1. PUBLIC SECTOR ACCOUINTING LECTURE NOTES BY MR. S
PUBLIC SECTOR ACCOUINTING LECTURE NOTES BY MR. S.NDHLOVU TOPIC 2 FINANCE OFFICERS FOR GOVERNMENT
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Learners should be able to:
Identify various finance officers, their powers, functions and responsibilities
Learning terminologies used in public sector accounting

2. FINANCE OFFICERS FOR GOVERNMENT
The following are the main finance officers in public sector:
Accountant General
In accordance with financial regulation, the Accountant General is the chief accounting officer of receipts and payments of government.
He/her has the responsibility of general supervision of the accounts of all Ministries and Spending agencies, and preparation of the annual financial statements of the Nation as maybe required by the Hon. Minister of Finance
He/her representative shall have access at any reasonable time to all documents, information and records need for preparation of accounts for Ministry and spending agencies

3. FINANCE OFFICERS FOR GOVERNMENT
POWERS OF ACCOUNTANT GENERAL
The government financial regulation gives the accountant general the following powers:
Powers to access books of accounts and records of all ministries at any reasonable time
Power to request for information and explanation necessary for his duties
Power to carry out special/ad-hoc investigations in any Ministry.

4. FINANCE OFFICERS FOR GOVERNMENT
FUNCTIONS OF THE ACCOUNTANT GENERAL
Supervising the accounts of the Government Ministries and Spending Agencies
Managing government’s investment through Ministry of finance
Maintaining and operating government accounts
Conducting routine and in depth inspection of books of accounts of Government Ministries and Spending Agencies to ensure compliance with rules, regulations and policies, decisions and maintaining the accounts codes and internal audit guides
Investigating cases of fraud, loss of funds, assets and store items and other financial malpractices in the Ministries and Spending Agencies’

5. FINANCE OFFICERS FOR GOVERNMENT
FUNCTIONS OF THE ACCOUNTANT GENERAL
Ensure revenue monitoring and accounting
Formulating accounting policies of the Government
(ii) AUDITOR GENERAL
The office of the Auditor general is a constitutional one. This means that the appointment and removal of the auditor general is guided by the constitution of the country. For instance he/she is appointed by the president, but parliament has to ratify the appointment . And once the appointment is ratified he/she can not be removed from office unless he/she fails to perform the functions due to ill health, death ,gross misconduct or where the term of office comes to an end e.g. upon reaching 65years of age as it a case in Zambia

6. FINANCE OFFICERS FOR GOVERNMENT
POWERS OF AUDITOR GENERAL
The constitution of the country gives the auditor general, the powers to:
Access books of accounts and records of all ministries and spending agencies at any reasonable time
Request for information and explanation necessary for his duties
Carry out special/ad-hoc investigations in any Ministry and spending agencies
Audit any institution that has received public funds

7. FINANCE OFFICERS FOR GOVERNMENT
FUNCTIONS OF THE AUDITOR GENERAL
Auditing every statutory corporation or company
Auditing every department in which funds and working accounts are established
Auditing every private institution which receives Government grants or subsidy .
Audit and certify the appropriation accounts of all Government Ministries and Departments and,
Conduct performance and specialised audits
Writing a report stating whether in his opinion; the accounts have properly been prepared, all public funds have been fully accounted for, monies have been expended for the purposes for which they were appropriated and expenditure have been made as authorized, and essential records are maintained and sufficient rules and records are maintained to safeguard public funds and reports

8. FINANCE OFFICERS FOR GOVERNMENT
(iii) THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY
The public finance act of 2004 states there shall be a Secretary to the Treasury who shall be a public officer and who shall be appointed by the president.
He/ she shall be the Chief Executive Officer of the Treasury and the Chief Controlling Officer of the Government and shall exercise such functions as provided in this act or as may be authorized, in writing by the Minister.
POWERS OF SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY
The Secretary to Treasury shall have power to:
Access books of accounts, documents and records of all ministries, spending agencies or Statutory Corporations at any reasonable time
Request for information and explanation necessary for his duties

9. FINANCE OFFICERS FOR GOVERNMENT
FUNCTIONS OF THE SECRETARY TO TREASURY
Preparing annual estimates of revenue and expenditure pursuant to the provision of the constitution,
Preparing supplementary estimates of expenditure when the situation demands,
Quarterly review of the performance of the budget and submitting a report thereof to the Minster of Finance,
Preparing annual consolidated statement of assets and liabilities including statement of the public debt of the Republic as well as the consolidated revenue statement,
Submitting the statements to the Auditor General for examination and certification,
Consolidate all audited annual revenue statements, appropriation accounts for incorporation in financial report to be laid before the National Assembly
Releasing of funds from the consolidated Fund for appropriation by controlling officers
Ensuring implementation of recommendations of Parliamentary Committee on Public Accounts

10. FINANCE OFFICERS FOR GOVERNMENT
(Iv) THE CONTROLLING OFFICER
This is the chief Accounting officer of all public moneys collected, received or disbursed as well as all public stores received, held or disposed by or on behalf of a Ministry or Spending Agency.
POWERS OF THE CONTROLLING OFFICERS
He/she has powers to take immediate ,effective and appropriate disciplinary steps against erring government workers
FUNCTIONS OF THE CONTROLLING OFFICER
To ensure that government is not committed to expenditure in excess of money appropriated by parliament.
Preventing unauthorized , irregular and wasteful expenditure and losses resulting from negligence and criminal conduct
Ensuring effective, efficient, economic and transparent use of the resources under their control

11. FINANCE OFFICERS FOR GOVERNMENT
FUNCTIONS OF THE CONTROLLING OFFICERS
Answering all audit queries and observation
Ensuring that there is adequate security over the custody of public funds
Maintenance of the vote book. A vote book is a memorandum accounts book used for monitoring government expenditure and ensuring that there is no extra –budgetary spending
(v) REVENUE COLLECTOR
This is an officer in charge of keeping official receipts and collects specified forms of revenue on behalf of the government. The revenue collector must not expend money out of his collection. He/she has to account for the collections received intact. Examples of revenue collectors are institutions such as RTSA, ZRA, Municipal/City councils

12. FINANCE OFFICERS FOR GOVERNMENT
FUNCTIONS OF THE REVENUE COLLECTOR
Exercising supervision over the receipt of public revenue and ensuring their prompt lodgment into the banks
Supervising all the officers under his authority who are entrusted with receipts, custody and disbursement of public funds.
Maintenance of an efficient internal checks against occurrence of malpractices
Ensuring that proper provision is made for the custody public funds securities

13. FINANCE OFFICERS FOR GOVERNMENT
COMMON TERMS USED IN PUBLIC SECTOR
(i) IMPREST: This is the small amount set aside to meet petty cash payments.
The person who handles imprest is known as an imprest holder, mostly the cashier
TYPES OF IMPREST
There are two types imprests namely;
Standing imprest: the imprest operated from commencement to the end of the year ( January to December). This imprest is recouped by the cashier on weekly basis. The accountant general authorizes the amount of standing imprest on yearly basis for each Ministry/Spending Agency
Special imprest: the imprest operated from commencement of the financial year until the objectives for which it set up have been achieve. Any unspent amount has to be retired / taken back to the government.

14. FINANCE OFFICERS FOR GOVERNMENT
(ii) BELOW THE LINE ACCOUNT
A line is a vote or what is appropriated by the parliament
These are items which at the time of preparation of budget, the exact amount of income receivable and expenditure incurred can not be reasonably ascertained.
The expenditure under the account is not budgeted for estimates.. Examples of below the line item are salary advances, loans, deposits and imprest
(iii) ABOVE THE LINE ACCOUNT
These are expenditure budgeted for in the estimates.
At the time of preparing the budget they can be reasonably be ascertained as to the exact amount of income receivable and expenditure incurable. Examples of above the line are salaries, normal expenses- allowances, purchase of goods and services