23 June 2011

SAP - 7 years on

Mr Mustard looks through the over £500 spending lists that Barnet Council publish.

He came across these payments to Garfield Associates Ltd :-

Date paid Invoice # Payment £ Daily Rate Days Invoice period
05/10/2010 LBB-001 4,000 400 10 6-10 September 2010
13-17 September 2010
05/10/2010
4,000 400
Credited incorrectly
19/10/2010 LBB-002 4,000 400 10 20-24 September 2010
27 Sep – 1 Oct 2010
19/10/2010 LBB-003 4,000 400 10 4-8 October 2010
11-15 October 2010
19/10/2010
-4,000

Debited
01/11/2010 LBB-004 4,000 400 10 18-22 October 2010
25-29 October 2010
29/11/2010 LBB-005 4,000 400 10 1-5 November 2010
8-12 November 2010
29/11/2010 LBB-006 4,000 400 10 15-19 November 2010
22-26 November 2010
07/12/2010 LBB-007 2,500 500 5 29 Nov – 3 Dec 2010
15/12/2010 LBB-008 2,500 500 5 6 Dec - 10 Dec 2010
21/12/2010 LBB-009 2,500 500 5 13 Dec – 17 Dec 2010
18/01/2011 LBB-010 2,500 500 5 20 Dec – 24 Dec 2010
18/01/2011 LBB-011 2,000 500 4 4-7 January 2011
18/01/2011 LBB-012 2,500 500 5 10-14 January 2011
08/02/2011 LBB-013 2,500 500 5 17-21 January 2011
08/02/2011 LBB-014 2,500 500 5 24-28 January 2011
08/03/2011 LBB-015 2,500 500 5 31 Jan – 4 Feb 2011
08/03/2011 LBB-016 2,500 500 5 7 Feb – 11 Feb 2011
08/03/2011
2,500


08/03/2011 LBB-017 2,000 400 4 14 Feb – 18 Feb 2011
10/03/2011 LBB-018 2,000 400 5 21 Feb – 25 Feb 2011
25/03/2011 LBB-019 2,000 400 5 28 Feb-4 March 2011
25/03/2011 LBB-020 2,000 400 5 7 March – 11 March 2011
28/03/2011 LBB-021 2,000 400 5 14 March-18 March 2011
28/03/2011 LBB-022 2,000 400 5 21 March – 25 March 2011
31/03/2011
-2,000




61,000



There are for the services of a Mr David Garfield who is either acting as "Lead Change Manager - SAP Optimisation" at £400 a day on some of the days and "Lead Change Manager / Assistant Project Manager - SAP Optimisation" at £500 a day on other days.

One would have thought that after running SAP for 7 years a Council employee might have got the hang of it ?

Another £5,600 was paid out in April. Nice work if you can get it.

SAP is just a glorified database with a set of rules - how hard can it be ?

Now looking at the actual payments what do you notice ?

A good start to the relationship - a double payment of £4,000 on 5 October 2010 which was corrected on 19 October 2010. It was coyly described as "credited incorrectly" - I would suggest that is "paid incorrectly".

Many of the invoices are for a week to a Friday and they are being paid on the following Monday. That is indecent haste and probably means that the necessary checking is not thorough as the earlier double payment indicates. Barnet Council really should be taking 30 days credit from the vast majority of suppliers. The effect on cashflow and borrowing would be enormous.

There was another double payment of £2,500 on 8 March 2011 which was, by the looks of it, partially clawed back in the sum of £2,000 on 31 March 2011. Does Garfield Associates owe the Council £500 ? I have no reason to doubt that Mr Garfield is an honest man and will tell the Council about this if he has not done so already.

We know that Procurement is in a mess. It is no surprise if that spreads to Accounts Payable who are dependent on Procurement to do their job properly for their own efficiency.

The final point is that Mr Garfield looks awfully like an employee and should be on PAYE.

If any reader works for HM Revenue & Customs and wants to increase the tax take of the Country then you know what to do.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

1 comment:

  1. "... either acting as

    "Lead Change Manager - SAP Optimisation"

    at £400 a day, on some of the days, and

    "Lead Change Manager / Assistant Project Manager - SAP Optimisation"

    at £500 a day, on other days."

    I like that strange arrangement. Does he wake up in the morning, cut the top off his boiled egg, and say, "Now then. Shall I make it a £400 day today, or a £500 one? Looks like rain. I THINK I'll make it a £500 day."

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