departmental circulars
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Departmental Circular No. 8 of 1999
Department of Agriculture
Private Bag:
Isikwama Seposi:
Privaat Sak:X9059
PIETERMARITZBURG
3200Telephone:
Ucingo:
Telefoon:0331 - 3559217 Telefax No.:
Isikhahlamezi:
Telefax Nr.:0331 - 431253 Enquiries:
Imibuzo:
Navrae:Ms A Laue Date:
Usuku:
Datum:1999-03-17 Reference No.:
Inkomba:
Verwysing Nr:
To: Ministry of Agriculture,
Chief Director and
Directors
DEPARTMENTAL CIRCULAR NO. 8 1999
IMPLEMENTATION OF A NEW PROCEDURE FOR HAND DRAWN CHEQUES WITH EFFECT FROM 1/4/1999
Hand Drawn Cheques
1.1
In recent months, the Department has been inundated with numerous requests regarding the requesting of hand drawn cheques. A complaint has been received from the Department of Finance that the Department of Agriculture is abusing the hand drawn cheque request system. It is therefore necessary to implement the following procedure with effect from 1/4/99:1.2
Requests for hand drawn cheques will only be attended to twice weekly, that is on the Tuesday and Thursday of any week. Only in exceptional circumstances will urgent requests on any remaining day of the week be accommodated.1.3
Requests must be submitted to the Directorate: Administration, Financial Administration Division by not later than 081-130 on the Tuesday or Thursday. Cheque request submitted by 08H30 on Tuesdays can be collected on the Thursday at 14HOO and those requests submitted on Thursdays can be collected on Tuesdays at 14HOO at the Financial Administration Division.1.4
Claim forms must be completed correctly and be signed by the Responsibility Manager and official designated to authorise payments. All supporting documents must be attached. Photostat copies of invoices will only be accepted if it is certified as a true copy of the original document and that it has not been paid before. No facsimile copies will be accepted.1.5
Provision is made on the 1084 payment for a description and must in future be used to motivate why a hand drawn cheque is requested instead of processing the claim through the F M S system. A letter signed by the responsibility manager motivating the request will also be accepted.1.6
in the event where an invoice is not- required, there must be a clear indication of how the payment amount was arrived at. (e.g. resettlement costs, bursaries etc.)
Cheques in respect of various investigations and related matters and non-receipt of cheques
The following procedure is laid down with effect from 1/3/99 and must be adhered to at all times:
2.1
In order to accommodate the requirements of all Departments concerned, Department of Finance will only attend to the above requests twice weekly, that is Tuesday and Wednesday of any week. In exceptional circumstances only, the Department of Finance will accommodate urgent request should this occur on any remaining day of the week.2.2
The Department of Finance will furthermore only accede to requests submitted in the proper format, together with fully supported motivation. The following motivation must be submitted together with the relevant supporting documentation that is Payee, Amount, Cheque Number, Micro, Number, Cheque date and, most important, the date on which the cheque was negotiated/cashed, to be furnished on the attached form (Annexure 1). The official/s submitting such requests will be required to personally sign for all the relevant documentation for record purposes.2.3
In the event that the Department of Agriculture receives a request from a company/business requiring a copy of a cheque due to the non receipt thereof, an Affidavit (Annexure 2) must be completed and forwarded to the Department of Finance by return of post. Kindly note that facsimile copies are not acceptable and that any request for a copy of a cheque not submitted in the proper format will not be acceding to.
FMS 1084 PAYMENTS FOR PERSONNEL WITH A PERSAL RECORD (New 1999/2000 IRP5 Certificates)
The following procedure is laid down:
3.1
With effect from 1 March 1999, only certain exceptional payments will be allowed on FMS 1084 payment advice for personnel who have a PERSAL record.3.2
Persons who do not have a PERSAL record must be appointed onto the PERSAL salary system (refer attached Banking and Salaries Administration circular No. 12 dated 26 November 1998). Manual tax records will only be kept in exceptional cases, by arrangement with the Department of Finance Tax Section, on submission of adequate written information as to why an individual cannot be appointed on the PERSAL system.3.3
With the effect from the 1999/2000 tax year (1 March 1999) virtually all remuneration (see Annexure A) paid to individuals who render a service to KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Administration must be disclosed on tax certificates. It is foreseen that the Tax section has insufficient staff to cope with taxing and recording of all payments made on FMS 1084 payment vouchers, whereas facilities are available on the PERSAL system.3.4
The use of the PERSAL system will ensure that control of payments subsist with Departments. The delays and logistical problems of processing 1084 payments at a central point can be averted. The transaction audit trail and security password's facets of the PERSAL system should have marked impact in decreasing fraudulently compiled FMS 1084 advices. Facilities exist on PERSAL system to have payments credited directly into an individual's bank account; this should reduce cheque fraud to a certain extent. The simpler codes of the PERSAL system should lead to less mis-allocations with improved recording of financial information through the programmatic interface between PERSAL and FMS. PERSAL generated payments have to be reversed by FMS adjustment journal which must be processed centrally by the Department of Finance, Tax Section to enable manual adjustment of tax records.
- 1084 forms will be accepted under the following circumstances: (to be submitted in triplicate)
4.1
For leave gratuity payments where the error message "no leave credits" prevent payment on PERSAL. Personnel directorate should give priority to the updating of leave credits for employees in permanent employment who are aged over forty nine (49) years in the case of women and over fifty four (54) in the case of men to circumvent this problem.4.2
For all payments where the error message "no salary record" prevents payment on PERSAL. (This error occurs when there are no normal pay slip records on the PERSAL system at function 5.6.4)4.3
Where no codes exist that interfaces to the desired FMS account (e.g. Deduction Disallowance Account).4.4
Re-issue of stale cheques using the "201946" "Cheques cancelled and Re-issued" ledger code. Entries to ledger code "201946" must be processed by the Department of Finance, Paymaster General (PMG) cheque control sections in Ulundi or Pietermaritzburg. The form 10B must be completed and be attached to the 1084 request for a re-issue of the cheque.4.5
Re-issue of a salary or housing loans returned by a financial institution.4.6
By the Ulundi PMG section from urgent hand written cheques with the required approval. However, the PERSAL hand warrant voucher form (Annexure B) cannot be used at Ulundi.4.7
If it can be proven that the payment cannot be made using the PERSAL salary system.
- FMS System generated cheques in respect of personnel related expenditure:
The processing of FMS 1084 forms must still be submitted to Department of Finance, Tax Section for system generated cheques.
- Hand written cheques in respect of PERSAL payments:
Processing must be done via the PMG section, Department of Finance, in Ulundi or Pietermaritzburg. The PERSAL hand warrant voucher form (Annexure B) must be used for urgent hand written cheques at the Pietermaritzburg PMG section where possible.
- Major account codes:
Credit entries to the following ledger codes: "201768" "Debts/PERSAL/Int Bear/Contr account" and "202898" "Disallowances/debts (Prev Year)" have a tax record implication; forms containing such entries must therefore be processed by the Department of Finance Tax section. Kindly bring the content of this circular to the attention of all your staff.
Your co-operation will be appreciated.
SECRETARY FOR AGRICULTURE
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