1. Effective date
This chapter contains the entire text of the policy as revised
June 1, 1996. Chapter 3-2 of the "Comptrollership" volume
dated October 1, 1994, is cancelled and replaced by this policy
and Chapter 3-5, Policy on Receivables Management.
To ensure that all receipts of money are accurately accounted
for and adequately controlled to prevent or reduce error, fraud,
or omission.
It is government policy that all receipts of money be recorded
in both departmental accounts and the accounts of Canada.
This policy applies to all organizations considered to be
departments under section 2 of the Financial Administration
Act.
5.1 Departments must establish
procedures to ensure that:
- receipts of money are properly classified and promptly
recorded in both the accounts of the department and the accounts
of Canada; and
- there are proper internal controls over receipts and the
recording of money.
5.2 Departments must classify receipts of money into either
public or non-public moneys. Please refer to Appendix A for their
definitions.
5.3 Departments must record the following receipts of money in
the accounts of a fiscal year that has just ended:
- receipts of money deposited and credited to the Receiver
General by the Bank of Canada or any other financial institution
by March 31;
- receipts of money identified as belonging to the fiscal year
that just ended in the cut-off process in accordance with the
directive on year-end procedures by the Receiver General issues
every year.
5.4 Departments must record repayments of revenues and
receipts of money in the fiscal year in which the repayment is
made:
- if the repayment occurs in the same fiscal year as the
reception occurred, the refund is recorded against the account to
which the original revenue or receipt was posted;
- if the repayment occurs in a subsequent year, it is generally
recorded against a statutory expenditure account "Refund of
previous year revenue".
5.5 Departments must provide a complete audit trail of their
recording process:
5.6.1 By using paper or electronic documents that serve as
proper authorization and objective evidence (e.g., inventory
release memoranda, official receipts and cash register slips) to
generate, authorize, and support accounting entries. These
documents must contain the same authorizations and information as
those required by the operational staff to provide the goods or
services.
5.6.2 Departments must provide for control of the
serial-number sequence of accounting documents and Electronic
Funds Transfer (EFT) transactions, both at the time of issue and
periodically thereafter; and
5.6.3 The audit trail must permit the tracing of any
transaction from its inception to the final outcome and from the
accounting records back to the original transaction.
6.1 Departments must separate the duties of employees who deal
with receipts of money. A complete separation of duties is the
ideal. However, depending on the organizational structure,
availability of staff, materiality, alternative controls and
other pertinent conditions, departments must at the very least,
combine duties judiciously of the functions related to granting
credit, maintaining accounting records, and handling and
reconciling cash.
6.2 Employees must not control any one function continously
for an extended period of time. Mandatory annual leave and job
rotation can reveal any undesirable practices.
6.3 Departments must design control accounts, which summarize
and provide a total of all related individual receipts of money,
to ensure the integrity and reliability of the individual
accounts.
7.1 Departments must ensure that their recording of receipts
of money activities are effective and efficient.
7.2 Departments should undertake periodic reviews and audits
of their recording of receipt of money to ensure that they are
established and operated in accordance with this policy.
7.3 The Treasury Board Secretariat will monitor the
effectiveness of this policy by reviewing departmental audit
reports and performance reports.
This policy is issued pursuant to the Financial
Administration Act.
Financial Administration Act (R.S.C., 1985, Chapter
F-11) sections 2, 17, 17.1, 20, 39 and 159.
Receipt and Deposit of Public Money Regulations, C.R.C., c.
728, as amended by SORs/80-449, 83-828 and 94-402.
Repayment of Receipts Regulations, C.R.C., c. 729, as amended
by SOR/81-920 and SOR/93-258.
Revenue Trust Account Regulations, C.R.C., c. 730, as amended
by SORs/83-829, 93-258 and 94-402.
Policy on Deposits, chapter 3-3, "Comptrollership"
volume of the Treasury Board Manual.
Policy on Specified Purpose Accounts, chapter 5-7,
"Comptrollership" volume of the Treasury Board
Manual.
Chart of Accounts volume, Treasury Board Manual,
sections 8.2.2 and 8.3.2.
Receiver General Directive on year-end procedures.
Please direct enquiries about this policy to your departmental
headquarters. For interpretation of this policy, departmental
headquarters should contact:
Financial Management Policy Division
Financial and Contract Management Sector
Financial and Information Management Branch
Treasury Board of Canada, Secretariat
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0R5
Telephone: (613) 957-7233
Facsimile: (613) 952-9613
Appendix A
Definitions
Section 2 of the Financial
Administration Act (FAA), defines those terms:
"money" includes negotiable
instruments;
(a) Public moneys are defined by the
FAA as those moneys which belong to Canada and which the
Receiver General or any other public officer or authorized
persons receives and collects. These include:
duties and revenues;
money borrowed or received through the
issue or sale of securities;
(b) Public moneys are classified by
major source (e.g., tax and non-tax revenue).
Non-public moneys are those that are
specifically defined as non-public money in a statute, such as
the National Defence Act. They also include money that the
Government of Canada receives in error.
Note:
The Chart of Accounts volume of the Treasury Board
Manual provides further details on the classification of
revenues and receipts of money.
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