University of Edinburgh orders finance review

Staff and students have raised concerns about the new finance system

The University of Edinburgh has admitted some firms have stopped supplying them because of problems with a new finance system.

Payments to students, staff and suppliers were delayed by the rollout of a new financial system.

The university has now ordered an external review of the shakeup and has repeated apologies to those affected.

Payments to suppliers overseas have also been delayed, the university has admitted.

The new People and Money (P&M) system is a centralised HR, payroll and finance system which the university first introduced in 2020 and completed its rollout this year.

Problems in this final phase of the project mean thousands of invoices issued to the university are still outstanding, and payments to staff and students have been delayed.

• University of Edinburgh apologises over payment backlog

• University warned of issues with new finance system

In an update to staff and students, university principal Prof Peter Mathieson said he was "acutely aware that our university is facing major disruption caused by the implementation of our new finance services".

He added: "We have listened to how this is affecting our staff, students, suppliers and partners and we are sincerely sorry for the unacceptable position this has put people in.

"We have committed to commissioning an external review of the P&M programme with the intention of gathering evidence to inform recommendations which will focus on improvement."

Overseas payments

The principal's update states there are delays in payments and some suppliers have "paused supply to us while we work with them to resolve issues".

The update also highlights "challenges in paying international partners, with particular attention to those in the global south".

The Ferret website reported that Peruvians who fed and sheltered academics during their fieldwork in Peru had not been paid by the university.