The Center will maintain its records of financial transactions on a computerized accounting system. The accounting system shall handle multi-currency reporting and is capable of producing the standard monitoring reports and special reports, as described in the Operations Manual and agreements with Donors. The accounting system shall be capable of the maintaining multi-currency set of books, is easily scalable and provides flexibility and ease in formatting of reports.
The Chart of Accounts details the different accounts to be maintained in the books and their related account codes, type, class and other categories (see Annex 38). The following account numbering shall be followed:
1000 - 1999 Assets
2000 - 2999 Liabilities
3000 - 3999 Equity
4000 - 4999 Revenues
5000 - 6999 Expenses
The coding of each account will depend on the grouping of accounts that will be required to generate specific reports, e.g. By Project, By Grant, By Activity, By Location, etc.
Project Classification
Accounts shall be coded to ensure that transactions pertaining to a specific project will be classified in the financial records. For example, professional fees for Project "A" can be tracked separately from professional fees for Project "B", etc.
Grant Classification
Accounts shall be coded to ensure that transactions pertaining to a specific grant will be classified in the financial records. For example, professional fees for Grant "A" can be tracked separately from professional fess for Grant "B", etc. Funds received that are not specified to a specific grant shall be classified under "General Fund".
Department/Section Classification
Accounts shall be coded to ensure that operating expenses for each of the different divisions or major departments and sections (as needed) shall be tracked separately.
Activities
Accounts shall also be coded to ensure that financial records for each of the major activities of the center that may include one or more projects will also be generated.
Geographic Location
When necessary, financial transactions will need to be generated per major geographic locations. This shall also be taken into consideration.
Financial records (both paper files and electronic files and documentation) shall be maintained and filed by the Center, by its outsourced service providers (such as the outsourced Accounting Firm, HR and payroll), and by its sub-grantees. ‘Permanent’ files are retained to perpetuity while ‘Current’ files will only be maintained for a shorter period based on regulatory requirements or specific Grant requirements.
The outsourced services providers and sub-grantees shall be required to follow the Centers policies in Filing and Records management. (see Chapter 5.2)
Permanent files shall be retained to perpetuity and shall be stored in a secured location within the Center’s office premises. Copy of these files may be made and retained at a secured off-site location.
Among others, the following are considered Permanent Files:
· Incorporation documents such as the certificate from the Securities and Exchange Commission, Articles of Incorporation, By-Laws and all amendments to these documents.
· Payroll/remuneration records
· Agreements with Donor organizations
· Major contracts
· Registration documents and permits
· Documents supporting recorded major fixed assets
· Annual reports and budgets
Current files are the records and documents that serve of little benefit in the future by retaining to perpetuity. Normally, these files and records will be retained to comply with certain regulatory requirements such as by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) which requires that all accounting records be retained up to three (3) years.
As a policy, all Current Files shall be retained for a period of five (5) years after the financial closure of the projects. However, certain Current Files may need to be retained longer based on the Agreements with certain Donors.
Current Files for the last three (3) years shall be retained within the Center’s office premises for easy reference. Older files maybe sent to an off-site storage.
Among others, the following are considered Current Files:
· General Ledger
· General Journal
· Accounts Payable Register
· Cash Disbursement Register
· Cash Receipts Register
· Trial Balances
· Check Vouchers (with complete supporting documents)
· Journal Vouchers (with complete supporting documents)
· Paid Checks and Bank Debit Advices
· Annually renewed registrations and permits
· Interim reports
Accounting records shall be filed as follows:
Check Vouchers (CV) by reference number sequence
Journal Vouchers (JV) by month, by JV number
Paid Checks (including spoiled checks) by check number sequence
Bank Debit Advices filed to specific paid CV
All original receipts, invoices, statements, and other supporting documents shall be retained by the Center in accordance with the policies mentioned above. When required, extra copies can be reproduced or photocopied.
When an agreement with a Donor requires that the Center shall submit all original receipts, invoices, statements and other third-party source documents to the Donor, the Center shall make copies of each of these documents for the Center’s internal records and files. A notation on the Check Vouchers shall indicate that the original documents are being submitted to the Donor in accordance with the Agreement with the Donor.
Conversely, if acceptable to the Donor, only the photocopy of the original documents shall be submitted to the Donor with "Certified True Copy" notation duly signed by the Head of FAS and the originals are retained with the Company records and files.
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