SFF Request for Payment (R4P) Form — Guidelines

Summary

The Request for Payment (R4P) form is used to draw down funding for SFF projects.

SFF Project Advisers will provide a R4P form to all new projects once contracted, with the relevant financial details from the contract entered. Project teams then use the form as the basis for all the project’s future SFF financial reporting and tracking.

The R4P form is an electronic form based on an Excel spreadsheet. It is simple to use. It only requires you to enter your expenditure and income figures for each reporting period in the Expenditure & Income sheet. All the calculations for your return, together with the project’s overall financial tracking, are done automatically.

The R4P form must be completed by the project’s Financial Manager and sent electronically to the SFF along with both electronic and hardcopies of the project’s Progress Report (including the SFF Web Update).

The reporting periods and due dates for these documents for most¹ SFF projects are:

Reporting Period	Reporting Due (10 working days after period end)
Period 1 1 July – 31 October	Mid November
Period 2 1 November – 28 February	Mid March
Period 3 1 March – 30 June	Mid July

Please contact your Project Adviser if you are unsure of your reporting date or requirements.

Becoming Familiar with the R4P Form

Opening the Spreadsheet

When you open the spreadsheet, a pop-up window may appear regarding the macro. Click the “Enable macro” option. The form poses no security risk to your system.

If you get the message: “Macros in this workbook are disabled because the security level is high and the macros have not been digitally signed…” you will need to change the macro security settings for your computer. To do this:

Click on “Tools” on the menu bar, select: Macro/Security/Security level and select medium security. Click “OK”
Close the spreadsheet and then re-open it. You should now see the “Enable macro” pop-up window.

Spreadsheet Layout

The R4P form has four sheets (see tabs at the bottom right-hand-side of the spreadsheet):

1. The Expenditure & Income sheet is where you fill out your expenditure and income for the return.

2. The Request for Payment sheet automatically calculates the SFF claim, by linking to the Expenditure & Income data. It also includes a ‘red button’ that cleans up the form in preparation for the next return (see below).

3. The Financial Tracking sheet tracks the project finances by linking to the Request for Payment data.

4. The Annual Summary sheet summarises the project finances for each financial year.

The Red Button — The red button on the Request for Payment sheet operates a macro that cleans out workings on your current claim and prepares the form for your next return. Only operate the red button after you have completed, saved and submitted your return.

If you inadvertently push the red button before you have completed your return you will need to begin your return again. If this happens, close the file without saving your changes and then reopen the file and start again. If you are unsure whether the macro has been activated, go to the Expenditure & Income sheet — if there are no numbers in this sheet the macro has run and the form has been ‘cleaned-up’.

Filling out the R4P Form

Notes:

1. In addition to the steps outlined next, on your first return you may need to add your contact details for project correspondence and your bank account number for direct credit payments in the top section of the Request for Payment sheet (if these have not been added by the Project Adviser already).

2. You will find ‘comment bubbles’ on the right hand side of the R4P form. These are reminders that are designed to help you fill in the form correctly.

3. Contact your Project Adviser if you require any assistance with the R4P form.

Step 1 — Adding Financial Data for the Reporting Period

Go to the Expenditure & Income sheet:

Note: All figures provided in this section must be GST inclusive

Expenditure

1. Fill in the actual expenses incurred by the project under the ‘This Period’ column — i.e., all expenses incurred since your last return:

Cash Expenses²

(a) Personnel: wages/salaries, including associated costs like PAYE, insurance, etc., UNLESS included under (c).

(b) Administration: office costs other than wages (e.g., rent/lease of offices and office equipment, power, phone, stationery, photocopying, printing other than for dissemination costs, etc.) UNLESS included under (c).

(c) Consultants & Contractors: ANY payments made to consultants and contractors.

(d) Rental & Leasing of Equipment: plant, vehicles, laboratories (and equipment), etc., UNLESS included under (c).

(e) Overheads: anything not covered in specified costs but too small to split into “Other” (i).

(f) Travel & Accommodation: Costs for travel and accommodation related to the project (but NOT travel costs associated with dissemination of results) UNLESS included under (c).

(g) Dissemination Costs: Includes costs of field-days, seminars, printing and distributing reports and booklets, etc., including associated travel, UNLESS included under (c).

(h) Financial / Legal Expenses: Payments to accountants, auditors, lawyers, etc.

(i) Other: Any major cost items not already attributed within (a) – (h).

The form will automatically calculate the total expenses in “Box A”.

2. Do the same for the ‘Next Period’ column — i.e., estimate your expected expenses for the next reporting period. [Optional]

Income

3. Fill in ‘Non-SFF Cash Contributions’ that have been received in this reporting period — i.e., cash contributions from other funding partners.

The form will automatically calculate the total non-SFF cash contributions in “Box B”.

In-kind Support

4. Fill in ‘In-kind Contributions’ received within this reporting period.

The form will automatically calculate the total in-kind contributions received in “Box C”.

Step 2 — Calculating Payment Amount for Return Period

Go to the Request for Payment sheet:

Most of this sheet will have been automatically completed — with calculations based on the figures from your Expenditure & Income sheet, together with any income that has yet to be accounted for from any previous payments. Any advance, or unaccounted income from previous returns, will be automatically loaded into cell J11 of this sheet

Fill in the three bright yellow boxes:

1. Fill in the cell J7 with the return period — e.g., Jun 07.

2. The advance³ amount in cell J16 is calculated from the Expenditure & Income sheet based on your estimated expenses for the next period.

You can overwrite the advance shown to request a different amount. However, you must explain why you are requesting a different amount in the ‘Financial Update’ section of the accompanying Progress Report.

3. In cell J18 the SFF claim amount has been calculated from your Expenditure & Income sheet.

You can overwrite the amount shown to request a different amount. However, you must explain why you are requesting a different amount in the ‘Financial Update’ section of the accompanying Progress Report.

Notes:

If the calculated amount in cell J18 is a negative amount it means the project has received income that has not been spent. In this situation:

• If you are not requesting further SFF payment this time, change the negative amount to $0.00.

• If you are requesting a SFF payment, change the amount to the figure you are requesting.

4. Copy the column of numbers from J10 to J19 on the Request for Payment sheet in preparation for the Step 3 below (Tracking).

Step 3 — Tracking Full-Life Project Budget

Note: If you would like your Project Adviser to assist with this step, skip to the verification step (Step 4), save the file and e-mail it to your Project Adviser.

Go to the Financial Tracking sheet:

Paste the numbers copied in Step 2 (^#4) above into the appropriate column within rows 22–31 (i.e., the column that corresponds to the reporting period for this return) using the “paste special” and paste “values” command from the Edit menu.

The Financial Tracking table will automatically update.

Step 4 — R4P Verification and Submission

Go back to the Request for Payment sheet:

The Project Manager and Financial Manager must each verify that the information in the spreadsheet is correct. Completing this section is deemed to be equivalent to signing a hardcopy confirming the information is accurate.

Note: The Financial Manager should not be the same person as the Project Manager. If it is an organisation (e.g., accounting or consulting firm, district council, etc) the “Name” should be of that firm/organisation, and the verification should be made by an authorised representative.

1. Each manager must check the verification checkbox on the Request for Payment sheet and add their name, the date and an electronic signature (if they have one).

2. When this is completed, save the file and send it electronically to the SFF Fund Administrator and copy/cc. your SFF Project Adviser by the due date. This is normally done within the same e-mail that contains an electronic version of the supporting Progress Report for the period (see Note below).

Note: Although the SFF does not require hardcopies of the R4P form, it does require hardcopies of the Progress Report (including Web Update and any attachments). Hardcopies of Progress Reports should be sent to both the SFF Fund Administrator and your Project Adviser.

Payments will not be approved until satisfactory reporting is completed.

Step 5 — Preparing for your Next Return

On the Request for Payment sheet:

This step prepares the form so that it is ready to use for your next return. Any unaccounted for income or advances will be saved in the form ready for the payment calculations in the next return:

1. Clear the verification checkboxes by un-clicking them.

2. Click the red button at the top of the Request for Payment sheet. This will operate a macro that cleans all figures from the current return and prepares the form for the next return. All numbers in the Expenditure & Income sheet will be deleted if the macro has been applied.

3. Use the “Save as” command to save the form under a new name for your next return.

Your original form will be saved in the format: 07-200 R4P Oct-07. The first numbers (e.g., 07-200) are your project number (and never change), whereas the last part refers to the reporting period that the R4P is for.

Each time you complete a return, save the file with the new reporting date — e.g., the next return for the above file will be in the reporting period ending 28 Feb 2008, so the new filename will be: 07-200 R4P Feb-08.

By saving your electronic and hardcopies of each return named by reporting period, you will develop files of sequential returns that match those held by the SFF.

Congratulations! The spreadsheet is now ready for your next return.

¹ Small SFF projects (<$20k) are only required to report after the 2^nd reporting period (i.e., mid March) and upon completion.

² Note: Keep all copies of accounts and invoices for audit purposes. Do not forward them to the SFF unless requested. It will assist any review if invoices are coded with the Claim Number and the relevant item(s) (a) to (i) above.

³ Advance funding is available for project groups to cover upfront costs and assist project cash-flows. It must be accounted for in your next Request for Payment return.

Contact for Enquiries

Fund Administrator
Sustainable Farming Fund
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
PO Box 2526
Wellington

Tel: 0800 008 333
Fax: 04 894 0746
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