4 FAH-2 H-130
DEFINITIONS
(CT:DOH-28; 07-19-2013)
(Office of Origin: CGFS/FPRA/FP)
4 FAH-2 H-131 GLOSSARY OF TERMS
(CT:DOH-28; 07-19-2013)
This section prescribes certain terms that are commonly
used throughout the 4 FAH-2 subchapters.
Accommodation exchange transaction: The authorized exchange of equivalent
monetary values in different forms to authorized persons; for example, foreign
currency in exchange for U.S. dollar check(s).
Accountability statements or statements
of accountability: U.S.
disbursing officers (USDOs) prepare and submit statements of accountability to
the Department of Treasury monthly on Form SF-1218, Statement of Accountability
(Foreign Service Account (FSA), which determine the accountability of the
disbursing officers FSA account.
Accountable Officer: A U.S. Government official or employee
who, on behalf of the United States, receives and maintains public funds, certifies
vouchers, or maintains and draws checks upon accounts of the United States,
including those in depositary banks designated by the Secretary of the
Treasury. Accountable officers include cashiers, subcashiers, U.S. disbursing
officers, certifying officers, and occasional moneyholders.
Adjustment: A method to correct element(s) of
information by reversing the incorrect data and replacing it with the correct
data. Two entries are required (debit and credit).
Agency location code (ALC): The four or eight-digit Treasury symbol
used to identify reports and documents prepared by or for an accounting station
or financial office of the Department.
Automated cashier program or system: An automated system for entering cashier
transactions and tracking cashier accountability balanced with the FSC
generated cashier reports.
Automated clearing house (ACH): A nationwide mechanism that processes
electronically originated debit and credit transfers for any participating
institutions nationwide. This electronic payment delivery system is most often
used to process low-dollar, repetitive retail payments and pre-authorized
recurring payments such as payroll, corporate payments to vendors, Social
Security payments, insurance premium payments and utility payments. The ACH is
an alternative to paper checks and handles billions of payments annually.
Available check: A U.S. Treasury check which has not been
paid by Treasury and is in the possession of the certifying or disbursing
office.
Clearing account (BCA): Clearing Accounts are established by
Treasury and assigned to each agency and disbursing office to temporarily hold
unidentifiable collections that belong to the Federal Government, until proper
classification of the funds can be determined. Two commonly used Department of
State clearing accounts are:
(1) 19 F 3875Budget Clearing Account
(BCA): used to temporarily
credit unclassified transactions from the public when there is a reasonable
presumption that the amounts belong to their agencies; and
(2) 19 F 3880Unavailable Check
Cancellations Overpayments (Suspense):
used for recording and adjusting credits and charges resulting from
claims on unavailable checks.
Cancellation: The process of rendering a check
non-negotiable after it has been issued and repaying the amount of the check
(whether available or unavailable) to an appropriation or fund account.
Cash-Link: An electronic cash concentration system
used to manage the collection of government funds and to report balances to
Federal agencies. Cash-Link ties the U.S. disbursing officer (USDO),
commercial banks, Federal Reserve Banks, and the Treasury Department together
through an electronic network. Cash-Link provides agencies with financial
information to verify bank deposits, ACH transfers, as well as information to
reconcile their accounts. This system allows users to obtain deposit
information in two ways:
(1) It provides daily reports of agency deposits that
are sent to the Banking Operations Branch in FMS; and
(2) Agencies can view deposit amounts that have been
posted to their ALC.
Cashier: An officer, direct-hire permanent
employee, or duly authorized personal services agreement (PSA) employee hired
under 22 U.S.C. 2669 (see 4 FAH-3
H-393.1-1b) of a Federal department, agency, or government corporation who
is designated as a cashier by a delegated Department of State approving
official or USDO and is authorized to perform limited cash disbursing functions
or other cash operations as authorized by the official cashier designation.
Contractors may not be cashiers. A cashier is an accountable officer and is
personally accountable for the amount of advances received. The following
cashier designations are utilized in the Department of State and by other
agencies at our U.S. Mission overseas.
(1) Alternate Cashier: An officer, direct-hire permanent
employee, or a duly authorized personal services agreement (PSA) employee hired
under 22 U.S.C. 2669 (see 4 FAH-3
H-393.1-1 b) of a Federal department, agency, or government corporation who
has been appropriately designated and who receives an advance from his or her
Class A or B cashiers. An alternate cashier functions in such capacity only during
the absence of a principal cashier or subcashier, except where the volume of
transactions requires both principal and alternate to operate at the same
time. The cashier supervisor cannot be the alternate cashier and the alternate
cashier cannot be the supervisor unless authorized by the servicing USDO. All
cashier policies and procedures that apply to principal cashiers also apply to
their alternates.
(2) Class A Cashier: An officer, direct-hire permanent
employee, or a duly authorized personal services agreement (PSA) employee hired
under 22 U.S.C. (see 4 FAH-3
H-393.1-1 b) of a Federal department, agency, or government corporation who
has been appropriately designated and receives an advance from a USDO or
domestically from bureau funds. A Class A cashier is authorized to advance
funds to his/her own alternate but not to another cashier or subcashier.
Overseas, the Class A cashier is an accountable officer who is accountable to
the USDO but under the supervision of a non-USDO American officer.
Domestically, the Class A cashier is an accountable officer who must follow
instructions and guidance issued by CGFS/DO even
when the employee is supervised by American official in a domestic bureau or consular
office.
(3) Class B Cashier: An officer, direct-hire permanent
employee, or a duly authorized personal services agreement (PSA) employee hired
under 22 U.S.C. 2669 (see 4 FAH-3
H-393.1-1 b) of a Federal department, agency, or government corporation who
has been appropriately designated and receives an advance of Treasury funds
from a USDO supporting overseas operations or domestically from bureau
appropriated funds. The Class B cashier is authorized to advance funds to
his/her own alternate and to a subcashier. Overseas, the Class B cashier is an
accountable officer who is accountable to the USDO but under the supervision of
a non-USDO American Officer. Domestically, the Class B cashier is an
accountable officer who must follow instructions and guidance issued by CGFS/DO even when the employee is supervised by
American official in a domestic bureau or consular office.
(4) Subcashier: An officer, direct-hire permanent
employee, or a duly authorized personal services agreement (PSA) employee hired
under 22 U.S.C. 2669 (see 4 FAH-3
H-393.1-1 b) of a Federal department, agency or government corporation who
has been appropriately designated by an authorizing letter or memo signed by
the employees American supervisor, financial management officer (FMO) or
management officer to receive an advance from a Class B cashier. Contractors
may not be subcashiers and when a subcashier advance level is U.S. dollar
equivalent (USDE) 10,000 or more, the designation is valid only with the
approval of the servicing USDO. The subcashier is accountable to the Class B
cashier. (See 4 FAH-3
H-399.1 for subcashiers of agencies other than Department of State.)
Cashier advance: Funds, in the form of checks or cash,
entrusted to a Class B/Class A Cashier, subcashier, alternate, or occasional
money holder.
Cashier Monitor: An employee who works for the USDO and
assists the cashier. Cashier monitors provide answers to cashiering questions
and are located at CGFS Charleston or
Bangkok or the CGFS Office of Financial
Support and Training in Paris.
Cashier Out-Of-Balance Condition: A difference reported on the Form DS-3058
(FSC-365), Cashiers Reconciliation Statement.
Cashier User Guide (CUG): Department of State reference guide for
cashiering procedures worldwide.
Certifying Officer: An officer who attests to the accuracy
and legality of vouchers prior to payment. The certifying officer is an
accountable officer. Department of State certifying officers must be
designated by CGFS/OMA.
Collections, Official: Amounts received for credit to
appropriation accounts, general fund receipt accounts or to suspense accounts.
Collections may be made for official purposes only.
Deposit-In-Transit (DIT): A deposit made by the cashier into a USDO
depository which is not yet reflected on the cashiers accountability documents
from the USDO.
Depositary: A Federal Reserve Bank or branch, foreign
and commercial bank in the banking system authorized by Treasury to receive
deposits and issue and draw payments.
(1) General depositary: Authorized to accept deposits for credits
in the official checking accounts of other government officers.
(2) Limited depositary: Authorized to accept up to a specified
maximum amount, deposits for credit to official checking accounts of government
officers other than the Treasurer of the United States.
(3) United States Government depositary: A domestic or foreign bank designated by
the Secretary of the Treasury as an official depositary to hold U.S. Government
funds for the account of the United States.
Designation, Cashier: The official document authorizing the
cashier to handle official money including the authorized maximum amount and
other requirements or limitations. It is signed and dated by both the cashier
and American cashier supervisor.
Disbursement: A payment in currency, check, or
electronic funds transfer.
Electronic funds transfer (EFT): Any transfer of funds initiated through a
terminal, telephone, computer or magnetic tape for the purpose of instructing
or authorizing a financial institution to debit or credit an account.
Fedline: A software product offered by the Federal
Reserve System for electronic connection to the Federal Reserve. It is used to
transmit ACH items via telephone lines interfacing with a personal computer.
Fiscal irregularity: An occurrence in which there is:
(1) A shortage or overage of public funds;
(2) Illegal disbursement(s) resulting from fraud,
forgery, alteration of vouchers, improper certification, or other improper
practices;
(3) Improper accounting for receipts; or
(4) Improper accounting for imprest funds.
Foreign Service Accountability Account
(FSA): Official funds,
excluding funds in foreign currency accounts and local currency deposits, which
are made available to U.S. disbursing officers for disbursing and collecting
operations.
Form SF-215,
Deposit Tickets (DT): Used to
record all deposits. The deposit ticket contains a unique preprinted six-digit
number which is the only number used by the Treasury to record the deposit.
These prepositioned numbers should not be altered and must be entered exactly as
printed.
Form SF-5515, Debit Voucher (DV): A document prepared and used to reduce a
deposit or charge to an agency.
Form FMS-5901, Adjustment of
Agency Deposits/Debit Vouchers: A
computer-generated document charging or crediting outstanding differences, over
six months old, to the agencys Statement of Difference.
Form FMS-6652, Statement of
Differences Deposit Transaction: A
form that shows each ALC and the total money amounts reported each month by
agency and what has been reported to Treasurys General Account by the
depositary with an ending balance of the outstanding differences.
Form FMS-6653,
Undisbursed Appropriation Account Ledger: The form prepared monthly for all
departments and agencies. The appropriation accounts reports are used to ensure
that the balances in the Treasurys summary accounts for individual agency
appropriation and fund accounts agree with the records maintained by the
agencies for those accounts. For each appropriation and fund account, the
report shows:
(1) Agency balance;
(2) Transactions classified for the month; and
(3) Closing balance.
Funds: Funds may include cash, uncashed
government checks, paid invoices and other receipts for cash, paid vouchers and
undeposited checks.
Imprest fund: A fixed or petty-cash fund in the form of
currency or coin that has been advanced as Funds Held Outside of the Treasury
(see also cashier advance).
Reconciliation, Cashier: The process of comparing the cashiers
unofficial accountability with the official accountability report from the
USDO.
Replenishment: The method of replacing the cashiers
available money to be used for making payments and accommodation exchange.
Restitution: Compensation for loss, such as cash paid
back for an uncollectible check.
Serviced agency: Agency authorized to receive accounting
and disbursing services from the Department of State. (See 4 FAH-2 H-742.)
Society for Worldwide InterBank
Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT): A
worldwide telecommunications system used by participating banks for sending
instructions and transacting business.
Trace number: A fifteen-digit number assigned to the
ACH item by Fedline. The trace number remains intact throughout the forward
and return process. The first eight digits reflect the routing/transit number
assigned to the FSC. The last seven digits are assigned in ascending sequence.
Unavailable check: A U.S. Treasury check not in the
possession of the USDO or certifying officer.
Uncollectible check: A check which is returned unpaid by the
bank on which the check is drawn.
United States Disbursing Officer
(USDO): An American officer
authorized to receive, disburse money and account for all official funds
entrusted to that employee. The USDO is an accountable officer operating under
a Department of the Treasury delegation to disburse U.S. government funds.
4 FAH-2 H-132 THROUGH H-139 Unassigned