Expenditure Approvals and Certification
Issued: Feb. 11, 2009
Updated: Apr. 3, 2009
FPP B.007
Details
- Overview
- Certification of Expenditures, Approval and Release of Documents by Non-Employees, and Unapproved Expenditures
- Establishing and Removing Authority and Security to Approve Expenditures
Resources
- USPS Process Guide, Chapter 8 – Payroll Processing, HSCU3 – Electronic Approval/Release Processing.
- USPS Process Guide, Appendix L – On-line Audit
- USPS Reports Guide – Report 526 – Electronic Approval Report
- USAS Security – consult your agency security coordinator (Comptroller user ID required) for access information.
- USAS Reference – Date Definitions
Audit Tools to Strengthen Internal Controls
To reduce risks to state funds, agencies should have controls over expenditure processing that segregate accounting tasks so no one person can enter or alter and then release payments or other accounting transactions within the statewide financial systems.
Tools are available to help agencies strengthen their internal controls. For more information, see USAS Accounting and Payment Control (FPP B.005).
Contacts
Payment Policy
Expenditure Assistance Section
(512) 475-0966
expenditure.assistance@cpa.texas.gov
Audit
Somaia Farag
(512) 475-0479
somaia.farag@cpa.texas.gov
Voucher Signature Cards
Roslyn Harris
(512) 463-4258
roslyn.harris@cpa.texas.gov
SSA Security
Overview
Applicable to
State agencies and institutions of higher education releasing payment batches into the Uniform Statewide Accounting System (USAS), the Uniform Statewide Payroll/Personnel System (USPS) or the Standardized Payroll/Personnel Reporting System (SPRS).
Background
An individual approving an expenditure for an agency or institution must be properly authorized to approve expenditures. An individual who is not an officer or employee of a state agency may not approve and may not be designated to approve that agency’s expenditures.
The online release of a batch of documents for processing into USAS, USPS and SPRS constitutes the electronic approval and certification of all those documents.
For more information, see Certification of Expenditures, Approval and Release of Documents by Non-Employees, and Unapproved Expenditures.
To add or remove agency staff authorized to approve expenditures and release payment batches, both voucher signature cards and system security profiles must be updated. For detailed policies and procedures, see Establishing and Removing Authority and Security to Approve Expenditures.
Note: For the purpose of this procedure, the term “expenditure” includes USAS payment documents, USPS and SPRS payroll documents, and vouchers submitted to the Comptroller on paper. All individuals with authority to approve expenditures must be properly listed on an agency’s voucher signature cards and deemed to have the authority to approve each type of payment voucher. Limiting the type of payments an individual may approve must be done by specifying the authorized payment types on the individual’s security profiles in each system.
Legal citations and rules
Tex. Gov’t Code Ann. §§2101.035(a), 2103.032(a), 2103.032(b). 403.071(a), 2103.004, and 2155.322-2155.323. 34 TAC §5.61.