching_grants/.
c) Projects awarded by the Research Grant Council (RGC)
A RGC project grant is normally a one-line vote without further division into sub-allocations. Sometimes, earmarked budget items will be granted. For example, the provision of a relief teacher is an earmarked sum which cannot be used for other purposes. Virement between non-earmarked budget items does not require approval. Special approval is required from RGC via the Research Office (RO) for budget virement relating to earmarked budget lines.
Please find the detailed guidelines from the website of RO at https://research.hkbu.edu.hk/support/policies-and-guidelines. FAQ on Financial Regulations & Procedures > FAQ on Research Projects Page 3 of 6
d) Other research projects
Please find the websites for some of the funding bodies below for your easy reference:
The Principal Investigator / Budget Controller (BC) has to complete a Staff Requisition Form, which can be downloaded from the Human Resources Office (HRO) website. The duly completed Staff Requisition Form should be sent to HRO for processing and HRO would seek budget clearance from the FO. If budget is insufficient, FO would contact the PI/BC to arrange sufficient fund transfer from other fund sources before confirming budget clearance to HRO.
Budget Controller is advised to check the salary range for research staff from the HRO website.
Yes, a non-HKBU student can be employed as Student Research Assistant as long as he/she satisfies the job requirements and is eligible to work in Hong Kong.
Each year the University has to report research data to UGC according to the Common Data Collection Format (CDCF). One of the reporting requirements is to classify projects into “Contract Research” and “Grant Research”. The Guidance Notes to CDCF define “Contract Research" as follows:
"It refers to efforts which would lead to the delivery of a product or process and could involve both basic and applied research, though the latter is much more prevalent. Contract research is client-specific and is generally sponsored and financed by the client who can be either a private company or a public body or government.
Contract research includes consultancies when the university or an associated entity, rather than the researcher as an individual, is the legal holder of the consulting contract and is thus responsible for producing work product and assuming liabilities."
The Research Committee has approved the following approach in classifying new projects with start date on or after 1 July 2004:
a. If the project is funded by a government departments/agencies or a nonprofit making organisation, it will be classified as Grant Research unless the Principal Investigator (PI) disagrees; and
b. For other project, the PI will decide its classification.
PIs are requested to classify a new project as “Contract Research” or “Grant Research” when they complete the New Project/ Programme Data Form for opening new account.
The FO can help you to sign on the application for research grant, if required. Please forward the full set of application documents and the relevant guidelines announced by the funding body to the attention of Accounting & Budgeting Section (ABS) of the FO for review. The ABS team member who normally looks after your faculty/school/academy/department will contact you if there are any questions. After review, the Director of Finance or his/her delegate will sign the document and return it to you. Kindly allow at least 5 working days for the FO to review the documents.
Please complete the account opening form, the "New Project/Programme Data Form", which can be downloaded from the FO website [Staff Intranet -> Download Centre -> 2. Accounting -> 2.1 (b) New Project / Programme Data Form – For research related Project/Programme] or Click Here. To streamline the process, it would be highly appreciated if you could provide the grant letter, the grant agreement, the approved budget proposal, the rules & guidelines pertaining to the research grant. The duly approved form (Section 1) and supporting documents should be sent to the FO - ABS, while Section 2 & 3 of the form should be sent to the Research Office.
FO - ABS will review the documents and create a new project code. An email notification providing the new project code and the accounting details will subsequently be sent to you.
Income and expenditure statement for each research project will be available from the Oracle Financial Information System (FIS). You can access the statement via the FIS system or the administrative staff of your department if you do not have an Oracle access right. Based on the statement, you can prepare the financial statement in the format required by the funding body. If you require the FO to prepare the financial statement in the specific format required by the funding body, please inform FO - ABS at the start of your project.
If you need the FO to certify the financial statement, please send a draft copy to FO - ABS at least 2 weeks before the due date for verification and accuracy checking. After ABS confirms that the financial statement is correct, kindly send your original signed copies to the FO - ABS for certification. The certified copies will be returned to you within 3 working days.
Yes, you may claim daily subsistence allowance according to the Business Travel Policy and Daily Subsistence Allowance Rates set out in FO website at [Staff Intranet -> Financial Policies -> Financial Guidelines -> 2.6 Business Travel Policy], subject to fund availability and discretion of budget controllers. To support the claim for a subsistence allowance, you have to submit proof of staying overseas indicating the duration of the trip, such as airline tickets/boarding pass and hotel bills.
If the above Policy is in conflict with other relevant funding guidelines, the more stringent guidelines shall prevail.
Yes, you can claim reimbursement of expenses for local transport, meal, laundry charges and other minor incidental out-of-pocket expenses incurred in your trip. You need to keep original receipts to support the reimbursement request of the actual expenditure upon your return. Alternatively, you may claim daily subsistence allowance as stipulated in Question 8 above. Kindly note that as free-of-charge accommodation is provided in your case, only 40% of the daily allowance will be reimbursable.
The UGC guidelines stipulate that the University is required to report the amount of the Principal Investigators (PI) and/or overhead costs waived for non-UGC-funded research projects together with justifications for such waivers on an annual basis after circulating the same for the information of the Council. To facilitate the compliance with the UGC guidelines, all PIs are required to estimate their time to be spent on nonUGC-funded projects. PI cost is applicable to the research project at a standard non-inload hourly rate (currently of HK$2,000). If PI cost is not allowed by the funding agency, PI should apply for a waiver of the PI costs through filling in Section D(5)(b) of New Project/Programme Data Form – For research related Project/Programme (available at FO website > Download Centre > item 2.1 (b)).
For research projects supported by the UGC, donations and/or sponsorships from nonprofit making organisations, application for waiver of overhead charge and PI cost is not required.
To justify a waiver of overhead/PI cost, two conditions have to be satisfied:
(i) The funding agency does not allow the charging of full or partial overhead; and
(ii) The PIs have to justify that the project will benefit the strategic/academic development of the University and in particular the benefits to UGC-funded programmes and research.
If you believe that the project satisfies the conditions for a waiver of overhead charge and PI cost, please state the rationale with details in Section D(5)(a) and (b) of New Project/Programme Data Form – For research related Project/Programme (available at FO website > Download Centre > item 2.1 (b)).
Last Updated: February 2022
Hospitality Policy
Allowable meals or refreshments
The spending limit is $600/head for dinner and $450/head for lunch/brunch/breakfast/afternoon tea if participants include staff and external guests, or staff and external guests and students. The spending limit is $100/head for all occasions if the participants include staff and students. The actual spending per head is calculated based on the total expense of the event divided by the total number of participants, i.e. HKBU staff, external guests and students attending the event.
The spending limit of $600/head or $450/head remain the same regardless of the location of the dining venue.
No. Refreshments served during faculty/school boards will be reimbursable, but not their sub-committees, sub-boards or task forces. If there are external guests or students joining the meetings of the sub-committees, sub-boards or task forces, refreshments are reimbursable within the specified limits stated in Question 1.
Yes, these expenses are reimbursable.
Retreats, team building events and/or festive celebrations of departments
The annual spending limit for retreats, team building events and/or festive celebrations will be capped at $650/head x number of staff (full-time and part-time) of the department/office as at the previous financial year end date (based on the payroll record of the Finance Office (FO)). For example, a department with a total headcount of 100 per payroll record as at 30 June 2022 will have a spending limit of $65,000 for 2022-23.
The mechanism will be illustrated with an example. When Department A plans to organise a retreat, it should contact the FO to obtain its annual spending limit, say, $65,000 as stated in Question 4. A designated team building project account will be created to record the $65,000 transferred from a private fund account provided by Department A. All expenditures relating to the retreat (except the service fee, meals and other incidental costs of the external facilitators/guests, if any) will be charged to the team building project account. The costs incurred for the external facilitators/guests, if any, will be charged to Department A’s other private account.
The annual spending limit for retreats, team building events and/or festive celebrations will be implemented for the 2022-23 financial year. For departments that have organised/arranged retreats, team building events and/or festive celebrations on or after 1 July 2022, the relevant costs will be charged to the annual spending limit of 2022-23.
The actual expenditures will normally be shared and charged to the relevant departments according to the number of participants of the departments as advised by the departments. The actual sharing of the expenditures may be agreed amongst the departments.
Please seek assistance from your supervising Vice-President, Dean or Department Head.
The event will be allowable if there is sufficient unspent balance for the annual spending limit for retreats, team building events and/or festive celebrations. If the annual spending limit is used up, the relevant staff should pay the excess amount to the University before FO will process the purchase requisition or reimbursement claim. For example, Department B with 20 staff arranges a team building event costing $14,000. Since the spending limit is only $13,000 ($650 x 20 persons), staff of Department B have to pay $1,000 ($14,000 less $13,000) to the University in advance and provide the bank pay-in slip to FO for follow-up. It is up to Department B to determine who would bear the excess cost of $1,000.
The unspent spending limit will not be carried forward to the following financial year but returned to its original funding source of the department/unit. The total spending limit for each financial year will be determined according to the number of staff of the department as at the previous financial year end as described in Question 4.
Yes, as long as the gifts or gift coupons are not cashable and there is available funding in the team building project account. Cash to staff is not allowed and not reimbursable.
Yes, moderate gift/meal/refreshment provided to students during normal student activities (events including but not limited to orientation, graduation, high table dinner, festive parties arranged for students) are reimbursable.
Souvenirs and gifts
For the purpose of applying the Hospitality Policy, staff who have worked for the University for at least 10 years are regarded as long service staff. Staff retiring under the prevailing policy of the Human Resources Office are regarded as retiring staff.
There is no definition on “extended sickness”. The budget controllers would be in a better position to exercise prudence in making a decision on “extended sickness” after a holistic assessment of all available information.
* Please note that these Q & A will be refined from time to time to cover experience arising from new cases.
Last Updated: February 2023