Bank Account and Cheques
Authority for opening bank account
801-a)No official bank account shall be opened unless authorized by the Accountant-General.Each approved account will be maintained under an official designation. The Accountant-General can limit the cash holding in the commercial banks after consultation with the Ministry or Extra-Ministerial Department concerned.
b) Every cheque leaf shall be stamped with the correct account number at the top.
c) The designation of the account shall be stamped at the bottom of the cheque below the space provided for signatories to the account.
d) The title of the account to be credited shall be well written (preferably impressed with a rubber stamp).Abbreviations shall not be used so as to prevent ambiguity.
e) The correct account number shall be stamped at the top of the teller or paying-in-slip. Tellers.
Application for Bank
802-When it becomes necessary to open a Government bank account the Ministry or non-Ministerial Department concerned should apply in writing to the Accountant-General,stating where the Account is to be opened, the pupose for which it is required and by whom it is to be operated.Specimen signatures in duplicate of the officers who will operate the bank account should be sent to the Accountant-General.Any subsequent changes in respect of officers authorized to sign cheques on the account are to be notified immediately to the Accountant General by the Ministry or Department concerned,and specimen signatures in duplicate are to be forwarded to the Accountant-General.
Authorised signatories and specimen signatures.
803-The Accountant-General or, Accounting Officers shall provide banks with certified specimen signatures of the officer authorized to sign cheques drawn on official accounts and shall advise any subsequent changes in signatories. Notification to the bank of any changes in respect of officers authorized to sign cheques on an account must be signed by one of the current signatories to the account and counter-signed personally by either the Accounting Ministerial Department,or his deputy. No delegation of this authority will be recognized.
Where accounts are maintained at the central bank the special provided for change of signatories shall be made by letter. prompt notification should be given when an officer's authority to sign is cancelled. A copy of every notification concerning a change in authorized signatures shall be sent to the Accountant-General. All notifications shall be forwarded under confidential cover and shall be accompanied by certified specimen signatures of the new signatory or signatories.
804 - i) Cheques drawn against an official bank account shall be signed by two officers, one of whom should be the officer authorized to keep the account. The latter officer should not normally be below the rank of Senior Executive Officer (Accounts). In the case of an imprest not exceeding N20,000 cheques need only be signed by the imprest holders (see Chapter 1). Officers signing cheques will also initial the counterfoils.
ii) On no occasion should cheques be issued for payment of services not yet performed or for goods not yet supplied (see FR 513).
805-The Accountant-General and the Auditor-General or their representatives have the right of access to records of all official bank accounts and are entitled to any information they may require in connection with such accounts.
806 - No Govemment bank account may be overdraw, or any temporary advance obtained from a bank within the event of an responsible may be called upon to refund any bank charges incurred.
807 - Private money will in no circumstances be paid into an official bank account, nor any public money be paid into a private bank account.
808 - WHere a bank account is kept, the operating officer should keep only sufficient cash to meet small payments, and all payments of N10,000 or more should be made by cheque. Nevertheless,no contract should be paid by cash except on formal appluication approved by the Accounting Officer or the Director, of Finance depending on the value of the contract.
Sums Paid into bank.
809-Sub-Accounting Officers must ensure that all sums paid direct into their official bank accounts are brought to account in their cash books promptly. Revenue Collectors will therefore submit duplicate paying-in-slips(bank letters) supported by completed Treasury Forms 15A to their Sub-Accounting Officers not later than the next business day after deposit at the bank except that bank tellers in respect of the sums paid to the bank on the last business day of the month will be submitted to the Sub-Accounting Officer on the same day.However, the Sub-Accounting Officer shall not acknowledge recoipt of Treasury receipt until the lodgment on teller has been confirmed on the Bank tatement.
Reconciliation of bank account with cash book.
810 - All Officers authorized to keep bank accounts must compare weekly,and at the close of each month, the entries as appearing in the ank statement with those in their cash books and effect early learance of outstanding items (see Regulation 207). At the end of ach month, a certificate of the bank balance, signed by the manager f the bank, will be submitted with the officer's monthly statement of ccount, accompanied by a reconciliation statement signed by the sub-Accounting Officer (see Regulation 206).
Cheque Summary Register 811 - Sub-Accounting officers shall maintain a Cheque summary Cheque register in addition to a cash book. All debits to the bank account will summary be recorded in the cheque Summary Register preferably by an officer Register.ther than the cashier. The balance as shown in the Cheque Summary egister will be agreed with the bank balance as shown in the cash book, and certificate to this effect appended in the Register by the sub-Accounting Officer.
Cheques: Supply of:
812-Every order on a bank for a supply of official cheques must be signed by the officer authorized to keep the account.
Cheques: Acceptance of.
13- Cheques received should be made payable to "Abia State overment of Nigeria." A cheque may be accepted, however,if ade payable to the official designation of a Government account. If ot already done, all cheques should be crossed! Not negotiable,Account payee Only' immediately on receipt, Sub-Accounting fficers and Revenue Collectors will first satisfy themselves as to the dentity and standing of the drawer of the cheques, and ensure before cceptance that:
a) The cheque is correctly dated (i.e. not out-of-date or post-dated).
b) The amounts in words and figure agree.
c) The drawer's signature is appended.
d) The cheque is not torn or mutilated.
e) Alterations of any kind are covered by the full signture of the drawer.
f) If drawn on a branch of a bank situated in a town other than that at which the cheque will be paid in for collection, the cheque must bear the endorsement "Commissionto Drawer's Account"with the full signature of the drawer added thereto.
g) On receipt from the Bank, all cheques should immediately be stamped to show the full names of the office operating the Bank Account.
h) All Cheques above N20,000 must be properly confirmed with the designated bank.
Cheques not complying with any of the above conditions will not be accepted.
Disposal of cheques received
814- Cheques received will be paid to the bank Account not later than the next business day after receipt. However, if a Revenue Collector or Sub-Accounting Officer receives a cheque liable to bank commission not endorsed in accordance with Regulation 813(f) and considers that it is not in the public interest to return the cheque to the drawer for the necessary endorsement to be made the action will be as follows:
a) Revenue Collector- pay cheque to Sub Accounting Officer to whom he normally accounts.
Sub-Accounting Officer - Remit cheque together with completed Remittance Voucher (Treasury Form TF 29) to Sub-Treasury at the station on which the cheque is drawn.
Self-Accounting Ministries may remit between their own offices, where these exist.
Remittances of cheques must be dispatched by registered post in properly sealed envelopes. On no account may cheques received be used to effect any payment by endorsement.
Cheques drawn on banks outside Umuahia 815-a) Cheques drawn on banks outside Umuahia may only be Che accepted with the approval of the Accountant-General.
b) Self-Accounting Ministries/Extra Ministerial Departments will remit all foreign cheques to the Central Bank for negotiation not later than the following working day.
c) Except as in (b) above, all foreign cheques will be tendered or remitted to the Treasury Headquarters Umuahia not later than the following working day.
d) The Treasury Head quarters will remit all foreign cheques received to the Central Bank for negotiation.
e) The same treatment shall be given to the foreign currencies received.
Post- dated cheques 816-Post-dated cheques shal not be accepted without the prior Post-dated authority of the Accountant-General cheques
Bills of Exchange etc 817-Bills of Exchange and promissory Notes will not be accepted Bille of without the specific approval of Accountant-General. Exehange ete.
Cheques Official
818-In no circumstances will cheque be cashed for person or bodies other than Government Officers without the prior approval of the Accountant-General.
Cheques credited to revenue or below - the - line accounts and subsequently dishonoured 819-a) When a cheque which has been credited to revenue (or a credited to Cheques below-the-line account) is returned dishonoured by the bank the Revenue or amount shall be debited to the Revenue Head and Sub-Head (or below-the line below-the-line account) originally credited. The Sub-Accounting accounts and Officer shall immediately request the officer who accepted the cheque subsequently to obtain reimbursement from the drawer (see also Regulation 822).It dishonoured.shall be the ultimate responsibility of the Accounting Officer concerned to ensure that these amounts are recovered,instituting legal action if necessary.Dishonoured cheques shall be reported as arrears of revenue,as applicable, in accordance with Regulation 324(a).
b) Any revenue paid to bank which does not appear in the bank statement after a reasonable period should be investigated and a written reply for its non appearance should be obtained from the bank or necessary reconciliation should be effected.
c) No Treasury receipt should be issued until revenue cheques are Responsibility cleared by the bank. in case of negligenee.
Responsibility in case of negligence 820 - An officer accepting a cheque which is subsequently dishonoured may be held responsible for the amount if the provisions of Regulation 821 were negligently disregarded.
Bank advice.
821-Bank debits in respect of dishonoured cheques shall be cleared (in accordance with Regulation 819 or refund by the drawer) not later from the bank.In no circumstances may a dishonoured cheque be held as cash.
Dishonoured Cheques Register 822 - A Departmental Dishonoured Cheques Register shall be Dishon maintained and particulars of all dishonoured cheques returned by the chequer bank shall be entered there-in on receipt of the dishonoured cheques (see Appendix 17).The Register shall be inspected monthly by the responsible supervisory officer to ensure that clearance are pursued and recoveries effected.
Unauthorized commission
823 -Officers incurring unauthorized commission charges on cheques shall be liable tò sur-charge of the amount involved.
Care of cheque books
824 - All unused cheque books must be kept in the strong room or safe under the control of the officer who keeps the bank account.Cheque books in use must be locked in a safe each evening and whenever the office is unoccupied. The counterfoils of all cheque books must be preserved for reference, and exhausted cheque books must be kept in the strong room or safe for two years or until audited whichever is later, when they may be destroyed. Officers authorized to keep bank accounts are responsible for ensuring that no cheque is extracted from a cheque book for fraudulent purposes.
Spoiled Cheques
825- When a cheque is spoiled, it must be cancelled, and affixed to the counterfoil and retained in the cheque book.
Banks Paying in-slips
826-When money is paid to the bank, the bank paying-in-slip(bank teller) and the duplicate (and triplicate when used) must be analyzed as to (a) Cheques, (b) Postal Orders,(c) Money Orders,(d) Notes,(e)Coins. The duplicate must be examined to see that it bears an acknowledgement of receipt by the bank and that the analysis has neitherbeen altered nor added to, nor substituted after the lodgment.In any case, no alteration whatsoever shall be allowed on the bank telleE.
Lost of cheque 827-If a Sub-Treasurer is informed that a Government cheque issued by him has been lost he will at once:
a) instruct the bank to stop the cheque;
b) report the loss to the Accountant-General for publicaion in the Gazette;
c) obtain an indemnity from the authorized payee guaranteeing to refund to the Government any moneys that may be received from encashment of the lost cheques,
d) after satisfactory completion of the above action and not before issue replacement cheques.
Administrator General's bank account
828-The Administrator-General is required by section 33 of the Administrator-General law, 1961, to keep a bank account into which all moneys received by him under the law shall be paid. Unless modified by rules issued under the law, the provisions of F.R.s 805,806,809,810,812-814,816-819,822-827 shall apply to the operation of this account.