Finance Customer Service Charter

Vision: To be a finance department where problems find solutions, staff are empowered to excel and customers receive a satisfying experience
Mission: Providing effective financial services with customer focused systems

To achieve our vision, we have developed the following objectives:

• Align ourselves with the vision and mission of Avondale University and support its strategy through the provision of high standard financial services to both internal and external customers
• Deliver professional services to ensure the organisation meets its financial and statutory compliance obligations to external stakeholders
• Provide accurate, timely, consistent and transparent information to enable users to make informed decisions
• Promote a customer-friendly culture in our department
• Be willing to receive feedback and look for opportunities for continuous improvement
• Build a supportive environment which fosters the professional development and personal well-being of each finance team member, as well as a spirit of community and collaboration

Our service commitment

We are committed to pursuing excellence and continuous improvement in all of our activities, to providing a positive and supportive work environment to our staff, and to responding to all customers and colleagues in a friendly, helpful and resourceful manner. The following table lists the attributes that we value most and endeavor to display in our dealings with our customers and with each other.

Core Values	What we want our customers to experience
Professionalism	We will respond in a friendly and welcoming manner and will display respect and courtesy in all our dealings. Our service will be of a high quality standard, accurate, timely and compliant.
Ethics and Integrity	We understand that trust is built on consistent application of policies, treating our customers with equity and fairness.
Customer Focus	Both our internal and external customers deserve a high quality service at all times. Their satisfaction with our service is very important to us and our activities will be designed to meet their needs as well as our financial responsibilities.
Clear and Effective Communication	We know that some financial transactions may be complex. We will endeavor in our communication to avoid jargon, be transparent and make things as easy to understand as possible.
Accountability	We take ownership of problems and work hard to resolve them in a prompt manner. We will do what we promise and take responsibility for our actions.
Continuous Improvement	We welcome and encourage feedback, which will be used to improve our processes and services.
Teamwork	We encourage a team spirit within our office as well as collaboration with other departments, as we know working together often achieves better and faster results.
Staff Development	We recognise that staff are our most valuable asset and we will invest in their training and professional development to enable them to provide services with excellence.

Communication standards

• We will strive to answer phone calls and return messages promptly
• Emails will be acknowledged within 48 hours. Where an answer cannot be delivered within the time frame, we will advise customers when to expect our full response
• We will endeavour to distribute the monthly operating reports and account statements within two weeks after the end of the month
• Information on the financial services website will be maintained, timely and informative

How customers can help us

• Our customers can read their emails before contacting us as we endeavour to communicate promptly and pre-empt questions
• Get in touch with us early so the matter does not escalate
• Adhere to our procedures and processing deadlines
• Treat our staff with respect and courtesy
• Students can update their phone number and postal address in Student Connect to enable us to communicate with them