COMMISSION ON AUDIT CIRCULAR NO. 78-75 January 5, 1978

TO : All Heads of Departments; Chiefs of Bureaus, Offices and Agencies of the Government including all Regional Directors; Department, Bureau, Office and Agency Chief Accountants; Regional Accountants; COA Regional Directors; All Department, Bureau and Unit Auditors; and Others Concerned.

SUBJECT : Accounting Guidelines to Ensure Effective Implementation of the Comprehensive Fund Release System of the Budget Commission.

1.0 Purpose

These guidelines are prescribed in keeping with the need to regulate the flow of government expenditures so as to harmonized it with the flow of government revenues as contemplated by the Comprehensive Fund Release System which spells out the timing of allotment releases by quarter, to ensure that agencies do not exhaust available allotments usually at the early part of the calendar year.

2.0 Coverage

These guidelines herein prescribed cover regular releases of appropriations authorized in the General Appropriations Decree and do not cover fund releases for infrastructure projects.

3.0 Recording of Fund Releases

3.1 In the books of the agency:

a. Upon receipt of the Advice of Allotment at the beginning of the calendar year, the agency shall book up the fund releases corresponding to the first quarter only. The total amount of this release shall be strictly in accordance with the obligational authority for the first quarter as shown in the allotment advice. Thereafter, fund releases for the succeeding 2nd to the 4th quarters shall be booked up at the onset of each quarter and, likewise, shall be strictly in accordance with the obligational authority for the corresponding quarter.

Allotment releases/obligational authority adjustments covered by advices of Allotment issued from time to time during the calendar year shall be booked up by the agency during the respective quarter to which the releases/adjustments pertain.

b. Agencies implementing the decentralized accounting procedures embodied in Budget Circular No. 246 and No. 249, as the case may be, shall be guided by the following changes:

1. With the summary of regional releases accompanying the comprehensive advice of allotment as basis, the chief accountant shall draw only one (1) journal voucher covering the entire sub-allotment for the region.

2. The journal voucher shall indicate a breakdown of the quarterly sub- allotment and other pertinent information such as program and project, expense classification, etc. The recording, however, of the amounts corresponding to each quarter shall be made only at the onset of the quarter in the books of accounts of both central and regional offices.

3. Chief accountants shall furnish the auditors of the respective regional offices with copies of the journal vouchers drawn covering the sub-allotments for the regions.

3.2 In the books of the COA Unappropriated Surplus General Fund)

Upon receipt of its copy of the Advice of Allotment at the beginning of the calendar year, the COA shall issue a journal voucher releasing to the agency the total allotment (obligational authority) for the entire calendar year, but segregating the allotment releases by quarters and dating said releases as of the beginning of the corresponding quarter. It is understood that while the entire allotment (obligational authority) is released in the COA releasing journal voucher, the agency shall book up at the onset of each quarter only that portion of the obligational authority pertaining to the quarter.

As usual, the COA shall furnish the agency with copies of the COA releasing journal voucher.

Allotment releases/obligational authority adjustments covered by Advices of Allotment issued from time to time during the calendar year shall be booked up by the COA during the respective quarter to which the releases/adjustments pertain.

4.0 General Guidelines

4.1 As usual, the Budget Commission is requested to issued and release promptly copies of the Advices of Allotment for the COA. This will enable the Accountancy Office, Commission on Audit, to take up into account all allotments released by the Budget Commission which should at all times jibe with those taken up by the agencies concerned. Furthermore, this will avoid the time-consuming process of reconciling discrepancies in allotment releases between agency and COA books which in the past was one of the causes of delays in the rendition of the annual financial report of the Government.

4.2 Certifications on the availability of funds by Chief Accountants/Regional Accountants provided under Section 46 of P.D. No. 1177 shall in no case exceed the quarterly allotment/sub-allotment required to be recorded pursuant to paragraph 3.1, a and b, above.

5.0 Auditorial Responsibilities

5.1 All Auditors concerned shall see to it that the recording procedure prescribed herein are duly complied with by the Chief Accountants/Regional Accountants.

These auditors are furnished with copies of the COA releasing journal vouchers for this purpose.

5.2 All auditors concerned are hereby directed to enforce strict compliance with Section 46 of P.D. No. 1177.

6.0 Repealing Clause and Effectivity

All circulars, orders, memoranda and existing rules and regulations in conflict herewith are hereby revoked or amended accordingly.

This circular takes effect January 1, 1978.

(SGD.) FRANCISCO S. TANTUICO, JR., Acting Chairman