Oxford Socially Responsible Investment Campaign - Financial Statutes of Oriel College

Financial Statutes of Oriel College

Posted on 17/11/04 by admin

From the November 2001 version of the Statutes. (The statutes are due to be updated with the removal of the office of Lord Chancellor. This is unlikely to affect the investment statutes, but there may be changes made at the same time.)

XIII. Form & Audit of the College Accounts

1. The Provost and Fellows shall cause proper Books of Account to be kept in which shall be entered:

(a) All receipts and payments on account of or authorised by the College, whether from and to persons being members of the College or from and to any other person whomsoever;

(b) All debts and liabilities contracted by or to the College or by or to any person on account or by authority of the College;

for the College.

2. The Books shall include:

(a) A Register of all the property of the College, showing the description, situation, amount, rental or other annual value of every property; the fixed charges on it (if any); and in the case of stocks or other securities the names in which the accounts to which the same are standing;

(b) A Roll of Rents, Rent-charges, Dividends and other annual income, showing the amounts receivable and those actually received during the year, and the arrears (if any) at the beginning and at the close of the account;

(d) A Ledger or Ledgers;

And also such other books as may be necessary or convenient for regularly recording all such receipts and payments and other matters and things as aforesaid, and for enabling the several accounts to be duly checked and balanced, and the correctness of the Abstracts, for the publication of which provision is hereinafter made, to be ascertained and verified.

3. Separate accounts shall be kept of all property held in trust for any purpose other than the general purposes of the College, and of receipts and payments in respect of such property. Monies held by the College for its general purposes, on specific trusts, in any funds created by means of schemes under the Universities and Colleges (Trusts) Act 1943, and for any other purposes may be held and invested in a single pool of investments provided that the investment powers available to the College in relation to the various contributory monies are identical and provided also that proper accounts are maintained, whether by means of the allocation of units or otherwise, so that the value of the contributory monies may be calculated and realised.

4. In addition to the above-mentioned accounts the Provost and Fellows shall keep kitchen accounts and other statistics relating to the catering arrangements of the College, submit them to Accountants and Communicate the report of the said Accountants. The forms in which such accounts and statistics shall be kept, the periods for which they shall be submitted to the said Accountants shall be nominated and the cost of their inspection met, and the authorities to which the report of the said Accountants shall be communicated, shall be as prescribed from time to time in Statutes of the University made or to be made under the powers of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge Act, 1923.

5. The Treasurer shall once every year, under the direction of the Provost and subject to such regulations as the Provost and Fellows may make from time to time, prepare a Statement of the income and expenditure of the College for the past year, and shall lay such Statement before the Provost and Fellows at a Stated General Meeting. This Statement shall include all funds administered by the College or by the Provost, or by any Officer of the College as such, for general purposes or in trust or otherwise.

6. The Provost and Fellows shall in every year cause to be prepared and delivered to the

Registrar of the University for publication such information relating to the accounts of the College as may be prescribed from time to time by any Statute of the University made or to be made under the powers of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge Act, 1923. The date on or before which such information shall be delivered to the Registrar, the forms of the statements in which it shall be shown, and the certificate accompanying such forms shall be as prescribed from time to time in Statutes of the University made or to be made under the like authority; and the certificate shall be signed by the Auditor or Auditors appointed under clause 7 below.

7. The College Accounts shall be audited once at least in every year, and the Provost and Fellows shall appoint for that purpose an Auditor or Auditors. One of the persons so appointed shall be a professional accountant carrying on business in Londonor Westminster. The Auditor or Auditors shall report in writing to the Provost and Fellows whether the accounts of the College are duly kept in proper books of account in conformity with the provisions of this Statute, and whether the Abstracts and Balance Sheet prepared pursuant to the provisions of this Statute contain a full and true account of the financial condition of the College. It shall be lawful for the Auditors or any Auditors to report specially as to any payment which they or he may judge to have been made without sufficient authority. The expense of the audit (including payment to any clerk or clerks whose assistance the Auditor or Auditors may require) shall be paid out of the revenues of the College.

XV. Disposal of Revenue & General Powersof Investment

(i) Any monies which are held for the general purposes of the College (not being Capital Monies arising under the Universities and College Estates Acts nor money held on specific trusts) shall be invested in such stocks, shares, funds, securities, obligations, bonds or other investments (including land and bank deposit accounts) in any part of the world and whether involving liability or not, or upon such personal credit with or without security, as the Governing Body from time to time shall in its absolute discretion think fit so that the Governing Body shall have the same unrestricted powers of investing, varying and managing investments as if the Governing Body were absolutely and beneficially entitled thereto.

(ii) Any investment made under the powers contained in the foregoing subclause shall stand either in the name of the College or (subject to the approval of the Auditor or Auditors of the College appointed in accordance with clause 7 of Statute XIII) in the name of a body corporate selected from time to time by the Governing Body as the nominee and trustee of the College for that purpose.

(i) The Governing Body shall capitalise income in the manner provided by this clause in any case where it is of the opinion that capital ought to be accumulated or replaced on account of the acquisition or disposition of leasehold property or any reversionary interest or on account of any other transaction.

(ii) In making provision for the capitalisation of income under this clause the Governing Body shall have regard -

(a) in the case of income held for the general purposes of the College, to the overall financial position of the College and

(b) in the case of income held under any specific trust, to the financial position of that trust, and shall make such provision as in its opinion is appropriate for the purposes of conserving the permanent endowment of the College or of the trust, as the case may be, and of avoiding undue fluctuations of income.

(iii) If at any time it shall appear to the Governing Body that the proportion of income being capitalised or the period for which it is being capitalised in respect of any past transaction is insufficient or excessive for the purposes aforesaid, the Governing Body shall increase or reduce the said proportion or period to the extent of such insufficiency or excess.

(iv) The powers conferred by this clause shall extend to all funds representing income of the College and to all funds accumulating for the purpose of replacement of capital, whether constituted before or after the date on which this clause is approved by Her Majesty in Council.

Part II Investment Manager

8. The Governing Body may from time to time appoint one or more suitably qualified persons as Investment Managers to carry out on behalf of the College the duties described by this Statute on such terms as (subject to and in accordance with this Statute) the

Governing Body shall think fit.

9. A person (which expression in this Statute includes a person, persons, firm, or company) shall be suitably qualified to be Investment Manager if he shows to the satisfaction of the Governing Body that:-

(i) he (or, in the case of a subsidiary company whose obligations under the relevant terms of appointment will be guaranteed by the parent company, that parent company) has at least 15 years experience in the City of London (or other appropriate financial centre in the United Kingdom) of investment business; and

(ii) is entitled to carry on investment business in accordance with the Financial Services Act 1986 (or other relevant legislation replacing that Act).

10. The Governing Body may pay reasonable and proper remuneration to an Investment Manager appointed and acting in accordance with this Statute.

11. The Governing Body may delegate to an Investment Manager appointed and acting in accordance with this Statute power at his discretion (but always in accordance with this Statute and the terms of his appointment) to buy and sell investments held on behalf of the College; and such delegation may permit those investments to be held by a nominee.

12. The terms of appointment of any Investment Manager shall be in writing and shall:-

(a) specify the relevant investment policy of the College and the scope of that Investment

Manager’s discretion; and

(b) require that Investment Manager to comply with the terms of his appointment and with these Statutes, the relevant University Statutes and the general law (including any provision relating to the keeping and supply of goods and accounts); and

(d) specify the amount and/or method of calculation of that Investment Manager’s remuneration; and

(e) entitle the College to terminate the appointment at any time on reasonable notice; and

(f) specify the other circumstances in which the appointment may be terminated by either party and (subject to earlier termination) its maximum duration which shall not exceed 12 months on any one occasion (but subject if so specified to renewal from time to time

by mutual agreement); and

(g) specify the relevant advisory, reporting and accounting procedures; and

(h) state whether or not the investments may be held on behalf of the College in the name of a nominee and (if so) on what basis and by whom.

13. The Governing Body shall take reasonable steps (and if necessary shall take appropriate advice) to satisfy itself when making any such appointment that its terms are in accordance with best practice at the relevant time and that (in particular) to ensure that the Governing Body always has adequate information as to and appropriate control over the investments and funds (or other assets of whatever nature) to which the appointment relates the Investment Manager shall be required:-

(a) to review and report in writing to the Provost “for the attention of Governing Body” at least once each calendar year on the College’s investment policy and the performance of and the future prospects for the College’s investments, and to give any relevant advice; and

(b) to report to the Provost “for the attention of Governing Body” at once on any significant change since the last such review and report which may in his view require early attention by the College; and

(c) to report to the Treasurer “for the attention of the Finance and Estates Committee” on every transaction within 14 days of its execution; and

(d) to account to the College quarterly.

14. The College Seal shall not be affixed to any document by an Investment Manager and this Statute shall not affect the use and custody of the College Seal.