| DATE: |
July 22, 1997 |
| TO: |
Agency Addressed |
| FROM: |
William O. Monroe, Director
Division of Accounting & Auditing
Office of Comptroller |
| |
| SUBJECT: |
INTERACTIVE VOICE RESPONSE SYSTEM |
We now have in place an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) System to provide EFT
payment information and vendor payment information to callers. The system has two
phone numbers to call depending on the information desired.
The EFT System Phone Number is 413-7262 or Suncom 293-7262. This phone number
will provide EFT participants with the following information related to EFT payments:
- Start Date Information-the anticipated pay date that their EFT will start,
- Current Payment Information-the most recent payment made by EFT, and
- Upcoming Payment Information-if payroll has run and it is not settlement
date/pay day yet, the system will tell the caller the upcoming payment information.
If assistance is needed from an employee of the Department, a 0 out option is available
to get assistance. Please inform your employees of the availability of this new
system.
The Vendor Information System Phone Number is 413-7269 or Suncom 293-7269. This
system will provide payment information based on Vendor Number and invoice number
and/or dollar amount. It searches for a match within the most recent 30 day period.
This number also has a 0 out option if assistance is needed. The Vendor Ombudsman
Section will provide assistance. Agencies are encouraged to inform vendors about
this new system, including providing information in purchase orders and contracts.
The Department of Management Services has agreed to include the phone number in
the boiler plate language of their purchasing documents.
If you have any questions please call Hal Foy, Bob Barrett for vendor payment
information, or Mike Crowley for EFT information at 488-1951 or Suncom 278-1951.
| DATE: |
July 23, 1997 |
| TO: |
Agency Addressed |
| FROM: |
William O. Monroe, Director
Division of Accounting & Auditing
Office of Comptroller |
| |
| SUBJECT: |
YEAR 2000 CHANGES |
As requested in the SAMAS User Meeting we will implement changes for the Year
2000 on a quarterly basis. Effective October 1, 1997, the following transaction
screens will be modified to be Year 2000 compliant:
| Transaction 11 - Master File LTD Adjustments |
| Transaction 20 - Allotments |
| Transaction 21 - Appropriations, Approved Budget, Estimated Revenue |
| Transaction 22 - Releases |
| Transaction 57 - Overpayment of Taxes |
| Transaction 75 - Flow-through Expenditures |
| Transaction 95 - Sub-recipient Expense |
We are working to have screen formats for these transactions available on our
Web page at http://www.dbf.state.fl.us. If you need a hard-copy of the format, call
the SAMAS Help Desk at 487-2627 or Suncom 277-2627.
Also effective October 1, 1997, the transaction history file on the informational
data base will have mirror date fields which are Year 2000 compliant. The existing
date fields as well as their corresponding expanded date fields will be populated.
Therefore, if you feel you need to make changes to your report programs because
of sorts, comparisons or calculations using date fields, you may do so using the
new field. Otherwise, your reports will continue to run without modifications.
On October 1, 1997, the Vendor Client, Vendor Employee, and Vendor Regular (not
Statewide for SPURS users) processes and files will be compliant but no screen changes
were necessary. The informational data base will carry mirror date fields which
will be populated. The expansion option, expansion set, and director manager files
already carry compliant dates on the informational data base.
If you have questions concerning our Year 2000 modifications, please call the
Help Desk at 487-2627 or Suncom 277-2627.
| DATE: |
July 30, 1997 |
| TO: |
Agency Addressed |
| FROM: |
William O. Monroe, Director
Division of Accounting and Auditing
Office of the Comptroller |
| |
| SUBJECT: |
RECURRING PAYMENTS |
Effective July 1, 1997, the Recurring Payment System was made available for use
by State agencies. The Recurring Payment System is for use when making payments
that are identical or similar in nature. State agencies are encouraged to use the
Recurring Payment System in order to eliminate duplication of efforts and to minimize
use of paper.
The Recurring Payment System may be used for payments to State agencies as well
as payments to vendors on a fiscal year basis. These payments include, but are not
limited to; rents, utilities, maintenance services, etc. The Recurring Payment System
may also be used for annual contracts paid out as a fixed monthly rate.
The Recurring Payment System allows an agency to schedule their repetitive payments
once prior to the initial payment. Payments may be on a monthly or quarterly cycle
and be a fixed or variable amount. Agency input of the required payment information
will be done by accessing the "RE" Function on the Main Accounting Menu. Updating
of the recurring payment file is immediate once an agency has completed their "input"
and "approval" of the payment information.
The Bureau of Auditing has developed a certification checklist to be completed
by State agencies for each recurring payment ID number. Please call the Bureau of
Auditing contacts listed below for copies of the certification form. Agency certifications
for commodities and contracts should be completed and submitted to your respective
Bureau of Auditing audit section or appropriate field office for all recurring payment
requests. No additional documentation will be required at this time for recurring
payment requests. In lieu of submission of the agency certification for private
sector lease payments, agencies should input the lease number in the appropriate
field on the recurring payment input screen. Upon receipt of the agency certification
and/or system notification of the payment request, the Bureau of Auditing will review
and approve or disapprove the recurring payment request. Once a recurring payment
request has been approved by the Bureau of Auditing, the initial payment and all
subsequent payments for the fiscal year will be automatically processed by the system,
unless information in certain Comptroller sensitive data elements is changed by
the agency. A change in any of the Comptroller sensitive data elements will require
the recurring payment request to be re-approved by the Bureau of Auditing. A listing
of the Comptroller sensitive data elements is included in the SAMAS Recurring Payment
handout.
A SAMAS Recurring Payment handout with input instructions is available upon request
from the SAMAS Help Desk. If you have any questions concerning Recurring Payment
entries, please call the SAMAS Help Desk at 487-2627 or Suncom 277-2627. You may
also call Cheri Greene at 850-414-7861 (SUNCOM 994-7861), Sharon Schrader at 850-414-7835
( SUNCOM 994-7835), or the appropriate Bureau of Auditing Field Office.
| DATE: |
August 6, 1997 |
| TO: |
Agencies Addressed |
| FROM: |
Bill Monroe, Director of Accounting & Auditing
Office of Comptroller |
| |
| SUBJECT: |
AUTOMATED DISBURSEMENT CORRECTIONS |
Several errors have surfaced in our process to automate the correction of disbursement
transactions. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you. The following
is a summary of the errors and changes that we have made:
Release of 7/8/1997:
- Terminal id incorrectly reflected "BTCH' and was changed to 'AUTO'.
- Statewide Document Number (SWDN) was not being stored on history transactions.
- Automatic TR58 did not properly change the Bookkeeping Indicator (BKI) to
blank for any disbursement that originally contained BKI = Z, X, N or A.
Release of 8/5/1997:
- The automated TR58 did not always correctly contain the same site code as
the originating transaction.
- Amount, Units, and Time correctly reversed the original value for these
fields, but Quantity was not reversed with the opposite sign from the originating
transaction.
- When an entire voucher or JT was rejected by the Bureau of Auditing, there
were cases when only parts of the voucher or JT were successfully backed out
and the rest appeared on the Batch 58 Error Report. This occurred when lines
of the voucher or JT contained the same Account Code (including CFI), Voucher
Number, Voucher Type, Object Code (4 digits), Vendor, Invoice and Subvendor
but different State Program Codes (digits 1 - 10). The Departmental SAMAS nightly
voucher process was modified to ignore State Program which will increase our
ability to generate an automatic TR58.
We would appreciate your keeping us informed of any situations that you feel
are not handled properly in this process. As it is refined, we hope that your efforts
to reconcile the Departmental and Central accounting entries will be tremendously
reduced. If additional information is needed, please call the SAMAS Help Desk at
487-2627, Suncom 277-2627.
| DATE: |
August 12, 1997 |
| TO: |
Agency Addressed |
| FROM: |
William O. Monroe, Director
Division of Accounting and Auditing
Office of the Comptroller |
| |
| SUBJECT: |
EXPENDITURE REFUNDS |
In order to assist State Agencies with processing Current Year Expenditure Refunds,
effective August 5, 1997, Expenditure Refunds (transactions 38/39) are no longer
automatically deleted from the system. These transactions will not be included in
the 5-day negative balance deletion or the monthly deletion process. These JTs will
not be automatically deleted or backed out of the system and will remain on the
system the entire fiscal year until all remaining transactions not processed are
purged at June 30.
If additional information concerning this change is needed, please call the SAMAS
Help Desk at 850-487-2627 ( SUNCOM 277-2627) or Sharon Schrader at 850-414-7835
(SUNCOM 994-7835).
| DATE: |
September 10, 1997 |
| TO: |
Agency Addressed |
| FROM: |
William O. Monroe, Director
Division of Accounting and Auditing
Office of Comptroller |
| |
| SUBJECT: |
Draft Comptroller's Memorandum - Salary Overpayment Refund
Processing |
Attached is a draft Comptroller's Memorandum regarding proposed changes for processing
salary refunds. Please review this draft memorandum and provide any comments by
October 10, 1997, to:
| Allen Reams, Chief |
| Bureau of State Payrolls |
| Room 364 Fletcher Building |
| Tallahassee, FL 32399-0350 |
| Fax No. 922-5181, Suncom 292-5181 |
If additional information is needed, please contact Jack Peterson at 850/414-1874,
SUNCOM 994-1874 or Steve Isted at 850/414-7822, SUNCOM 994-7822, in the Bureau of
State Payrolls.
DRAFT
COMPTROLLERS MEMORANDUM #
SUBJECT: SALARY OVERPAYMENT REFUND PROCESSING
By changing the way we have been processing salary refunds we feel we can provide
a better service to each agency served by the Bureau of State Payrolls (BOSP). The
proposed changes as discussed in the following paragraphs will allow for a more
efficient utilization of staff at the BOSP as well as the agency, reduce significantly
the amount of time spent on reconciliations both at BOSP and at the agency, eliminate
any risk of loss of payment between the agency and BOSP (no inter-agency mailing
of checks), reduce the time between processing transactions and posting transactions,
allowing agencies to maintain control when overpayment is repaid on an installment
basis. We feel the benefits discussed above far outweigh any transitional problems
you might encounter when changing a business process as we are here.
The Office of Comptroller, Cashier's Office, will discontinue accepting deposits
for salary refunds effective December 1, 1997. Salary refund checks or money orders
received in the Cashier's Office after November 26 will be returned to the submitting
agency unprocessed. To ensure proper implementation, agencies should cease mailing
separate forms and checks as of November 21, 1997. Agency managers are responsible
for establishing procedures to deposit cash, checks, and warrants for refunds of
current and prior year(s) salary overpayments into an appropriate account. Agencies
must submit journal transfer (JT) forms to the Bureau of State Payrolls' Salary
Refund Clearing Trust Account 44-74-2-194001-44100000-00-001800-00. Attach the following
items to each JT:
- Appropriate salary refund forms, DBF–BP–29 or DBF–BP–07,
- A running proof tape in the same sequence as the attached salary refund
form(s), and
- Any pertinent documents needed to expedite the accounting transactions and
to update employee records.
Mail all these materials to:
Salary Refund Processing
Bureau of State Payrolls
Department of Banking & Finance
Room B-23, Fletcher Building
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0350
Bureau of State Payrolls staff will verify that the submitted forms total the
same amount as the JT and the agency proof tape. Forms containing incomplete or
erroneous information will be returned to the submitting agency and the JT will
be adjusted to reflect the returns. Please limit the number of refund forms attached
to a single JT to twenty–five (25) to facilitate processing.
Appropriate revisions to Volume V, Section 2, of the Payroll Manual will be distributed
separately. Agency managers and personnel should review the new procedures closely
as agency requirements and responsibilities have changed considerably in the event
of a returned check. There also are new requirements for the agency to maintain
a running reconciliation of employee refunds deposited to the agency account and
the amounts processed by BOSP.
Agencies are required to hold the salary refund form for an overpayment collected
in installments until the full amount adjusting a single warrant is collected. As
with other receipts, the individual checks or warrants making up the installments
should be deposited as soon as possible. Timeliness is always of the utmost importance
to ensure prompt posting to the agency account and employee records. Agencies should
exercise particular care to expedite submission when approaching the end of the
fiscal or calendar year.
Be aware that funds received by an agency in one calendar or fiscal year must
be recorded as refunded in that same year. This requires submission of the refund
form and JT (even if the installments are not complete) to the BOSP before
the last scheduled cancellation run for the calendar year.
Thank you, in advance, for adhering to this new procedure. Should you encounter
any problems or have questions during this transitional period, you may contact
Jack Peterson at 850/414-1874, SUNCOM 994-1874 or Steve Isted at 850/414-7822, SUNCOM
994-7822, in the Bureau of State Payrolls.
DRAFT
| DATE: |
October 2, 1997 |
| TO: |
Agency Addressed |
| FROM: |
William O. Monroe, Director
Division of Accounting and Auditing
Office of Comptroller |
| |
| SUBJECT: |
Year 2000 Changes |
Effective December 15, 1997, the following transaction screens will be modified
to be Year 2000 compliant:
| Transaction 1SX |
(Accounts Payable only) - Request for Certifications |
| Transaction 3S - |
Cash Receipts and Clearing Fund File |
| Transaction 30 - |
Direct Deposit Receipts |
| Transaction 31 - |
Clearing Fund Receipts |
| Transaction 33 - |
Direct Deposit Receivable Receipts |
| Transaction 34 - |
Clearing Fund Receivable Receipts |
| Transaction 35 - |
Letter of Credit Cash Receipts |
| Transaction 9S - |
Accounts Receivable Subsidiary Ledger |
| Transaction 90 - |
Accounts Receivable |
| Transaction 91 - |
Memo Accounts Receivable |
| Transaction 97 - |
JT Receivable Receipts |
We are working to have screen formats for these transactions available on our
Web page at http://www.dbf.state.fl.us. If you need a hard-copy of the format,
call the SAMAS Help Desk at 487-2627.
The transaction history file on the informational data base has mirror date fields
which are Year 2000 compliant. The existing date fields as well as their corresponding
expanded date fields have been populated. Therefore, if you feel you need to make
changes to your history transaction report programs because of sorts, comparisons
or calculations using date fields, you may do so using the new field. Otherwise,
your reports will continue to run without modifications.
In the Natural reporting process, we are not changing the format of the standard
parameter because of size limitations. However, we have developed a date conversion
routine that you can copy or use as a guide in converting the dates in the standard
parameter. The routine is in library N000STD and is called STDPARM.
If you have questions concerning our Year 2000 modifications, please call the
Help Desk at 487-2627.
| DATE: |
October 20, 1997 |
| TO: |
Agency Addressed |
| FROM: |
William O. Monroe, Director
Division of Accounting and Auditing
Office of Comptroller |
| |
| SUBJECT: |
TRAVEL AGENCY SURCHARGE |
It has come to our attention that some travel agencies are starting to assess
a surcharge for the use of their service. Our understanding of this surcharge is
that travel agencies are attempting to recoup lost/reduced commissions normally
paid to them from the airlines. No additional service is being provided for this
surcharge.
Please be advised that this surcharge may not be paid by state agencies, and
as such should not be vouchered for payment. Inquiry should be made with the travel
agency prior to doing business with them to ensure that no surcharge applies.
If you have any questions regarding this surcharge, please contact Cheri Greene
at (850) 414-7861 (SUNCOM 994-7861) or Sharon Schrader at (850) 414-7835 (SUNCOM
994-7835).
| DATE: |
November 6, 1997 |
| TO: |
Agency Addressed |
| FROM: |
Bill Monroe, Director
Division of Accounting and Auditing
Office of State Comptroller
|
| |
| SUBJECT: |
INVOICES |
A university has provided us documents which resemble invoices for services from
a vendor. The documents are, however, offers for services. The university indicated
that it had not requested the services. The vendor is World Telecommunication
Database, located in Zurich, Switzerland. Although this may be a legitimate
company and there may be no intent to be deceptive, we encourage each agency to
be alert to these types of documents to ensure they are not mistaken for invoices
and submitted for payment when no services have been requested or provided. If additional
information is needed on this matter, please contact Mike Gomez, Bureau of Auditing,
at 488-7193, Suncom 278-7193.
| DATE: |
November 12, 1997 |
| TO: |
Agency Addressed |
| FROM: |
William O. Monroe, Director
Division of Accounting and Auditing
Office of State Comptroller |
| |
| SUBJECT: |
SALARY OVERPAYMENT REFUNDS AND WARRANT CANCELLATIONS |
Due to year end concerns and concerns raised about the direction we were heading
regarding Salary Overpayments, we are NOT planning any changes to either
of the subject processes until at least February 1998. This means that the Office
of Comptroller, Cashier's Office, will continue to accept receipts for salary refunds
until further notice is given, probably around February 1998.
The entire Cancellation and Adjustment component of our payroll system is being
re-programmed due to year 2000 concerns. The new processes are planned to allow
Agencies access to screens that will allow all Salary Refunds and Warrant Cancellations
to be entered at the Agency. Although all processes are not described in detail
at this time, it is known that it will be necessary to deposit salary refunds into
an appropriate account at the agency level. However, it will not be necessary to
transfer the funds to the Comptroller's Office as was described in a Draft memorandum
recently disseminated.
Warrant Cancellations will also be handled at the Agency level. Concerns over
internal controls over the warrants have not been worked out in detail but we are
looking at having the Agency input as well as destroy canceled warrants.
Some other processes will be included in this re-programming effort. However,
it is not known at this time how many of our requested enhancements will become
a reality due to the tight time constraints on the year 2000 project. The Cancellation
and Adjustment component of Payroll includes many things such as manual payrolls,
noncash benefits, moving expense, tax refunds and tax collections. We will advise
you when we have more details about what enhancements will become a reality.
We apologize if the draft memorandum regarding Salary Overpayment Refund Processing
caused any confusion or additional work on your behalf. However, any work done to
set up procedures for depositing these funds will not be wasted, just postponed
until around February 1998. If you have any questions please contact Steve Isted
at (850)414-7822 or SUNCOM 994-7822 in the Bureau of State Payrolls.
| DATE: |
November 14, 1997 |
| TO: |
Agency Addressed |
| FROM: |
William O. Monroe, Director
Division of Accounting and Auditing
Office of State Comptroller |
| |
| SUBJECT: |
TIMING OF PAYMENTS ON DEFERRED PAYMENT CONTRACTS |
During post-audit reviews of deferred payment contracts, we have noted several
problems regarding the timing of installment payments. In some instances, agencies
are paying significantly earlier than required while in other cases the payments
are being made late. These payments should be made in accordance with the amortization
schedule approved for the particular deferred payment contract. For example, if
the amortization schedule shows that a payment is to be made on May 1, then the
payment is due to the vendor on that date. This requires that an agency submit
a voucher for payment approximately 7-10 days prior to the due date. This should
allow enough time for the payment to be processed and the vendor to receive the
payment on or slightly before its due date.
We are aware that some agencies are requiring vendors to invoice them for payments
on these contracts with the understanding that when the invoice is received that
they still have 40 days to make the payment. This is incorrect. Please note that
the approved amortization schedule received at the inception of the contract serves
as the invoice for the entire term covered by the deferred payment contract. This
schedule should be submitted to the Comptroller's Office each time a payment is
made with the applicable payment date highlighted. If an agency is invoiced periodically
for the payments on a deferred payment contract, the date that an invoice is received
does not take precedence over the original amortization schedule. The suggested
method for handling these payments is to set up a "tickler file" for all deferred
payment contracts and note the date on which the payments are to be vouchered. This
will help serve as a reminder to make the payments each month or quarter without
having to rely on a vendor invoice.
In summary, timing of the payments is critical to insure that the State does
not lose interest by paying too early, and it does not incur late charges as a result
of paying late. The Comptroller's Office will closely monitor these payments to
ensure that economic prudence is maintained.
Thank you for your cooperation. If you have any questions regarding these instructions
or if we can be of additional assistance, please feel free to call Kevin Thompson
at 414-1829 (SC 994-1829) or Mark Hammett at 414-1828 (SC 994-1828).
