Approval, Processing and Payment of Traveling Expense Vouchers, General Vouchers for Recurring Expenses and Payrolls or Salary Vouchers of Emergency or Casual Employees in Regional Districts

November 19, 1963 REVENUE MEMORANDUM ORDER NO. 52-63 SUBJECT : Approval, Processing and Payment of Traveling Expense Vouchers, General Vouchers for Recurring Expenses and Payrolls or Salary Vouchers of Emergency or Casual Employees in Regional Districts I PURPOSE : "In line with the program of the President to minimize "red tape" and its attending evils, this Order is issued to simplify procedures and expedite action on traveling expense vouchers, general vouchers for recurring expenses, and payrolls or salary vouchers of emergency personnel in the regional districts. This Order is corollary to Revenue Memorandum Order No. 53-63 dated November 19, 1963 entitled "Creation of Accounting Branches and Designation of Special Disbursing Officers in Regional Districts." cdtech II SCOPE AND DEFINITION OF TERMS : A. Scope Except as otherwise provided, this Order shall apply to the approval, processing, and payment of traveling expense vouchers, general vouchers for recurring expenses, and payrolls or salary vouchers of emergency or casual personnel in regional districts. B. The terms below, whenever used in this Order, shall be construed as follows: 1. " Regional Office " the headquarters of a regional district. 2. " Recurring Expenses " expenditures which are more or less fixed from month to month, like building rentals, and electric, water and telephone bills. This term also includes service fees of less than fifty pesos (P50.00) for the repair and maintenance of furniture and equipment. 3. " Salary voucher " a voucher claim for uncollected salary. 4. " Accounting Division " the Accounting Division in the National Office under the Management & Planning Department. 5. " Accounting Branch " the unit in a Regional Office responsible for keeping of records and accounting of expenditures authorized to be paid by the Special Disbursing Officer. 6. " Administrative Officer " the head of the Administrative Branch in the Regional Office. 7. " Special Disbursing Officer " the official or employee in the Regional Office designated to discharge the functions of disbursing funds for the payment of traveling expenses, recurring expenses, and wages of emergency or casual employees. 8. " Chief of Branch " the head of a branch in the regional district. III DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY AND RESPONSIBILITY : A. Except as otherwise provided, all traveling expense vouchers, general vouchers for recurring expenses, and payrolls or salary vouchers of emergency or casual personnel shall be approved, processed and paid in the regional district where the expenses have been incurred. Exceptions are the following activities which shall continue to be done in the National Office. 1. The approval, processing and payment of salary vouchers or payrolls of all regular employees of the Bureau; 2. The approval, processing and payment of traveling expense vouchers of Bureau employees involving their travel outside the country, or travel from one regional district to another or from one regional district to the National Office or vice-versa; 3. The approval, processing and payment of general vouchers for maintenance and repair of furniture and equipment when the amount of the fees is fifty pesos (P50.00) or more. B. The responsibility and authority to be discharged in the regional district shall be as follows: 1. Provincial Revenue Officer The Provincial Revenue Officer shall be primarily responsible for the careful verification and examination of entries in traveling expense vouchers and supporting papers thereto presented by employees assigned within his jurisdiction. His signature shall be affixed on the left-hand blank under the item "Approval for payment . . ." appearing in the Traveling Expense Voucher form and shall mean that he has ascertained the correctness of the entries made therein and that he holds himself responsible for any disallowance that may be made in audit without prejudice to his right to recover such disallowance from the person who received the payment. 2. Chief of Branch The Chief of Branch shall exercise the same authority as the Provincial Revenue Officer in the verification and examination of entries in traveling expense vouchers of personnel under his supervision. He shall likewise be charged with the same responsibility as the Provincial Revenue Officer in this regard. 3. Administrative Officer Traveling expense vouchers of Provincial Revenue Officers and Chiefs of Branches shall be submitted to the Regional Director thru the Administrative Officer who shall check the same and affix his initial below the space provided thereon for the signature of the Regional Director. The Administrative Officer shall prepare all general vouchers for recurring expenses and payrolls or salary vouchers of emergency personnel in the regional district. He shall see to it that the necessary supporting papers are attached thereto and that the charges are correct and reasonable. He shall certify to the correctness of the claim by affixing his signature on the appropriate space in the voucher form. All vouchers from the Administrative Officer for approval of the Regional Director shall be sent thru the Assistant Regional Director for further review. aisadc 4. Regional Director Authority is hereby delegated to the Regional Director to approve traveling expense vouchers of all personnel assigned in his district from the Assistant Regional Director down, by affixing his signature thereon at the right hand blank under the item "Approved for payment. . . ". He shall likewise approve general vouchers for recurring expenses incurred in his district and payrolls or salary vouchers for emergency or casual employees employed in his district. He shall also exercise supervisory responsibility over Provincial Revenue Officers and Chiefs of Branches in the checking of the veracity and reasonableness of such claims. The Regional Director shall not approve any traveling expense voucher, general voucher for recurring expenses and payroll or salary voucher of emergency personnel unless it has been checked, reviewed and signed by the Provincial Revenue Officer or Chief of Branch concerned. 5. Accounting Branch The Accounting Branch shall be responsible for processing all vouchers and payrolls approved by the Regional Director, subject to existing accounting and auditing rules and regulations. The Accounting Branch shall also be responsible for the release or mailing of cheques to payees. 6. Special Disbursing Officer The Special Disbursing Officer shall prepare cheques for accounts approved for payment in vouchers. However, claims for reimbursements amounting to less than five pesos (P5.00) each shall be paid in cash by him, provided that, when such claim is not collected by the claimant within five (5) days from the release of the voucher by the Accounting Branch, the Special Disbursing Officer shall prepare a cheque in favor of the claimant to cover such claim. IV PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION OF TRAVELING EXPENSE VOUCHER : The current practice of preparing traveling expense vouchers in the ordinary handwriting of claimants shall be continued. Traveling expense vouchers which do not meet this requirement shall not be entertained. Every employee in a regional district is hereby required to submit specimens of his handwriting and signature to the Provincial Revenue Officer or Chief of Branch having supervision over him, to the Chief of the Accounting Branch, and to the Special Disbursing Officer of the regional district where the employee is assigned. These specimens of handwriting and signatures shall be compiled and systematically filed for ready reference by those officials. Failure to submit these handwriting and signature specimens shall be cause for returning the voucher to the claimant for compliance to this provision. All vouchers for reimbursement of traveling expenses incurred during any given month shall be submitted to the Provincial Revenue Officer or Chief of Branch not later than the end of the succeeding month. The receiving official shall note on the face of the voucher the date of its receipt. No such claim shall be entertained when the voucher is submitted beyond the deadline herein set forth, unless, however, reasonable cause or causes are submitted in writing by the claimant thru channels to the Revenue Operations Head (Administrative Services) who shall decide on the merits of the explanation. He shall return the same within ten (10) working days from date of receipt to the Provincial Revenue Officer or Chief of Branch of origin, for disposition as the decision calls for. V IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE : Five regional districts shall be used as "pilot projects" to establish and test the soundness and practicability of procedural details developed for the implementation of the provisions of this Order. These regional districts shall be RO-1 (Baguio City), RO-10 (Cebu), RO-12 (Iloilo), RO-14 (Davao), and RO-15 (Zamboanga). The analysis and evaluation of the results in the "pilot projects" will be the basis for implementing this Order in other regional districts. The Revenue Operations Head (Management and Planning) thru the Organization and Methods (O & M) Staff shall be responsible for developing and establishing the necessary details of the methods and procedures herein outlined. Likewise, the Organization and Methods (O & M) Staff shall be responsible for rendering technical guidance and assistance in the installation and implementation of such methods and procedures. VI REPEALING CLAUSE : All provisions of existing orders and instructions inconsistent with this Order are hereby superseded or modified. (SGD.) RAMON T. OBEN Acting Commissioner of Internal Revenue FLOW CHART for the APPROVAL, PROCESSING and PAYMENT OF GENERAL VOUCHERS in the REGIONAL DISTRICTS FLOW CHART for the APPROVAL, PROCESSING and PAYMENT of TRAVELING EXPENSE VOUCHER in REGIONAL DISTRICTS