Finance

means the accounting procedures used as a check on the reliability ofthe information contained in accounting records, e.g., the use of a control account to verify the total of the accounts in a subsidiary ledger. ¹

means any systems, both manual and computerized, that account, control, or support any or all of the following:

• Revenues: including tax revenue, receipts for goods and services, transfer payments from other jurisdictions, grants received by the Government or gifts;
• Expenditures: including payments for goods and services, grant payments, tax expenditures and tax credits, or transfer payments to other parties;
• Assets: including fixed assets, inventories of goods for consumption or sale, investments, land, accounts receivable, assets held in trust by the Government for other parties; and
• Liabilities: including accounts payable, amounts borrowed, and pension fund liabilities or liabilities relating to assets held in trust by the Government.

means the method of recording transactions by which revenues and expenses are reflected in the determination of results for the period in which they are considered to have been earned and incurred, respectively, whether or not such transactions have been settled finally by the receipt or payment of cash or its equivalent. ²

means a list of the account numbers and designations in a ledger. ³

means the maintenance of commitment records to prevent over utilization of the commitment authority granted by legislation in an appropriate act. ⁴

means a system through which financial information is used to account for the operations of an organization, to control its assets and liabilities, and to exercise management control and accountability. These systems encompass both financial administrative systems and program-related financial systems. ⁶

4.1

Unless prior approval by the Comptroller General has been granted, Departments shall utilize the SAM for all their financial processing requirements.

4.2

Specialized Accounting Systems

Specialized accounting systems , which may be operated at the departmental level, require the approval of the Comptroller General to ensure that:

1. The system meets with overall Governmental financial requirements; and,
2. The information produced is compatible with SAM.

Approval from the Comptroller General is required of any planned changes or enhancements to any specialized accounting system.

4.2.3

The Comptroller General shall periodically assess the ongoing need for specialized accounting systems and may revoke any system that has been previously approved.

Financial Data Bank

Individual accounting transactions must be recorded and identified by a series of code numbers from the Chart of Accounts which include:

1. Departmental and regional identification codes on the original source document;
2. Control numbers assigned by the Department of Finance;
3. Pre-printed form numbers; and
4. Vendor and customer reference numbers.

Cheque Issue Transactions

All headquarters and regional department locations are responsible for the preparation, authorization and input of payment requisition s in accordance with the account verification and payment requisitioning described in FAM 1702

The issuing of cheques requires:

1. controlling unused cheque s;
2. recording cheque s issued; and,
3. entering cheque issue information in the SAM.

Departmental cheque issue requirements are covered by FAM 1813.

Although regular cheque issue is by computer, the Education, Culture & Employment, Income Security Division and the Accounting Services Division of the Department of Finance may issue emergency cheques manually in accordance with FAM Policy 1803 and FAM 2116. However, such issues must be kept to a minimum, as all off cycle cheques require additional processing.

Non-Cheque Issue Transactions

Non- cheque issue accounting system transactions include:

1. Transactions recorded on journal voucher s;
2. Supply issue vouchers ;
3. Commitments;
4. Budget reallocations; and
5. Receipt of revenue.

Each expense transaction must be properly authorized and submitted to a finance officer (in accordance with the control procedures for encoding) and:

1. Entered into the SAM; or
2. Entered into another Government system which interfaces with the SAM that has been approved by the Comptroller General.

Each revenue transaction must be properly submitted to a Revenue Officer (in accordance with the control procedures for encoding) and:

1. Entered into the SAM; or
2. Entered into another Government system which interfaces with the SAM that has been approved by the Comptroller General.

Financial Reporting Services

Departments shall process transactions as soon as they are received to prevent an accumulation of transactions to be processed at the end of the accounting period.

Departmental Accounting Systems

Each department shall ensure that its accounting system satisfies FAM 1831 for accounting control requirements; management needs for financial information at all levels of the Government; and SAM requirements.

Financial managers shall monitor the system continuously to ensure that program managers receive meaningful accounting information.

Subsidiary accounting systems may be developed by departments to augment reports from the SAM. All such systems require the approval of the Comptroller General to ensure compatibility with SAM.

Where departments are operating subsidiary systems, control accounts must be used as a method of ensuring that the subsidiary systems and the SAM are in agreement.

Supporting Financial Documentation

Hardcopy backup of financial data is to be filed alphabetically inside three distinct sources:

• Vendor files;
• Customer files; and
• Employee travel files.

With the exception of General Ledger Journal Entries, which are to be filed numerically.