Duties and Responsibilities of Drawing and Disbursing Officer

Drawing and Disbursing Officer(DDO) DDO is a very important person in public sector financial administration. He has been entrusted to draw bills to pay for services rendered or supplies made to government. Every govt. office should have a DDO to draw money from the govt. exchequer and to disburse such money among the recipients. All heads of the offices are DDO. SR-65 Delegation of power by office head to the Subordinate Gazetted officer. SR - 66

Core Financial Rules and Regulations Compilation of the General Financial Rules or GFR (updated till June, 1998) Bangladesh Treasury Rules and Subsidiary Rules (updated August,1998) Bangladesh Service Rules or BSR (part 1 and 2) Fundamental Rules(FR) Accounts Code Audit Manual Executive Instructions and Orders PPR

Standard of Financial Propriety-GFR 10 Every public officer is expected to spend public money as a person of ordinary prudence would have spent his or her own money. The expenditure should not be more than the occasion demands. No authority should exercise its powers of sanctioning expenditure to pass an order which will be directly or indirectly go to its own advantages.

GFR-10 (Cont’d) Public money should not be utilized for the benefit of a particular person or section of a community; unless- i) the amount of expenditure involved is insignificant, or ii) a claim for the amount could be enforced in a court of law, or iii) the expenditure is in pursuance of a recognized policy or custom, The amount of allowances should be so regulated as if it can not be a source of profit to the recipients.

General principles to follow while incurring expenditure, GFR-9 Every office head/DDO should limit his expenditures within the sanctioned budget; Every legitimate expenditure should have to incur in due time; No money should be withdrawn from the public fund to avoid lapses; Financial rules to be followed properly; Allocated budget for a particular sector can not be used for another

Expenditure control: Responsibilities of DDO Responsible for enforcing financial order and strict economy at every step; (GFR-11) Controlling officer must see that funds are spent in the public interest and upon objects on which money was provided (GFR-12) An officer who signs or countersigns a certificate is personally responsible for the fact certified to, GFR-16

Expenditure control (Cont’d) Every departmental and controlling officer will provide Auditor General or its representative with all information required for preparation of any account or report,GFR-19

Drawing Money from government Exchequer: Claims and Withdrawal, SR-83,85 Money can not be withdrawn from the government account without presentation of bills at the treasury signed by DDO Gazetted government servants will sign the bills as self drawing officer and submit directly at the treasury except TA bill. TA bill requires counter signature of the controlling officer. A bill becomes vouchers when it is duly receipt and stamp paid.

Preparation of Bill, SR-62 Bill should be prepared in prescribed printed forms. All bills must be filled in and signed in ink. Every bill needs signature with date and designation The amount of the bill should be written in words as well as figures

Preparation of Bills, SR-92 When the payment is done through other person a authorization letter will be needed. Tax, VAT should be deducted from the bill Erasures and overwriting in any bill are absolutely forbidden Prepared bill should be recorded in the bill register. DDO will sign both bill and bill register.

T.A bill- SR 217 The bill should be prepared in T.R. Form 29 The instruction printed on the form should strictly be observed when a circuitous route is taken, the reason for doing so must invariably be stated in the bill

Regarding Salaries Responsible for the amount drawn in a bill In a new posting, Last Pay Certificate (LPC) is a must In a new appointment health certificate is needed, SR-122 on behalf of a deceased employee- succession certificate For the pay due in old post, non-drawal certificate

Salaries (Cont’d) Undisbursed pay or allowances may not, under any circumstances, be placed in deposit at a treasury Arrears of pay, fixed allowances or leave salary shall be drawn in a separate bill In the event of the death during service, pay and allowances can be paid up to the day of death

Salaries (Cont’d) Payment on pay bill will be made on the first day of the next month. If the first six days of a month are public holiday, the pay and allowances of the non gazetted government servants may be paid on the last working day before the holidays. Government making a special order can also announce any day within the month for payment.

Duplicate bill If any bill is lost after payment, no duplicate one can be submitted against the same If any bill gets lost before payment, the DDO can issue a new bill. The word “Duplicate” will clearly be written in ink over the face of the duplicate bill.

Contingent Bill, SR-304,305,323 Every government officer should be such economic as he/she spends money from his/her own pocket and be careful that the amount spent is within the budget provision Officer will follow government purchase procedures and in purchasing furniture and stationeries the question of entitlement needs to be considered

Contingent bill (Cont’d) Bill must be certified with – The goods purchase are as per specification in good condition and recorded in the stock register. Bill can not be paid without getting goods. But part bill may be paid after getting part supply.

Affixing Revenue Stamp For any payment exceeding BDT 500/- a revenue stamp of tk. 5 needs to be affixed on a bill.

Cheque Book Cheque book must be kept at the personal care of the DDO, SR-100 Account payee cheque Any correction in the cheque must be made by full signature of DDO, SR-115 Government cheques remain valid for three months after it issued. SR-116

Audit objections Government officer will take immediate action on the order of the accountant general regarding audit objection Reply to any objection along with relevant papers needs to be sent to the audit office within 15 days.

Audit objection (Cont’d) If a government servant from whom a recovery is ordered is transferred to the jurisdiction of another disbursing officer (audit officer), the order of recovery should be passed on to that disbursing officer without delay If any over drawn is done by a government servant by mistake or violating set rules and regulations, the amount to be recovered monthly from his/her pay bill should not be more than one third of the pay

Maintenance of Cash Book Cash book VAT register Ledger Income Tax register Allotment register Contingent bill regist Petty cash register pay bill register Advanced register TA bill register Subsidiary register Cheque register

Maintaining cash book Every officer on behalf of the government should maintain a cash book in TR Form 3. In DC office, Nazir maintain a cash book inTR Form No.3A and in polic office cash book is maintained in TR Form No.3B All monetary transactions should be entered in the cash book as soon as they occur, and attested by the head of the office

Maintaining cash book The cash book should be closed and balanced on each day and the head of the office will cheque the totaling of the cash book At the end of the month, the head of the office should verify the cash balanced in cash book and certify its correctness with dated signature Pen through the incorrect entry and inserting the correct one in red ink between the line Officer should initial with date every such correction