Sunday 20 May 2012

Financial Management, Internal Control & Accounting System at State/District Health Societies & Blocks /RCH Societies




  
                     GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

5.1     The overall internal control framework of the NRHM programme is governed by the provisions of this manual read together with procurement manual and prescribed financial limits/norms issued by various pogrammes of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and various programme guidelines such as Janani Suraksha Yojana, MNGO guidelines and ASHA guidelines etc.

5.2     Any officer of a State Health Society or of a District Health Society, who is authorized to incur expenditure or draws money out of the RCH-II funds (Bank A/c) for disbursement, should treat himself as a trustee of the funds of such society or District Unit and would therefore, manage all types of financial affairs in the capacity of a sincere Executive trustee.

5.3     The officer, who is authorized to draw and incur expenditure out of a State Health Society or a District Health Societyfund, is expected to exercise same vigilance, which a man of ordinary prudence exercises while incurring his own money. He should keep in mind that:-

i)                   Funds should not be drawn if they are not required for immediate   disbursement.
ii)                Funds should not be utilized directly or indirectly on himself or on any family member or relative of the officers who operate the funds of the society or a unit for the time being.
iii)              The Mission Director at State Health Society and District Programme officer(s) at District Health Society level will ensure, with the help and assistance of State Finance Manager, State Accounts Manager respectively, that an efficient system of internal financial control is introduced, for which they should visit District Health Society & Programme implementing Agencies frequently & make instant inspections/examinations of Cash Book, Bank Pass Book, Ledgers & some vouchers of more than Rs.5,000/- value and satisfy themselves that all of these are being maintained properly. Similarly, District officials (including DPMU staff) should make regular visits to the sub-district levels to ensure that efficient and sound financial system is in place. During the visit, they may verify the implementation status of various programmes as per the checklist. RNTCP and IDSP already have a checklist for the verification purpose on the field visits. 
iv)              Officers authorized to incur expenditure must ensure that financial order and strict economy are enforced at every step and see that all-relevant financial rules, orders, directions and instructions are observed.
v)                It should be seen that not only the total expenditure is kept within the limits of the budget provision but also that the funds allotted/transferred, are spent strictly in the interest and service of the programme and upon the objects for which provisions have been sanctioned.
vi)              He will also see that items of expenditure are of obvious necessity and are at fair and reasonable rates, sanction of the competent authority obtained and calculations are correct.
vii)           In order to exercise proper financial control, he should keep himself closely acquainted with the progress of receipts, expenditure, commitments or liabilities incurred but not paid.

CHECKS TO BE EXERCISED BEFORE WITHDRAWAL & DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS


5.4     Before authenticating a cheque for any payment/disbursement, the cheque drawing officer, in this regard, shall ensure that:
i)             There is a proper and formal statement of claim (Bill) or invoice through which payments have been demanded by the concerned person or party or firm.
ii)          Invoice must be marked “Passed for Payment” on its face by competent authority. In case of advance adjustments, it should be marked “Passed for Adjustments”.
iii)        That the purchases made or services received are according to the approved plan and the claimant is entitled to get it.
iv)        That the particulars of the claim i.e. rates, calculations, net payable amount etc. have been examined/checked by the Accountant or by an authorized accounts person and have also been entered in appropriate stock/store register wherever necessary and certification on this account has been made on the bill/claim itself by an authorized officer.
v)          A competent sanction to incur expenditure is attached with the claim.
vi)        ADVANCES:
§  In case of advances payments, it must be ensured that all earlier advances to the same person/party and for the same purpose have been settled/adjusted. No advances should be made to a person/party if an advance is already pending for settlement for the same purpose.
§  All the advances should be settled within a maximum period of 90 days. All the advances should be entered in Advance Register as per APPENDIX 10. Settlement of advances should be tracked as per Advance Tracking Register as per Appendix 11). Age wise analysis of unsettled advances should be prepared and periodically be reviewed by Programme Officers.
§  For settlement of long pending advances lying with various institutions/organizations, special drive may be undertaken by forming special teams and deputing them to these institutions.
vi) AUTHORIZATIONS & PAYMENTS FOR CONTRACTS/AGREEMENTS:
§  Payments to be made in accordance with the terms and conditions of the contract/agreement including compliance with the conditions relating to performance guarantee and bank guarantee.
§  Goods receiving officers to certify the quality and quantity of the goods received.
§  Evidence to show the delivery of goods and services at the agreed time and place of delivery should be obtained.

5.5     POST PAYMENTS INTERNAL CONTROLS:
§  Paid invoice and supporting documents must be defaced with the seal of “Paid & Cancelled”. The reference of cheque vide which the payment made is to be recorded on invoice.
§  All the paid vouchers must be serially numbered and maintained box file.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
5.6     PROCEDURE FOR UTILISATION OF FUNDS

i)                   The Society funds shall be drawn through cheques and/or bank drafts. All payments to the maximum extent possible should be made by cheques only. Cash payment should be discouraged at all levels.
ii)                Any payment above Rs 5000/- must necessarily be made through crossed Account payee cheques only.

iii)              All cheques shall be signed by at least two signatories as authorized by the Governing/Executive body of the Society in line with defined guidelines . Similar control mechanisms should be ensured in case of electronic transfer of funds.

           
5.7     PREPARATION OF CHEQUES

i)                   All the cheques shall be entered in the Cheque issue register before they are submitted for signatures, indicating its number, amount, name of the person or party, purpose  and date of issue, etc.
ii)                Cheque books, new or used or under used shall be kept in the personal custody of one of the officer who are authorized to put their signature on the cheques.
iii)              Acknowledgement of a cheque shall be obtained from the payee (receiver) in the prescribed format.
iv)              CASH WITHDRWAL: Signatures with date shall be obtained in the cheque issue Register from the Cashier/Accountant for each cheque, which is endorsed in his favour or handed over to him for obtaining cash payment from the bank.
v)                All persons handling cash and keeping valuable stores should be required to provide Fidelity Insurance in favour of the State Health Society of not less than Rs.1,00,000/- from a Nationalized Insurance Company or Bank against which monthly security allowance will be paid on the basis of 1% of the ‘Fidelity Insurance’ value per month.

5.8     WRITING OF CASH BOOK
i)                   All payments which are received in the State Health Society or in a District Health Society and at Block CHC/PHC, either in cash or through cheques/bank drafts/money orders/bankers cheque etc. shall be first entered in the prescribed register and then entries in the cash book shall be made, on the same day. Likewise all payments/disbursements shall be entered in the cash book on the day of the payment.
ii)                Receipts shall be issued, for the cash/bank Drafts/Banker cheque and money orders on its entry in the prescribed register, signed either by one of the fund operator or by an authorized officer.
iii)              Cash book shall be written on daily basis and closed on the same day and put up for checking & authentication to one of the cheque signing officer as decided by the chairperson of the Executive Committee of a State/District Health Society.
iv)              Cash book should be closed daily and if no transactions have taken place in a day/s the entry "No Transaction" has to be noted in the cash book on that day/s in red ink and balances are to be carried over to next day.
v)                Cash balance, more than Rs.10,000/-, should be avoided to be kept in office, as far as possible.
vi)              Escort should be provided to the cashier when he is required to carry the amount more than Rs.10,000/- from the bank at a time. Cashier should be provided vehicle to obtain heavy cash form the Bank.
vii)           The Cash book is the principal record of all money transactions taken place every day and all other registers are subsidiary. It should be maintained on the basis of double entry system as per format appended with the manual.
viii)         Each entry of receipt and expenditure should be descriptive but brief in nature. Each voucher should be assigned a serial number and Ledger Folio number, which should be noted against each entry in the cash book.
ix)              All cash/cheques/Demand Drafts etc. received should be deposited into bank as far as possible on the same day itself, otherwise on the next working day positively. If any cash remains in office on any day it should be kept in the cash chest/vault which should have double lock system. The cash kept in the chest should be deposited in the bank account on the next day and the entry in the cash book should be verified physically by the authorized officer.
x)                Over writings should be avoided and corrections, if any, should be attested by the authorized officer under his dated initials.
xi)              While making payments through cheque, its number should invariably be noted in the cash book for cross checking.
xii)           Format of Cash Book to be maintained at State Health Society and District Health Societies and Block Units .

VERIFICATION OF CASH BALANCE
         
5.9     The contents of the cash chest/cash box should be verified by the SFM/SAM at State level, by DAM at District Level and Block Accountant at Block level and Programme Officer at Health Society level at least once in a month at the close of the month or on the first day (immediately after opening of Office) of the next month and the amount will be compared with the cash book balance shown in the Cash Book.
         
5.10   The result of verification should be recorded in the cash book each time as under: “Certified that Cash Balance checked and found correct”. In case the cash balance is found to be less or in excess then the balance shown in the cash book, the fact should be recorded in the cash book and a formal report should also be submitted to the next higher authority for further necessary action. 

5.11   A cash balance certificate shall be obtained at the end of each year as per the format provided in appendix.

MAINTAINING BOOKS OF ACCOUNT
         
5.12   Complete and correct accounts in respect of each monetary transaction occurring at State Health Societys or at District RCH Societies shall be maintained through prescribed Books of Account including Registers as indicated below:

(a)        Cash book with cash & Bank columns.
(b)       Petty cash book
(c)        Cheque issue register
(d)       Register of Bank drafts and Cheques received
(e)        Bank Pass Book/Bank Statement
(f)         Register of Bank drafts/Cheques dispatched.
(g)        Ledger (in line with the Chart of Accounts of various programmes)
(h)       Journal
(i)          Registers for Temporary advances as below
·        Advance to the staff (Control Account)
·        Advances to the Contractors/suppliers/CHCs/PHCs. (Control Account)
·        TA/DA advance (Control Account)
(j)          Salary Register
(k) Fixed Asset Register:
§  Machinery & Equipment's
§  Civil Works,
§  Mobile Medical Units, ambulances etc.
(l)          Stock Registers for: -
·        Furniture & other non-consumable articles.
·        Register for drugs & medicines.
·        Register of consumable articles
(m)     Register of advances to NGOs and other Voluntary Agencies implementing NRHM.
(n)       Dispatch Register

N.B.  Any other book of accounts and resisters, which may be considered necessary for the day-to-day work of the State/District Health Society, the same may be maintained.

5.13   The State Health Society and its District Health Society shall maintain Dead Stock Registers, separately for machinery & equipment's and other non-consumable articles and  shall also arrange for physical verification of stores articles of permanent or long duration nature, at least once a year in the month of April. If any item of permanent nature is purchased at CHC/PHC level, entry in the concerned Register of District RCH Society shall be made on the basis of the voucher or bill etc.
         
5.14   All functionaries should ensure that only actual expenditure incurred is treated as expenditure and not the normative costs in accounting. Therefore, fund released by the State Health Society to District Health Societies or to any other implementing agency by the District Health Society such as CHC/PHC etc. shall, initially be classified as Advance and the same is indicated as such in the books of accounts. The advances shall be adjusted based on the expenditure statement/utilization certificate received from the Advancee.  Advance, if not actually spent or if spent but accounts not settled should be shown as advance and not as expenditure and all such outstanding/unsettled advances should be shown in the SoEs separately.


5.15   The audit will verify the status of settlement of all advances.

MIS-CLASSIFICATION OF EXPENDITURE

5.16   If any item of receipt or payment (cheque), belongs to one head of account has been wrongly classified under different head, the error can be corrected by making an adjustment entry in the journal and posting of the same in the related ledger account heads. It should be noted that such corrections in the cash book or ledgers can be made before the accounts of a financial year are closed to prepare annual accounts for audit purposes.

JOURNAL

5.17   Journal is one of the important account book but its use is restricted to recording adjustment entries only other than cash transactions. Vouchers shall support each adjustment entry passed through a Journal. Brief narration of each entry shall be given in the voucher and it should be signed by the Cheque drawing officer. The Finance/Accounts Manager at Health Society will check each such entry of the Journal with the Journal voucher and other subsidiary vouchers and put dated initials against the entries checked.

LEDGER

5.18   The ledger is also an important register in which all transactions recorded in the cash book or journals are classified under different heads of accounts.

5.19   The ledger should be kept in the standard form. Separate pages are to be opened for each item of expenditure. The ledger accounts shall be arranged and grouped in such a manner that the desired information is promptly secured.

5.20   Every ledger account is divided into two sides, the left-hand side being the "debit side" and the right hand side the "credit side". All items of debits and credits of the cash book and journal shall, invariably be posted on the same day in respective ledger accounts. Daily totals should be made, shown in the inner column and the progressive totals shown, wherever necessary in the outer (balance) column.

5.21   All the ledger accounts shall be closed at the end of the month. Totals would also be made in the classified abstract. Monthly totals of various ledger accounts shall then be tallied with the totals of classified abstract and discrepancy, if any, will be rectified and reconciled.

5.22   Bank account shall be posted from the daily totals of cheques issued and challans/remittances (deposited) made into the Bank.

RECEIPT AND PAYMENT STATEMENT

5.23   Monthly account of receipts and payments shall be prepared immediately after closing of the accounts for the month but not later then 5th of the next month.

BANK RECONCILIATION STATEMENT

5.24   Bank reconciliation statement will be prepared on monthly basis by reconciling the cash book and Bank Pass Book/Bank Statement by 10th day of the following month.  Bank Pass Book will be sent to the bank on weekly basis for making up-to-date entries of credits and debits in the month.  Any discrepancy will be rectified and difference explained in the bank reconciliation statement as per the format provided .
         
ADVANCE REGISTER

5.25   All advances sanctioned to an officer of State Health Society or to the District Programme Management Unit or to the In-charge Medical Officer of a CHC or PHC or to any other official of the above institutions and also to any non-government organization, shall be entered in the Advance Register (format given in  immediately after the advance amount/ cheque is given to the advancee. Any advance remaining unadjusted at the year end may be adjusted in the SoE for the last quarter of the year. However, the procedure for adjustment/settlement/refund of advances and their depiction in the Advance Register may continue as prescribed. The audit by Chartered Accountant would ensure the compliance and also highlight the advances pending adjustment for long period.  For the purpose of facilitating proper tracking of advances and their settlement, an Advance Tracking Register should be maintained, at all the levels from where the advances are given, in the Format given.

REGISTER OF FIXED ASSETS

5.26   Each State/District Society shall maintain Stock Registers for the articles or item of permanent or of non-consumable nature indicating the details of such assets e.g. furniture, fixtures, equipment's, machinery, instruments, vehicles, computer systems etc. purchased during the programme period. Such register is also called as Register of permanent (nature) articles or Dead Stock register. Annual physical verification shall be carried out in the month of April every year. This register shall be maintained in the format given.

5.27   Only those articles, as mentioned in the above para, will be treated as assets of the society which are procured, used and installed in the Office of the Society and will form part of the core asset of the society. Formal tracking as per the requirements of the Asset Register for the entire life of the asset will be done by the society.    

5.28   All other assets which are purchased by the society and subsequently handed over to the Office of Health & Family Welfare/Family Welfare Stores/CMOs/PHCs/CHCs, etc. will be shown as transferred to such entities in the Asset Register and no further tracking about the life of the asset will be required. However, a certificate from the receiving entity will be required to be kept in the asset register with contra- entry in the ‘Location/Under custody’ column of the Asset Register .

RE-APPROPRIATION OF FUNDS

5.29     Any changes in the approved PIP/AWP may be discussed during the quarterly and annual reviews and implemented by mutual consent. The States/UTs may amend their approved AWP within 10% of any of the sub item(s) so as to have flexibility in inter-component use of funds without affecting the overall outlay approved for the State/UT for the year. Activity-wise performance evaluation will then be synchronized with the revised work plan. In all such cases FMG, GOI will necessarily be informed of this revision.

COMPUTERISATION OF ACCOUNTS

 

5.30   It is desirable that maintenance of accounts at the State/UT Health Societies as well as at District Health Societies is computerized so that the account statements can be prepared accurately and promptly with least efforts and time. State should maintain accounts in Tally software as the trained personnel in this software are widely available. 


5.31   Even if the accounts are maintained in computerized form in Tally, at least the Cash Book should be maintained manually as well.  The print out of daily, weekly or monthly statements may also be serially kept in file.


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