COMMISSION ON AUDIT MEMORANDUM NO.

86-448 January 13, 1986

TO

: All COA Managers/Regional Directors, COA Employees and all concerned.

SUBJECT : General Guidelines for the Pilot Implementation of the "Computerized Accounting
System for National Government Agencies" in the Commission on Audit.
INTRODUCTION
In view of the need to enhance the efficiency of the government accounting system, the
Commission on Audit (COA) and the National Computer Center (NCC) developed a prototype
model of a computerized accounting system which can be implemented in all national government
agencies.
The Commission on Audit, being a national government agency, was chosen as the pilot
agency for the implementation of the said system.
PURPOSE OF THE GUIDELINES
With the computerization of the accounting system, some accounting procedures and
requirements have to be revised and standardized, and coding schemes have to be used to
facilitate processing of accounting data. Thus, the need for these guidelines.
These guidelines describe in general the revised procedures for the smooth
implementation of the Computerized Accounting System.
The Accounting Division shall be provided separately with the Procedures Manual and
User's Manual, which describe in detail the operations involved in the Computerized Accounting
System.
Existing procedures and requirements not covered by these guidelines are understood to
remain the same.
Existing accounting codes prescribed in the Standard Government Chart of Accounts
(SGCA) shall be maintained. However, additional digit positions are added to allow more flexibility
in the system.
GUIDELINES AND PROCEDURES
Enumerated hereunder are the revised procedures and requirements to be followed by the
person or persons responsible for each accounting and related activities.
A.

Preparation of Disbursement Voucher (DV)/Payroll Voucher (PV)

Party Responsible:

Claimant or any person preparing a DV for a particular

claimant (referred to as "client" in the computerized
accounting system).

A claimant may be: (1) COA employee or group of COA employees; (2) National
Government Agency; (3) Local Government Agency; (4) Corporate Agency; and (5)
Private Client (Suppliers, Contractors, Contractual COA employees and others not
belonging to the first four groups of claimants).
Procedures:
1.

A claimant belonging to the first classification of clients (COA employees) should

indicate right after his name in the DV his employee number in full digits of seven.
This will be used by the computer to identify the claimant. Employee number which
shall be referred to as the Client number is the code assigned by the EDP Division to
each employee. This is also referred to as the COA ID number. DV's without client
ID will not be processed by the Accounting Division except for Claimants belonging
to groups 2, 3, 4 and 5.

2.

Client number of claimants belonging to the last four groups shall be assigned by the
Accounting Division. However, if a number had already been previously issued to
the client, the same should also be indicated after the Claimant's name to facilitate
the processing of the DV.

3.

Where the claimant is a group of COA employees, the client number of the payroll
head shall be indicated right after his name.

B.

Preparation of Request for Obligation Allotment (ROA)

Party Responsible:

Budget Division

Procedures:
1.

The client number of a COA Employee claimant and other clients with previously
assigned client number shall be indicated right after the client name in the ROA.

2.

Space for client number in the ROA for non-COA employees shall be provided after
the claimant's name to allow assignment of client number by the Accounting
Division.

3.

The ROA form which was revised to conform with the computerization requirements
(see Annex A) shall be properly filled in. The following coding scheme for PPA,
Allotment and Expense Code shall be followed:
PPA (Program, Project Activity)Program shall be numbered as 01, 02, 03, etc.
Project shall be numbered as 01, 02, 03, etc.
Activity shall be numbered as 001, 002, 003, etc.

Pattern:
99
99
999

Program

Project

Activity
Allotment Class shall be numbered as 100-00, 100- 10, 200-00 and 300-00
Pattern:
999
99

Allotment

Class
Expense code shall follow the same coding scheme in the Standard
Government Chart of Accounts.
4.

Only ten (10) PPA's are allowed in one ROA. In case the number of PPA's
exceed the maximum number required, another ROA shall be used for the
remaining PPA.

C.

Processing of Disbursement Vouchers/Payroll Vouchers

Party Responsible: Accounting Division

Procedures:
1.

Client numbers for groups 2, 3, 4, and 5 shall be assigned by the Accounting

Division right after its receipt of the DV/PV and other supporting documents.

2.

Client numbers to be assigned to non-COA employees shall be the next

sequence number available for the particular type of client which shall be
generated by the computer.

3.

Cut-off date which shall be the last day of the month shall be strictly
observed. Transactions received beyond that date shall be considered
transaction for the following month.

4.

ROA number shall be assigned only after the transaction have been
accepted by the computer. No transaction shall be processed unless it
passed thru the computer system for the checking of the availability of
funds.

5.

Any corrections in the DV and ROA entries shall be properly reflected and
legibly written in the source documents.

6.

Accounting entries shall be properly filled-in indicating completely the

number of digits required for account codes.
Ten digits are provided for the account codes. The account codes to be
used shall be the same with what is prescribed in the SGCA. The first six
digits shall still be maintained. However, a seventh digit for sub-account
codes with extensions of "1" and "2" such as 8-81-199-1 and 8-81-199-2
and three digits for trust accounts which are usually extended by "184" are
added. For account codes with only six digits, the remaining four digits shall
be padded with zeroes.
Pattern for Account Codes
9
99 - 999 - 9 - 999

Statement

Sequence Code

Major Code

Minor Code

Sub Account Code

Extensions

7.

D.

All processed DV and ROA must be returned to the Fund Control Section
before releasing for updating of Obligation Ceiling File.

Preparation of Check
Party Responsible:

Cash Division
Administrative Office

Procedures:
1.

E.

Checks shall be named only after the claimant or payroll head. Only where
the claimant is already dead shall the check be named after any authorized
person to claim the check.

Making Payments or Remitting the salaries of Corporate Auditing Personnel

Party Responsible:

payor or any person/agency making payments or remittances

to the Cash Unit.

The payor is the same person as the claimant and therefore the client number
assigned to him shall also be the same.
Procedure:

F.

1.

Payors who are COA employees must present their COA ID to the Cash
Unit to enable them to indicate the full name of the payor and facilitate the
assignment of client number in the Official Receipts (OR).

2.

Bills issued to the Debtor must be presented to the Cash Unit to facilitate
posting of payments to the Debtor's Subsidiary Ledger.

Issuance of Official Receipts (OR)

Party Responsible:

Cash Division,
Administrative Office

Procedures:

G.

1.

Client number of the Payor must be indicated in the available space below
the OR number. (The client or payor is the same as the claimant as defined
and referred in A.)

2.

Full name of the payor/debtor should be indicated in the OR to identify the

payor.

3.

The person authorized to make the remittance of the salary of the Corporate
Personnel must mention the code number assigned to the particular agency.

Transmittal of Accounting Documents (Disbursement Vouchers/Payroll Voucher,

Checks and Official Receipts Issued).
Party Responsible:

Cash Division
Administrative Office
Procedures:

1.

Accounting Documents such as DVs/PVs, Checks and Official Receipts

Issued and other supporting documents shall be forwarded to the
Accounting Division by batch at the end of each day.

2.

A transmittal list for Disbursement Vouchers Paid, Official Receipts Issued

and Remittance Advice/Deposit Slips, which is shown as Annexes B, C and
D, shall be used in transmitting the said documents to the Accounting
Division, in lieu of the usual Reports required of the Disbursing/Collecting
Officer, such as Report of Disbursements, Report of Collections and
Deposits. The transmittal list shall be prepared in three copies and must be
properly filled in.

3.

The transmittal list forms were so designed to make it easier for the Cash
Unit to prepare it thereby facilitating the transmittal of the said documents to
the Accounting Division.

4.

The transmittal list for each type of disbursements (Commercial Checks,

Treasury Warrants, Treasury Checks and Cash Disbursements) shall be
prepared separately. Checks must be listed in chronological order with its
corresponding payee and amount.

5.

Likewise, the transmittal list for Official Receipts Issued shall contain the
ORs issued for the day, listed in chronological order. The payor's name
shall also be indicated right beside the OR number and its corresponding
amount.

6.

The transmittal list for Remittance Advice/Deposit Slips shall indicate the
total amount collected for the particular period. The date of the Remittance
Advice/Deposit Slips and the corresponding amount for each shall also be
indicated in the transmittal list.

EFFECTIVITY
This memorandum shall take effect immediately.
(SGD.) FRANCISCO S. TANTUICO, JR., Chairman