1)
All practical
and cost-effective efforts shall be made to recover losses which are recoverable and to avoid future losses occurring from the
same cause.
2)
Losses
suspected to have been caused by theft or other breaches of the law should be
reported immediately to the police and a copy of the report provided to the
Public Service Commission, the Ministry of Finance and the Auditor-General.
(Financial
Instructions 2005 s(67))
Recovery Measures
- Each
Director of the area that has incurred a loss shall ensure that the
following actions are taken where applicable, to recover losses:
- issue
of reminder notices;
- legal
action initiated by the Solicitor General’s Office;
- repossessing
items where applicable;
- investigations
and recovery by the Police;
- salary
deductions for government officials;
- Surcharging officers responsible for the loss.
Legal Action
- The
Deputy CEO shall approve any legal action to recover a loss. Before
any legal action is taken, the practicality of pursuing this option
together with legal costs must be weighed against the probability of
success and the timeframes involved.
Repossessing Items
- For
secured loans overdue, the losses officer shall, with the approval
of the Deputy CEO, effect recovery by repossessing items stated in
the bill of sale or other security for the loan.
- Recovery
action shall be carried out in accordance with the loan agreement and
other relevant documents.
Salary Deductions for Government Officers
- Where
losses arise from overpayments to government officers or overdue loan or
advance repayments, the Accounting Head shall, with the approval of
the Deputy CEO effect recovery through direct salary deduction.
Officers must be informed of the overpayment and the rate of deduction
from their salary before the deduction is carried out.
- Where
an officer is surcharged, the surcharge amount may be recovered through
direct salary deductions.
Surcharging Officers Responsible for the Loss
- The
Deputy CEO shall propose to the Ministry of Finance the surcharging
of officers responsible for a loss that cannot be recovered. Other
recovery options must be taken into account before surcharging is
proposed.
- Surcharging
shall be carried out in accordance with Part 11 of the Finance
Instructions.
Writing off Losses
- Writing
off losses shall be considered after all practical and cost-effective
recovery measures have been undertaken.
- Where
avenues of recovery have been exhausted, the relevant officer shall seek
approval to write off losses, in accordance with the following delegations
of authority:
|
Authority
|
Unserviceable
Item
(up
to)
|
Abandonment
of Claim
(up
to)
|
Loss
of Physical Assets
(up
to)
|
Loss
of Money
(up
to)
|
|
CEO
|
$6000
|
$1000
|
$1000
|
$500
|
|
Deputy
CEO
|
$4000
|
$500
|
$500
|
$100
|
|
Accounting
Head
|
$2000
|
$100
|
$100
|
Nil
|
|
Director
|
$2000
|
$100
|
$100
|
Nil
|
- Any
write-offs above these limits must be submitted through the CEO, to the
CEO, Ministry of Finance for approval.
- The
application for write-offs must include the following information:
- nature
of loss and recovery measures undertaken;
- date
of loss and loss amount;
- existence
of budgetary funds where applicable for write-offs.
- All
write-off applications, approved or otherwise, must be properly filed by
the losses officer.
- Once
write-off approval has been obtained, the losses officer shall
ensure that the losses register is updated and that, where required,
losses are cleared from the respective accounts.
- 1 week after the end of each quarter, the Accounting
Head shall forward a write-off report to the Ministry of Finance
outlining the type and amount of losses that were written off during that
quarter.
(Proforma Finance Manual)