Question

Government Accounting and reporting are normally guided by laws and regulations,

such as Jamaica FAA Act & Regulations. According to the FAA Act & Regulations, define

& state roles of the following Officers:

An Accounting Officer

An Accountable Officer                                                                                 

The Accountant General

The Auditor General   

The Financial Secretary

Answer 1

According to The Financial Administration And Audit Act the following definition and roles are as follows.

An Accounting Officer

Accounting Officer is any person designated as such by the Minister pursuant to Section 16 of the Act and charged with the duty of accounting for any expenditure on any service in respect of which moneys have been appropriated under the Financial Administration and Audit Act or any other enactment.

Roles of an Accounting Officer

1. Accounting Officers shall be accountable to the Minister of Finance for the administration of their departments and the management of their Votes.
2. Accounting Officers have a responsibility to appoint public officers as Accountable Officers and to submit within thirty (30) days following the end of each financial year, a list of these officers and their positions to the Financial Secretary.
3. Accounting Officers are responsible for designating Accountable Officers to sign monthly financial statements.
4. Accounting Officers must sign the relevant appropriation, and other accounts for the services assigned and in doing so, accept personal responsibility for the statements accuracy, and completeness.
5. Accounting Officers shall ensure that proper financial procedures are established and followed and that accounting records are maintained in the prescribed manner.
6. Accounting Officers shall ensure that the public funds for which they are responsible are properly managed and safeguarded, with independent and effective checks of cash balances, stores, equipment and property of any kind.

An Accountable Officer

“Accountable Officer” is any public officer including an “Accounting Officer” concerned in/or responsible for the collection, receipt, custody, issue or payment of public moneys or other public property.

Roles of an Accountable Officer

(i) Accountable Officers are appointed by the Accounting Officers in accordance with section 24F of the FAA Act. Copies of each letter of appointment must be submitted to the Financial Secretary.

(ii) Accountable Officers are public officers with responsibilities for the collection, receipt, custody, issue or payment of public monies or other public property in their ministry and/or departments.

(iii) An officer though not formally appointed as an Accountable Officer may by nature of his/her function and responsibility be construed to be an Accountable Officer.

(iv) An officer shall remain accountable for any act or omission made prior to their separation from the responsibilities of an Accountable Officer in respect of the said position.

              

The Accountant General

The Accountant General is the custodian of the Consolidated Fund and carries out such functions as are conferred by this or any other enactment on behalf of the Government of Jamaica.

Roles of the Accountant General

(i) The chief function of the Accountant General is to maintain control of Government’s finance. The Accountant General is responsible for management of the Treasury including:

(ii) Management of the Consolidated Fund, Contingencies Fund, Extra Budgetary Funds and any other Fund assigned by law or by the Minister of Finance and the Financial Secretary.

(iii) Other responsibilities of the Accountant General include but not limited to:

(a) Management of Treasury Deposits;

(b) Payment of salaries and pensions to public officers;

(c) Payment of and recovery of loans to public officers;

(d) Management of the Central Treasury Management System; and

(e) Management of selected public assets and securities.

(iv) A key function of the Accountant General is the preparation and submission of financial statements including the consolidated government General Purpose Financial Statements.

The Auditor General  

Auditor General is the person who accepts the Finance Accounts statements submitted by the Accountant General and He who (Auditor General) shall certify them and the statements as so certified shall be laid on the Table of the House of Representatives.

Roles of the Accountant General

Roles of the Accountant General includes, accepting the necessary financial documents from ADG.

A copy of the Financial Secretary’s instruction must be submitted to the Auditor General.

The AGD shall submit the statutory heads annual accounts to the Auditor General and the Financial Secretary within four (4) months following the end of each financial year.

The Financial Secretary

The Financial Secretary is the principal advisor to the Government on matters pertaining to financial administration and public financial business.

Roles of the Financial Secretary

(a) reporting to the Minister any Accounting Officer or Principal Receiver of Revenue whose financial statements are consistently late in submission and are in arrears.

(b) the continuous improvement of financial and accounting systems throughout the departments of Government;

(c) the establishment and issue of the Code of Conduct for Public Sector Accountants; and

(d) ensuring that the mechanism for the collection of and accounting for public moneys is satisfactory in principle and being complied with in practice.