Instatement manual for SUPRA council

3. Money and finances

SUPRA is funded by SSAF

SUPRA is funded by the Student Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF) that nearly all students at the University pay. The money is then shared out among student organisations and some University services (e.g. the Library, Career’s Centre and Student Life).

This money is only administered by the University, it is not the University’s money to spend. The money comes directly from student enrolments and must be given to student associations and student services. However, the University does set criteria for successful applications, following government requirements.

Every year SUPRA, the Students’ Representative Council (SRC), Sydney Uni Sport (SUS) and University of Sydney Union (USU) apply for money from the SSAF pool. The SSAF money SUPRA receives each year is divided into 2 categories:

• base funding
• contestable funding.

Base funding is a guaranteed amount that covers the cost of our regular and essential functions (staffing, services and council stipends).

Contestable funding pays for initiatives and events outside the regular functions of the association (major events, new projects or initiatives). This funding is not guaranteed and we apply for it through project proposals each year. Depending on the amount of students enrolled that year, there could be little to no contestable funding on offer.

SUPRA Council and staff work together to prepare our SSAF application each year. The University then assesses all the applications for contestable funding and decides how funding will be allocated for the upcoming year. The University also meets with the SSAF Student Consultation Group to discuss the process of allocations. This consultation group includes representatives from all the SSAF-funded organisations, and the SUPRA President attends to represent SUPRA.

If you would like to be involved in SSAF planning and applications, you should talk to the President or Treasurer.

Find more information on how SUPRA uses SSAF. (The information on this page is also helpful to send to constituents who would like more information about SSAF, and why they pay it.)

2026 SSAF allocation

Data from sydney.edu.au

Who’s in charge of SUPRA’s finances?

All councillors are legally responsible for SUPRA’s finances, so it is important that there is good reporting from the Treasurer and Finance Committee. SUPRA has a yearly budget of around $3 million which SUPRA Council manages and is ultimately responsible for. This is a big responsibility that must be taken seriously and is supported by SUPRA’s Finance Manager.

The Treasurer and the Finance Committee monitor the organisation’s financial situation, supported by the Finance Manager who has detailed knowledge of accounting standards and SUPRA's legal obligations.

The Treasurer, the President, and staff coordinators ensure that the annual SSAF funding application is prepared on time, and represents the needs and goals of SUPRA.

Who gets paid at SUPRA

Office bearers and staff are usually the only people who are paid at SUPRA. All councillors (including those without a stipend) have an obligation to ensure that anyone claiming a stipend properly accounts for their work by reporting to council (as per Finance Regulations). These stipends come from students’ SSAF contributions, and SUPRA must ensure that it is spent responsibly.

• Stipends cannot be claimed for time spent attending a council meeting unless the meeting goes for over 3 hours (this rule does not apply to the chair or minute-taker at the meeting).
• Councillors can only be paid stipends as outlined in the Financial Regulations.
• Councillors can claim no other payment for their contribution at SUPRA.
• No one else should expect payment for their contribution to SUPRA. SUPRA is a volunteer organisation, and does not have the budget to pay volunteers.
• Occasionally students are hired to provide a service to SUPRA, outside of normal volunteering. If a student would like to provide a service to SUPRA and you think they should be paid, please contact Anthea Fitzgerald (Admin Coordinator) to find out the best way to do this. You should also discuss with the Finance Manager to make sure this payment will be appropriate before agreeing to it.

Claiming your stipend

There are 2 main things an office bearer needs to do to ensure you get paid for the hours you have worked up to your maximum stipend:

1. You must submit a report to a council meeting. This should include details about the work you have done in your role on behalf of SUPRA. If you are unsure about what to include, read your duty statement to help you write your report.
2. You must submit a timesheet to the Finance Manager.

If you have not submitted your timesheet by 11am on the Monday of pay week, you will not be able to be paid that fortnight. If the pay has been approved by the President and council, you will be able to be back paid in the following pay cycle.

If you have questions about this, please contact the Finance Manager – find staff contacts.

How spending is approved

Different levels of council can approve different amounts of spending. This is called delegated authority. It is important that this is adhered to – both for transparency and for our annual auditing.

• Equity and Executive office bearers have the delegated authority to spend up to $100.
• The President has the delegated authority to spend up to $1000.
• Management Committee has the delegated authority to spend up to $5000.
• Council (as a whole) has the delegated authority to spend over $5000.
• Spending over $20,000 is meant to be approved by the University. Most expenditure at that level will have gone through a SSAF application process and will have been approved before funding is made available.

For efficiency, most expenditure should be approved through the simplest path and then properly reported at a council meeting. For example, if there is a printing expense of $2500, then this should go to Management Committee and then be reported at the soonest council meeting.

Claiming a reimbursement

If you have used your own money to pay for SUPRA-approved expenses, you can be reimbursed.

To get reimbursed email the Finance Manager and President requesting reimbursement with the following details:

• your name that matches your bank details
• what the expense was for
• the budget line, if you know it
• your BSB and account number
• the receipt/s for the expenditure.

When this has been approved by the President, the Finance Manager will reimburse you as soon as practical.

Funding for events

Most councillors who are planning a SUPRA event will need to get funding approved through the relevant delegated authority. It is important that you do this as soon as possible, as you may end up out-of-pocket if you do not have the appropriate approvals.

After you have the funding for the event approved, you can then decide if you would like the money in advance or to be reimbursed after you have spent the money. If you would like the money in advance, be sure to talk to the Finance Manager as soon as possible as she works part time and needs time to make the money available.

Please be sure to only spend what you need. For example, if you have been approved ‘up to $1000’ for an event, you should spend what is needed, and not aim to spend all of it.

Do not spend more than has been approved for your event or activity – there is a chance that you will not be reimbursed, and even if you can be reimbursed it might take some time to approve. You can ask the appropriate delegated authority for the spending to be approved retroactively, but approval is not guaranteed. You should expect other councillors to ask you to justify why you have spent more money than was approved.

Financial auditing

Each year SUPRA’s finances are audited. The auditor checks our spending to ensure that it aligns with our organisational and legal obligations. They then deliver an auditor’s report to us that we include in our Annual Report and send to the University executive.

If we have any spending that seems irregular, we will be asked to explain it to the auditor. If the auditor doesn’t consider it to be justified then it will be documented in their report and could severely impact future funding and the viability of our organisation.

The auditor checks all outgoing payments including the payment of stipends and how they are reported. Every councillor needs to ensure that all councillors receiving a stipend are adequately reporting for it.

The auditor also analyses the budget for future spending to determine if we will be solvent at the end of the coming financial year (our financial year ends on 31 December). This means they are looking for responsible, sustainable spending practices.