REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

COMMISSION ON AUDIT
MINISTRY OF FINANCE
MINISTRY OF THE BUDGET
Metropolitan Manila

COMMISSION ON AUDIT CIRCULAR NO. 79-100

FINANCE CIRCULAR NO. 6-79
NATIONAL BUDGET CIRCULAR NO. 301

June 1, 1979

TO : All Heads of Ministries, Bureaus, Offices, Self- Governing Boards and

Commissions, State Colleges and Universities; Presidents of the Philippine
National Bank, Philippine Veterans Bank, and Land Bank of the Philippines, COA
Resident Auditors; Deputized Disbursing Officers and all others concerned.

SUBJECT : Prescribing regulations on encashment of TCAA Checks; Introduction of new

forms and procedures covering the issuance of payment of checks issued
against Treasury Checking Account for Agencies (TCAA). FINANCE CIRCULAR
NO. 6-79 NATIONAL BUDGET CIRCULAR NO. 301

This circular is issued to minimize if not entirely prevent tampering of amounts to TCAA
checks issued; issuance of TCAA checks on the basis of fake allotments and fake cash
disbursements ceilings (CDC); and issuance of checks in excess of the cash disbursements
ceilings.

In addition to the existing rules and regulations governing disbursement by TCAA

checks, the following guidelines are hereby issued. The responsibilities of officials concerned
which are
enumerated herein shall also be in addition to their present responsibilities prescribed under
separate laws, as well as circulars and regulations not inconsistent herewith;

1. Encashment of TCAA Checks only at head office/branches of authorized government

depository banks indicated on the face of the checks.

1.1 TCAA checks shall be encashable at the bank head office or branch where the
deputized disbursing officer is accredited by the Treasurer of the Philippines; said
bank head office or branch shall be indicated on the face of the check.

1.2 To ensure effective control, TCAA checks shall be encashable only at the bank
head office or branch indicated on the face of the check although they may be
deposited in any bank.
 1.3 Central Offices issuing salary checks to their field personnel shall study the
feasibility of salary payments thru authorized government depository banks. This
will solve the problem of the field personnel on the encashment of their salary
checks and at the same time prevent losses of salary checks in transit.

2. The COA Resident Auditor's Advice of TCAA Checks Countersigned

2.1 All COA Resident Auditors shall prepare as often as necessary but at least daily
an Advice of TCAA Checks countersigned by them as well as those
countersigned by their authorized superior COA Officials. Sample form is
attached as Appendix "A".

2.2 The checks shall be listed in numerical sequence. The Advice shall be certified
as correct by the resident Auditor. It shall be prepared in three copies and
distributed as follows:

Original - Bank Head Office or Branch where

the check is encashable

Duplicate - Treasurer of the Philippines or the

authorized Treasury Field Representative

Triplicate - COA Resident Auditor's File

2.3 The Advice shall contain the serial numbers of the TCAA checks countersigned
during the day, dates of issue, amounts and the names of payees. The agency
and the deputized disbursing officer's (DDO's) codes shall also be indicated on
the space provided therefor. For cross- reference and control, the Advice shall
be numbered as follows:

A 79 2 35
: : : :.....numerical series for the year
: : :...........month
: :................ year
:.................... stands for Auditor

2.4 The total amount of countersigned checks appearing in the Advice shall be
indicated in figures and in words immediately after the last entry closest to the left
hand margin to avoid insertion of spurious entries.

2.5 The auditor concerned shall see to it that this Advice is submitted directly to the
addressee bank. Where the DDO is accredited to several branches, the auditor
shall send separate advice to each branch where the checks shall be
encashable. Only authorized liaison officers may be allowed to handcarry the
Advices to the bank. Where this may not be possible because of the distance,
the Advice may be sent thru the fastest and safest means. In no case shall the
advice be released thru the payees/claimants of checks.

2.6 An Auditor who has several agencies under his audit jurisdiction shall prepare
separate Advice for each agency.
 2.7 It is understood that the COA Resident auditor who prepared this Advice had
submitted his specimen signature card to the bank pursuant to COA
Memorandum No. 76-60.

3. The Deputized Disbursing Officer's Advice of TCAA Checks Issued

3.1 All other TCAA checks issued and released but not subject to preaudit shall be
listed down in the Deputized Disbursing Officer's Advice of TCAA Checks Issued
(See Appendix "B")which shall be prepared as often as necessary but at least
daily by the Deputized Disbursing Officer (DDO). Checks shall be listed down in
numerical sequence.

3.2 This Advice shall be certified as correct by the DDO and approved by the
Head/authorized representative of the issuing agency. It shall be prepared in
four copies for distribution as follows:

Original - Bank head office or branch where

the check is encashable

Duplicate - Treasurer of the Philippines or

authorized Treasury Field representative

Triplicate - COA Resident Auditor of Issuing agency

Quadruplicate - DDO's file

The DDO shall immediately submit the triplicate copy to the resident Auditor not
later than the day after issuance of the Advice to enable the auditor to keep tab of
the amount of checks already drawn against the CDC.

3.3 The Advice shall contain the same information shown on the Auditor's Advice
(No. 2.3 above) and shall be given a separate Advice number. The agency and
the DDO's codes shall be indicated on the space provided therefor. For cross
reference and control, the Advice shall be numbered as follows:

D 79 2 35
: : : :....numerical series for the year
: : :......month
: :............year
:................stands for DDO

3.4 The total amount of the checks appearing in the Advice shall be indicated in
figures and words immediately after the last entry closest to the left hand margin
to avoid insertion of spurious entries.

3.5 The head of the issuing agency and the deputized disbursing officer concerned
shall see to it that this Advice is submitted directly to the addressee bank. If the
DDO is accredited to several bank branches, he shall prepare and send separate
Advice to each branch where the check shall be encashable. Only authorized
liaison officers may handcarry this Advice to the bank. Where this may not be
possible because of the distance, the Advice may be sent thru the fastest and
 safest means. In no case shall this Advice be released thru the payees/claimants
of checks.

3.6 It is understood that the signatories to the TCAA checks and this Advice had
submitted the required specimen signature cards to the bank.

4. Responsibilities of the Deputized Disbursing Officer.

4.1 The DDO shall prepare and submit daily the Advice herein required in addition to
the daily Report of Checks Issued and Cancelled (RCIC).

4.2 He shall see to it that the total amount of checks issued by him is within his
authorized cash disbursement ceiling.

4.3 He shall prepare and submit within the first five days of the succeeding month,
the Report of Accountability for Accountable Forms for TCAA checks using GF
16A. Repeated failure to submit this report will be sufficient ground on the part of
the Bureau of the Treasury to refuse issuance of additional blank checks. The
report shall be prepared in four copies and distributed as follows:

Original - Auditor
Duplicate - Treasurer of the Philippines or
authorized representative
Triplicate - Accounting
Quadruplicate - DDO's file copy

4.4 Utmost care shall be exercised when preparing the checks to prevent errors and
erasures. Checks bearing erasures as to date, payee and amount shall be
cancelled and invalidated.

5. Responsibilities of Chief Accountant/head of accounting unit (of agencies and operating

units).

5.1 The chief accountant/head of accounting unit shall reconcile TCAA Checks
Issued and paid to facilitate detection of errors, tampering in amounts of checks,
etc. This reconciliation shall be done within one week after receipt of the
Treasury Account Current Statement for TCAA Checks Issued and TCAA Checks
Paid.

5.2 He shall make sure that the total amount of TCAA checks and treasury warrants
issued by his agency does not exceed the authorized cash disbursement ceiling
as categorized in the Notice of CDC as to current year expenditures, accounts
payable of prior years, infrastructure, etc.

5.3 He shall also make sure that the serial numbers of the issued checks per Report
of Checks Issued by Deputized Disbursing Officer (RCIDDO) are as reported in
the Report of Accountability for Accountable Forms.

6. Responsibilities of the Head of issuing agency.

 6.1 The head of issuing agency shall see to it that disbursements of his agency for a
given quarter are within the authorized cash disbursement ceiling for that
particular quarter. He shall also see to it that the quarterly disbursements of
DDO's do not exceed their Advice of Cash Disbursement Ceilings (ACDC)
approved by him or his duly authorized representative.

6.2 He shall exercise close supervision over accounting, cashiering and other fiscal
functions to prevent losses of government funds. He shall see to it that the
DDO's Advice required herein, the RCIC's, the RCIDDO's and other related
reports are accomplished and submitted promptly and properly utilized for control
purposes.

7. Responsibilities of the authorized government depository bank

7.1 The authorized government depository bank shall make sure that the TCAA
checks encashed by them are as reported in the Auditor's Advice of
Countersigned TCAA Checks or DDO's Advice of TCAA Checks Issued.

7.2 They shall see to it that the checks presented for encashment are encashable at
their respective offices/branches as provided therein and for the amounts
specified in the Advice of checks issued.

7.3 They shall not encash TCAA Checks bearing erasures as to date, payee and
amount. They shall be held responsible for any losses that may arise due to their
encashing or accepting for deposits TCAA Checks despite erasures as to date,
payee and amount.

8. Responsibilities of the Treasurer of the Philippines

8.1 The Bureau of Treasury shall forward to the agencies concerned the Treasury
Account Current Statement for TCAA Checks Issued and TCAA Checks Paid to
enable the agency accountants to prepare the reconciliation of the TCAA Checks
Issued and Paid.

8.2 The authorized representative of the National Treasurer shall see to it that the
authorized cash disbursement ceilings of each agency within his jurisdiction are
not exceeded.

8.3 He shall see to it that all requisitions for blank checks are made only by the duly
authorized DDO and properly approved by the respective heads of agencies.

8.4 Issues of blank checks shall be covered by the Invoice and Receipt of
Accountable Forms (CF No. 33A) which the authorized DDO prepares and
submits to the Treasury representative. The Invoice and Receipt of Accountable
Forms shall be distributed as follows:

original - Treasury Provincial Fiscal Examiner

duplicate - Cash Operations Service, BTR
triplicate - COA Auditor of the DDO's agency
quadruplicate - Accounting Unit of DDO
 quintuplicate - DDO's file

The copy for the COA Auditor shall be sent by the Treasury Provincial Fiscal
Examiner.

8.5 The authorized representative of the Bureau of Treasury shall call the attention of
the DDO and the head of the issuing agency for failure to submit the Monthly
Report of Accountability for Accountable Forms, RCIC and other required reports.
Repeated failure on the part of the DDO to submit these reports shall be
sufficient cause to refuse issuance of additional blank checks.

8.6 Should the deputation of the DDO be suspended or cancelled, the Treasury
representative shall notify in writing the bank, the auditor concerned and the
DDO's head of office.

9. Responsibilities of the COA Resident Auditor.

9.1 The COA Resident Auditor shall strictly enforce the authorized cash
disbursement ceiling for the agency. All payments in excess thereof shall be
disallowed.

9.2 As part of his post-audit work, he shall also verify checks issued per Advices,
Appendices "A" and "B" and RCIDDO against quantity and serial numbers of
checks issued per Monthly Report of Accountability for Accountable Forms. He
shall disallow checks issued but not included as "Issued" in the corresponding
Monthly Report of Accountability for Accountable Forms.

9.3 He shall verify the quantity and serial numbers of blank TCAA checks received by
the DDO as reported in his Report of Accountability for Accountable Forms with
his copies of the Invoice and Receipt of Accountable Forms (GF 33 A) received
from the Bureau of Treasury or its field representative.

9.4 He shall verify the TCAA Reconciliation Statement prepared by the Chief
Accountant/Head Accounting Unit and immediately report all differences, errors,
tampering, reconciling items not adjusted, etc. to the Head of Issuing Agency
and the Treasurer of the Philippines, copy furnished the COA Regional
Director/Manager concerned.

9.5 He shall coordinate with co-auditors of bureaus/units within the ministry regarding
advices of allotments and cash disbursement ceilings. Auditors of central offices
shall furnish auditors of regional offices with copies of sub-allotment advices
(SAA) and advice of cash disbursement ceilings (ACDC). Auditors of regional
offices shall, in turn, furnish auditors of operating units with certified copies of
SAA or Letter-advices of allotment (LAA) and ACDC. If necessary, auditors of
regional offices/operating units (recipient agencies) shall also confirm with the
auditors of central/regional offices (issuing agencies) as to the genuineness of
SAA's and ACDC's received by them. For expediency, the auditors shall use the
Confirmation Request/Reply forms attached as Appendix "C".

9.6 For checks payable to another government agency, the auditor of the paying
agency shall advice the auditor of the receiving agency of such payment and
 request to be informed of the Official Receipt/Credit Memo Number
acknowledging receipt of the payment, also using Appendix "C".

10. Effectivity

10.1 This circular shall take effect immediately.

(SGD.) CESAR E. A. VIRATA (SGD.) FRANCISCO S. TANTUICO, JR.

MINISTER OF FINANCE ACTING CHAIRMAN
Commission on Audit

(SGD.) JAIME C. LAYA

MINISTER OF BUDGET

Concurred In:

(SGD.) President SGD.) President

PHILIPPINE NATIONAL BANK PHILIPPINE VETERANS BANK

(SGD.) President
LAND BANK OF THE PHILIPPINES