The system of recording transactions in government is expectedly meticulous because all receipts or payments must be vouched for on set out forms. Accordingly, the Financial Regulation of 1976 as Revised, FR. 601 — 627 gives detailed guidelines of payment procedure. Suffice it to say that the rules outlined in the various relevant sections of the Financial Regulation must be observed for payments on receipts to be valid.
The government being an enormously large set up, many transactions arrangement are in place to take care of its huge scale of operations and complexity.
What are these transactions arrangement? That is how do government units effect payments or collect money?
Precisely at least five possible transactions arrangement exist in the area of main Government Accounting. It should be noted that the “Government” here refers to the Central or Federal Government. Simpler but elaborate systems exist in the other tiers of Government.
TRANSACTION ARRANGEMENT
(1) Transactions carried out in Self-Accounting and Sub-Self Accounting units. The Central Post Offices of such ministries and departments effect these transactions. Remember that a Se1f Accounting unit is a Ministry or Department that maintains detailed accounts in form of cash books and ledger accounts, using the transcript to send information to the Treasury Central Accounting Unit for consolidation. A Sub-Accounting Unit on the other hand jeeps a single entry cash book and the double entry of its book-keeping is completed not in its unit but in the Sub- Treasury’s Cash Book.
(2) Transactions conducted through the Federal Sub-Treasury The sub-treasury is the Federal Governments main cash office. This office receives public monies, pays from public funds, supplies cash to pay offices, supplies receipt books, safes, cash tanks, etc. to Ministries and other extra- ministerial departments. This unit of the Treasury Department maintains the Federal Governments current and other accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Transactions routed here include those of Non-self Accounting Units and other Federal Government ‘s transactions which may be of peculiar nature. An example is the Financial Regulation Provision on FR 817 that “The Sub-Treasurer of the Federation will remit all foreign cheques received to the Central Bank of Nigeria for negotiation. The same treatment shall be given to the foreign currencies received.
(3) Transactions routed through the Federal Pay Offices in the States. Actually the Federal Pay Office exists in the states as Sub offices. The Federal Pay Office is the Federal Government Cash Office in each state capital in the federation. It is in reality a miniature sub-treasury.
Federal Pay Offices are entrusted with the receipt, custody and disbursement of public money in the states and are required to keep the Treasury Cash Books.
About six days into a new month, Federal Pay Offices are expected to present their monthly accounts of the previous month. Documents to submit which should summarise his transactions include:
(i) Original Cash Book folio with cash specification as the last page.
(ii) Original and duplicate receipt and payment voucher
(ii Balance statement
(iv) Bank certificate
(4) Transaction carried out through the host state government This takes place when the Federal Governments Treasury delegates the receipts or payment of money to State Government. Such State Government will now route such transactions through its own sub-treasury.
A variant of transactions under this arrangement are transactions between Federal and State Governments.
Such transactions between Federal and State Governments are accounted for through current accounts.
Two below-the-line accounts are allocated for transactions between the Federal Government and each state Governments. These are:
i. Current Account (Outwards)
ii. Current Account (Inwards)
The current account outwards takes care of payment made by the State Government, while the Current – Accounts Inwards cover the credits due to the State Government.
Code numbers are allocated to these current accounts. “ The codes are: Group 1204 — 1211 and 1231- 1250. For example in Lagos State the current account numbers are:
(i) For current account outwards-Code No.1237
(ii) For current account inward –Code No. 1238
. When for instance the amount due to the Lagos State Governments is determined by the cash supply section, a subsidiary journal is raised crediting code 1238 — Lagos State Current Accounts Inwards while the Federation account, the Pool account, is debited.
Likewise when an amount is paid on account to the Lagos State Government, a payment voucher is raised and a cheque is issued. Code No. 1237 — Lagos State current account outwards is debited while the credit goes to the sub-treasurers cash book, a ledger account in Federation accounting.
Balances on these current accounts are reflected under the Treasury Clearance Fund in Statement No. 2 of the Federal Governments Published Financial Statement known as the Statement of Assets and Liabilities which is a variant of the conventional sheet at the end of accounting period.
At such periods, where the Outwards Accounts exceeds the Inwards Account, the difference represents debt due to the Federal Government from the concerned. Where on the other hand the Inwards Account more than the Outwards Account the excess stands for liability to Federal Government in favour of the particular state.
(5) Transactions carried out by other agencies, e.g. crown agents, government coastal Agency, Nigeria Airways Shipping Lines and the Treasury Pay Office in London which functions as part of the Nigerian High Commission Accounts Department. The Crown Agents Unit handles the accounts of the Nigerian High Commission, London and the Crown Agents.
CONCLUSION
It should be noted that transactions carried out Government Parastatal have not been considered under section. A separate article specifically deals with the accounts Parastatal of diverse peculiarities. .
For purposes of incorporation of these several transact of these several transactions outlined above into the Treasury Central Accounting System Transcripts used by the self and Sub-Accounting Units while Federal Pay Offices and State Governments utilize control sheets or control books.
These summary statements are usually prepared monthly and sent to the Treasury. While the Transcript require detailed analysis and classification of expenditure and revenue heads, the control sheet is simply a summary of the cash hook analysed revenue and expenditure.
As these summary statements are vital sources of information for the preparation of Treasury final accounts they form the subject of the discussion.