Managers' Association

MINUTES

Minutes of Meeting No. 7/2004 of the Managers’ Association

held on Wednesday 8th August 2004

in the Sir George Lush Meeting Room, Clayton Campus

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Attendance

Margaret Dooley, Anne Fletcher (Chair), John Gibson, Gillian Holley, Mal Hutson, Robert Jamieson, Stelios Konstantinidis, Keith Lesselyoung, Fiona Lilley, Chris McCarthy, Halina Oswald (for Paul Barton), Chris Powell, Meg Ralph (also for Paul Barton), Shane Revell, Milton Richardson, Elenore Videion, Victoria Whelan

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Apologies

Paul Barton, Geoff Binns, Harry Bracegirdle, David Caddy, John Gibson, Bee Holmes, Ian MacFarlane, Chris Mayberry, Bob Palin

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Minutes of Previous Meeting 7th July 2004

Approved: Stelios Konstantinidis
Seconded: Fiona Lilley

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Matters Arising from the Minutes

Stelios Konstantinidis reported on involvement of the Faculty of Engineering in the cleansing of data for the travel pilot online system. Most staff book travel directly with Amex and do not use Kistend. Note that at the previous meeting a two step approval process for the proposed online travel system was recommended.
The Chair will write to eight staff, whose membership has lapsed, to determine if they still wish to be part of the association.

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Correspondence

In:Membership application from Chris Mayberry was approved.
Out:Nil

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Member Reports

Nil

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Guest Speakers

Mirka Gonda, Manager Capital Assets, Corporate Finance Division
Treatment of Assets under construction
Mirka explained circumstances where assets are classed as “under construction” in SAP inorder to make part or staged payments towards a complete purchase. Once the final or last payment is made the class of the asset needs to be transferred by Mirka to trigger depreciation on the item. Mirka enlightened the group of a number of assets that have been left as ‘under construction’ since 1999. If managers intend to make asset purchases using this mechanism, please contact Mirka who will explain and assist with the correct process and timing.
The handout can be viewed at our web site:

Mirka was asked by one of our members about the possibility of obtaining more bar code readers. The group was reminded that stocktake was a twelveand not a two month process andstaff should make better use of the existing bar code readers. Mirka is currently unable to purchase any more readers and will let managers know once some become available.
Greg Connell, Director Audit and Risk Management
Risk associated with contracts and the Risk Management Profile
Greg outlined the Risk Management plan that was introduced four years ago and now has a very important role in University operations. In the past Risk Management plans may not have been utilised but now Council has agreed to an annual planning cycle, including risk management, operational and strategic planning. In addition each Faculty has nominated a risk coordinator and each Dean signs off on a risk assessment and treatment strategy for their Faculty.Council and the VC have elevated risk management, identification and demonstration of processes and compliance, as a high priority for the University. The VC recently identified the following issues as high risk for the University:
  1. Non implementation of the Higher Education Support Act – implementation, meeting timeframes and software
  2. Research performance – failure to capitalise on opportunities
  3. Outer urban and regional campuses – failure to capitalise
  4. Failure of our South African Campus – lack of support structure in a semi hostile foreign environment
  5. Disassociation with our Malaysian partner – exposure for us
  6. Other natural disasters, fraud, explosives, shootings etc – failure to identify and manage risks
Greg then went on to overview some examples of fraud our existing and planned measures to prohibit fiscal misconduct. Areas that will be more highly regulated will be travel, use of cards, benefits of office i.e. mobile phones and palm pilots.
The risk to the University from research contracts was then discussed where professional indemnity and professional liability insurance are insufficient to cover potential risks to the University. Greg will be meeting the DVC (Research) next week to discuss the issue.

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Other Business

Members agreed that the Chair, Anne Fletcher, should represent the association at the Admin Heads Committee and thanked Chris Powell for his previous representation. It was also agreed to have a report back from Admin Heads, who meet four times a year, to the next association meeting.
Possible guest speakers to discuss the following items were identified:
  1. The DVC Research – Chris Powell to approach
  2. Load planning
  3. Research benchmarking

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Next Meeting: Wednesday 1st September, 2004

Confirmed as a true record:

Victoria Whelan
Secretary
Anne Fletcher
Chair
Date: