1. CUSTOMER TRUST ACCOUNTS (MASTER TRUST) Pacific Area Finance Training August 2007

2. 2 What is Master Trust? Customer funds: Maintained by the Postal Service as trust accounts. Composed of advanced deposits for:  permit imprint  periodicals  business reply  postage due accounts  locally managed customer accounts

3. 3 What is Master Trust? Customer deposits funds into an individual account and Postal Service withdraws the funds when payment of postage and fees is incurred.

4. 4 Management Responsibility It is management’s responsibility to ensure that accurate records are maintained for all trust accounts. Ensure that the PS Form 3083, Trust Accounts Receipts and Withdrawals or a PostalOne! system generated 3083, is internally in balance and reconciles to the Master Trust Report in Accounting Data Mart (ADM).

5. 5 Handling Advance Deposits PostalOne! Sites - Offices linked to PostalOne! Enter customer’s name, permit account number, and amount received in POS ONE or IRT and a PS Form 3544, Receipt for Money or Services is generated.  The original receipt is given to the customer.  POS Sites – Deposits auto post to PostalOne!.  IRT Sites – Deposits are manually entered into PostalOne!  Give copy of POS Permit Account Activity Report (PAAR) to the PostalOne! employee.  Monitor POS Trust Account Offline Transaction Log.

6. 6 POS Account Activity Report Note the Pending Transaction. For pending items, refer to the Trust Account Offline Transaction Log Report-Unit for a more detailed reason. Monitor and verify this report daily. Give a copy of this report to BMEU/BRM personnel.

7. 7 POS Account Offline Transaction Log Report Using Status Key definitions and POS guides, make corrections or call POS Help Desk for assistance. Also, give a copy to the BMEU/BRM personnel.

8. 8 Handling Advance Deposits (Cont.) Non-PostalOne! Sites Enter customer’s name, permit account number, and amount received in POS, IRT, or eMOVES and a PS Form 3544, Receipt for Money or Services is generated. A copy of the receipt or system generated report forwarded to:  Employee responsible for customer trust accounts at Non-PostalOne! sites.

9. 9 Handling Advance Deposits (Cont.) Non-PostalOne! Sites  Maintain individual customer account using PS Form 25, Trust Fund Account.  Manage the accounts by entering deposits and withdrawals and calculating the balance.  Maintain a separate master PS Form 25 with the daily summary grand total of all the trust account balances in the office.

10. 10 Sample Form 25 – Individual Customer Enter the customer contact information here. Information should include 1) company or customer name, 2) address, 3) name of a contact person, and 4) telephone number. Enter the account information here. Information should include 1) the account number, and 2) the account type (such as Non-Profit, Standard, 1 st Class, etc).

11. 11 Sample Form 25 – Individual Customer (Cont.) Draw a red line under the last entry for each month. This makes it easy to identify the monthly closing balance. The first entry in each Date column should include the year. If you make an error, draw a single line through the entry and initial it. Do not use white-out. You have to track annual fee payments. This is one option that makes it very easy to verify the payment has been received. If the customer requests the fee be paid from trust funds, just enter the fee as a withdrawal. In this example, the customer paid with a separate check.

12. 12 Sample Form 25 – Daily Summary If you make an error, draw a single line through the entry and initial it. Do not use white-out. These month-end balances should match the Master Trust – Customer Report in ADM. If they don’t, you are out-of-balance externally. This is a sample of the Daily Summary Form 25. You do not need to enter explanations for the daily entries. This is where you get your deposits and withdrawals for Form 3083. All your individual permit imprint accounts should be located in the customer trust book behind this summary.

13. 13 Handling Advance Deposits (Cont.) PS Form 1412 Entries for Deposits AIC 070, Customer Permit Account Deposit.  Periodicals, permit imprints, and conditional permits AIC 053, Postage Due and Business Reply Advance Deposit.  Business Reply and Postage Due AIC 074, Customer Advance Deposit.  Locally Managed Customer Accounts

14. 14 Handling Withdrawals Employee withdraws the total amount of postage mailing from the customer’s permit account.  PostalOne! Sites – No PS Form 1412 entry required.  Non-PostalOne! Sites – withdraw the amount from individual customer’s permit account on PS Form 25 and calculate the balance. Enter amount in PS Form 1412 – POS, IRT or eMOVES.

15. 15 Handling Withdrawals (Cont.) Initiate the appropriate dispatch certificate to accompany the mailing to mail processing. AIC Entries for Withdrawals AIC 470, Customer Permit Account Withdrawal.  Periodicals, permit imprints, and conditional permits AIC 453, Postage Due and Business Reply Advance Deposits Withdrawal.  Business Reply and Postage Due AIC 474, Customer Advance Deposits Withdrawal.  Locally Managed Customer Accounts

16. 16 Handling Withdrawals (Cont.) Remember: Payment must be made for each mailing before the mailing can be released for processing. Postage affixed on BRM mail pieces is not credited against the current mailing. Negative balance in a trust account is not allowed.  Contact the customer when an advance deposit account requires replenishment.

17. 17 Closing Accounts for Inactivity Inactive Permit Accounts:  Accounts without transactions during a 24-month/2- year period.  If account balance exceeds $25, send cancellation notice and PS Form 3533 to customer.  Refund to AIC’s 280 & 470. (Do not refund locally, see Appendix V: Refunds Quick Reference, in FAP)  If less than $25 or if customer does not respond to cancellation notice, enter to AIC’s 126 & 470. Note: PostalOne! sites use PostalOne! system only for refunds/withdrawals; do not enter on 1412.

18. 18 Closing Accounts for Inactivity (Cont.) Inactive BRM & Postage Due Accounts  Accounts with no invoices processed during a 24- month/2-year period.***  If account balance exceeds $25, send non-use notice and PS Form 3533 to customer.  Refund to AIC’s 280 & 453. (Do not refund locally, see Appendix V: Refunds Quick Reference, in FAP)  If less than $25 or if customer does not respond to non-use notice, enter to AIC’s 126 & 453. Note: Postage due accounts are inactive if no funds are withdrawn from the account in 12 months/1 year. Remember, PostalOne! sites use PostalOne! only for refunds/withdrawals; do not enter on 1412.

19. 19 Withdrawals

20. 20 Verification and Reconciliation Monthly verification of master trust accounts is critical to prevent customer accounts from becoming out of balance. What reports are needed for management to reconcile the customer’s trust account?  PS Form 3083 – manual or PostalOne!  ADM Master Trust Report or Narrowcaster Report.

21. 21 Negative balances are never a good thing. Since this is a PostalOne! site, this balance should be zero. Customer Trust & Employee Items

22. 22 PS Form 3083

23. 23 Sample Form 3083 Complete the heading, all three fields, everyday. The 1. Opening Balances are taken from the previous day’s Form 3083 Closing Balances. The 2. Advance Deposits Received are taken from the daily deposits on the Master Trust Sheet. The 5. Withdrawals from Advance Deposits are taken from the daily withdrawals on the Master Trust Sheet. Calculate and enter the closing balance. These Closing Balances should match the balances in your customer trust book for each account type (Postage Due and Customer Permit). Give Form 3083 and all other supporting documentation to the Close- out Person. The Close-out Person then compares the deposits and withdrawals on Form 3083 to the deposits and withdrawals on Form 1412. If the numbers match, you are in balance. If they don’t, you have a problem and it needs to be investigated. I have crossed out the Periodicals column because Permit Imprint and Periodicals are now combined under AIC 070 (Customer Permit).

24. 24 Accounting Data Mart Reports Master Trust Customer Report displays opening and closing balances, sum of deposits and withdrawals for customer trust accounts. EDW > Accounting > Shared Reports > Postmaster > Master Trust Customer:  Select location – Unit Finance Number  Beginning GL Post Date  Ending GL Post Date  Run Report

25. 25 Master Trust Customer

26. 26 Reconciliation Procedures Compare the ADM Master Trust-Customer Report to the ending balance on the PS Form 3083. If the PS Form 3083 balances do not match the Master Trust-Customer Report, then….  Using the PS Form 3083 from the last day of the month, match the ending balance to the ADM Master Trust-Customer Report ending balance.  If these amounts do not match, there was an out-of- balance condition during the current or previous month.

27. 27 Reconciliation Procedures (Cont.)  Print the ADM Master Trust-Customer report for each previous month until the balances match those on the PS Form 3083. This is the last month that Master Trust was in balance.  Identify all differences before making any correcting entries.

28. 28 ADM Report – Summary Report For PostalOne! Sites Master Trust General Ledger vs. PostalOne Summary Report

29. 29 Master Trust Report - EDW This report shows the specific deposits that are causing an out of balance situation.

30. 30 Related References Handbook F1 Section 511 http://blue.usps.gov/cpim/ftp/hand/f1/f1c5.pdf Field Accounting Procedures http://blue.usps.gov/accounting/_pdf/draftFAP.pdf