34 Tex. Admin. Code § 5.51 - Requirements for Purchase Documents
(a)
Definitions. The following words and terms, when used in this section, shall
have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
(1) Appropriation year--The year that the
legal authorization for the charge was granted by the legislature. Multiple
appropriation year activity may occur within a single fiscal year.
(2) Chief administrative officer--The
appointed or elected individual who is authorized by law to administer a state
agency that is not headed by a governing body or the executive director or
other individual with an equivalent title who administers a state agency headed
by a governing body.
(3)
Comptroller--The comptroller of public accounts for the State of
Texas.
(4) Comptroller object
code--The four-digit code that indicates in USAS the type of expenditure
made.
(5) Delivery date--The date
goods are delivered to a state agency.
(6) Governing body--The board, commission,
committee, council, or other group of individuals that is collectively
authorized by law to administer a state agency.
(7) Include--A term of enlargement and not of
limitation or exclusive enumeration. The use of the term does not create a
presumption that components not expressed are excluded.
(8) Institution of higher education--Has the
meaning assigned by Education Code, §
61.003.
(9) May not--A prohibition. The term does not
mean "might not" or its equivalents.
(10) Non-payment document--The paper or
electronic document that a state agency submits to the comptroller for the
purpose of requesting the comptroller to post or correct certain accounting
information in USAS. The term does not include a payment document.
(11) Order date--The date that a state agency
enters into a contract for goods or services.
(12) Texas identification number--The
11-digit number that the comptroller assigns to each payee of a warrant issued
or electronic funds transfer initiated by the comptroller.
(13) Mail code--The three digit number
associated with a Texas identification number that documents disbursement
instructions.
(14) Payment
document--The paper or electronic document that a state agency submits to the
comptroller for the purpose of requesting the comptroller to make one or more
payments on the agency's behalf. The term includes a document that uses the
appropriated or other funds of a state agency to make a payment to another
state agency. The term does not include a non-payment document.
(15) Purchase document--The type of payment
document that the comptroller requires a state agency to submit when requesting
payment of certain claims against the agency.
(16) Service date--The date the provision of
services to a state agency ends.
(17) State agency--A department, board,
commission, committee, council, agency, office, or other entity in the
executive, legislative, or judicial branch of Texas state government, the
jurisdiction of which is not limited to a geographical portion of this state.
The term includes an institution of higher education.
(18) Payment transaction--A state agency's
request to the comptroller for the comptroller to make one payment to one payee
on behalf of the agency. A payment document always contains at least one
payment transaction or one adjusting entry to a payment transaction.
(19) USAS--The uniform statewide accounting
system.
(20) Fiscal year--The
accounting period for the state government which begins on September 1 and ends
on August 31.
(b)
Submission of purchase documents to the comptroller.
(1) A state agency may submit a purchase
document to the comptroller only by submitting the document to USAS.
(2) A state agency must submit a purchase
document to USAS electronically unless the comptroller has specifically
authorized the agency to submit the document on paper. A state agency may
electronically submit a purchase document through on-line, direct entries into
USAS or through reporting into USAS by a magnetic media device.
(c) General responsibilities of
state agencies and their officers and employees.
(1) The officers and employees of a state
agency are responsible for:
(A) being
knowledgeable about Texas laws and rules concerning expenditures;
(B) ensuring that the agency's expenditures
comply with those laws and rules;
(C) determining the agency's legal authority
for making each payment that would result from a purchase document before the
document is submitted to the comptroller;
(D) ensuring that for each purchase document,
the agency maintains necessary documentation for proving that each payment
resulting from the document is legal, proper, and fiscally responsible;
and
(E) ensuring that each purchase
document complies with the processing requirements of USAS.
(2) An officer or employee of a
state agency may not submit a purchase document to the comptroller if the
officer or employee has any doubts about the legality, propriety, or fiscal
responsibility of any payment that would result from the document.
(3) The chief administrative officer of a
state agency is responsible for ensuring that the agency's officers and
employees understand and comply with this subsection. However, the chief
administrative officer's failure to fulfill this responsibility does not
relieve those officers and employees from the obligation to comply.
(4) The comptroller's responsibility to audit
a state agency's purchase documents does not relieve the agency's officers and
employees from the responsibilities listed in paragraphs (1) - (3) of this
subsection. Therefore, those officers and employees may not rely on the
comptroller's audit to prevent a questionable payment from being made or to
discover or reverse an invalid payment after it has occurred.
(d) Content of purchase documents
and payment transactions. For each payment transaction included in a purchase
document, the document must specify or contain:
(1) the Texas identification number and mail
code of the individual or entity being paid or reimbursed;
(2) the amount of the payment or adjusting
entry;
(3) the proper comptroller
object code;
(4) the appropriation
year to be charged for the payment or adjusting entry;
(5) the agency number of the agency whose
funds are being used to make the payment or adjusting entry;
(6) the proper transaction code for crediting
or debiting the appropriate general ledger accounts;
(7) the proper program cost
account;
(8) the number of the fund
from which the payment or adjusting entry will be made;
(9) the number of the appropriation from
which the payment or adjusting entry will be made;
(10) the disbursement method for making the
payment or adjusting entry;
(11)
the service or delivery date, which must be entered into the service date
field;
(12) the order date, which
must be entered into the document date field;
(13) the approval and certification of the
document; and
(14) any other
information deemed necessary by the comptroller.
(e) Supporting documentation for purchase
documents.
(1) The comptroller may require a
state agency to make available to the comptroller documentation to support the
legality and fiscal responsibility of each payment that results from a purchase
document if the payment is made out of the agency's funds. Supporting
documentation must be made available whenever:
(A) the comptroller's purchase guide,
eXpendit, or a successor publication specifically requires the documentation to
be made available; or
(B) the
comptroller notifies the agency that the documentation must be made
available.
(2)
Supporting documentation must be made available to the comptroller in the
manner required by the comptroller. The comptroller may require the
documentation to be made available during a post-payment audit, a prepayment
audit, or at any other time.
(3)
The types of supporting documentation that the comptroller may require include
purchase orders, requisitions, contracts, invoices, and receipts.
(4) A state agency must maintain
documentation in its files to support the legality and fiscal responsibility of
each payment resulting from a purchase document if the payment is made out of
the agency's funds. The documentation must be maintained even if the
comptroller does not require the agency to make it available to the
comptroller.
(5) A state agency's
supporting documentation must satisfy all the following requirements.
(A) The supporting documentation for a
purchase document must be maintained in agency files at least until the end of
the second fiscal year after the fiscal year in which the document is processed
by USAS.
(B) This subparagraph
applies to a purchase document only if the document contains only one payment
transaction. Supporting documentation must be cross-referenced to the purchase
document that the documentation supports. This cross-reference must consist of
the document's USAS document key. A purchase document's USAS document key
consists of the document agency, the document number, and the fiscal year
during which the document was initiated. All supporting documentation for a
particular purchase document must be grouped together.
(C) This subparagraph applies to a purchase
document only if the document contains more than one payment transaction.
Supporting documentation must be cross-referenced to the purchase document and
payment transaction that the documentation supports. The cross-reference to the
purchase document must consist of the document's USAS document key. A purchase
document's USAS document key consists of the document agency, the document
number, and the fiscal year during which the document was initiated. The
cross-reference to the purchase transaction consists of the transaction's
suffix number. All supporting documentation for a particular payment
transaction must be grouped together.
(D) The state agency whose funds are used to
make a payment is responsible for maintaining the supporting documentation for
the payment.
(6) When
the comptroller requires a state agency to make supporting documentation
available to the comptroller, the agency is solely responsible for complying
with this requirement. The comptroller is not required to search the agency's
files for the documentation, determine which documentation corresponds with
which purchase documents or payment transactions, or otherwise organize or sort
the documentation. If the agency does not make supporting documentation for a
particular purchase document or payment transaction available to the
comptroller according to the comptroller's requirements, then the comptroller
may reject the document or transaction or deem the payment resulting from the
document or transaction to be unsubstantiated or erroneous.
(7) This subsection also applies to any
supporting documentation that a state agency maintains
electronically.
Notes
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