ABSTRACT TO ACCOMPANY ACCOUNT CURRENT.

236. Account current must be accompanied by the following abstracts:

Abstract of expenditures, Form 6.

Abstract of articles purchased and paid for, Form 9.

Abstract of articles purchased for immediate expenditure, Form 8. Articles purchased should not appear both upon Form 8 and Form 9. All articles purchased and immediately used up in the office or in construction work should be listed on Form 8, information as to the disposition of the property being indicated in proper column. Articles purchased but not used up in office or for work in progress should be listed upon Form 9. All abstract forms should be certified correct.

Report of open-market purchases should also accompany the account current in accordance with previous instructions under heading of "Open-market purchases."

A statement should be furnished with the account current showing the total expenditures under each authority during the month.

237. Every disbursing officer will, upon receipt of the statement of his disbursing account for the month of June of each year from the office or bank in which his funds are kept, immediately make a return to the Secretary of the Treasury of all checks drawn by him which have been outstanding and unpaid for three full fiscal years on the 30th of June of that year, stating the number of each check, its date, amount, in whose favor, on what office or bank, and for what purpose drawn, the number of the voucher in payment of which it was drawn, and, if known, the residence of the payee, and inclose in said return all checks described therein which may be in his possession.

Credit entries for funds received in correction of overpayments should show by whom and to whom the overpayments were made and on what vouchers.

CASH ACCOUNT.

238. Every disbursing officer will forward with his monthly account current a cash account on Form 10, exhibiting fully all items of cash belonging to the United States in his personal possession during the month. Cash, within the meaning of this requirement, will be understood to include not only specie and legal-tender Treasury notes, but also national-bank notes and commercial drafts or checks coming into the disbursing officer's hands in any way.

239. He will debit therein the amount of cash on hand from the preceding month, and separately each item of cash received during the month, indicating fully its date, amount and source, as e. g., proceeds of check drawn to procure cash, designating its number and depositary; cash collected from sales of property; cash refunded by

himself or another to correct an erroneous payment, designating the voucher whereon the error was made, etc.

240. He will credit therein severally each cash deposit made by him during the month, designating the depositary, and indicating whether the deposit was to his official credit or to the credit of the Treasurer of the United States. If the latter, he will give also the number of the certificate of deposit. He will credit in a single lump sum the entire amount of cash disbursements made during the month, as shown by receipts filed with the vouchers to his account current. He will credit at the end of the month the amount of cash remaining in his personal possession, which should in every case be verified by actual count, and agree with the cash as shown by the analysis of balance in his account current.

241. If the officer had no cash of the United States in his possession during the month, he should nevertheless sign and forward the cash account with his account current, indicating its negative character by appropriate entry on its face.

(a) The cash account is merely subsidiary to the account current and in no way takes the place of the latter or of any of the entries which should properly appear therein.

(b) Thus a cash deposit to the credit of the Treasurer of the United States must not only be credited in the cash account as pertinent to the record of the officer's cash transactions, but must also be debited in his account current, in order to show and claim a proper reduction in his accountable balance as distinguished from his cash. balance. On the other hand, cash deposits to his official credit, as shown by credit entries on his cash account, do not affect his accountable balance, and should not be noted in his account current.

(c) Again, cash debited in the cash account from collections or refundments to correct disbursing errors must be credited in the account current, since it augments the officer's accountable balance; but cash debited from checks drawn on his depositary to procure the same does not affect his accountable balance, and no entry thereof should be made in the account current.

(d) Cash disbursements on vouchers which are credited in a lump sum in the cash account are included in the total disbursements debited in the account current and should not be again separately debited in the latter.

ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICERS.

242. Whenever feasible, administrative officers will require disbursing officers under them, at the close of business on the last day of periods for which they are required to render accounts, to count and

schedule, in the presence of a duly authorized and disinterested witness or witnesses, all items of cash, i. e., currency, memorandum payments, and other items, to appear in their analysis of balances for which vouchers are not to be submitted to the auditors of the Treasury Department with the current account.

PROCEEDS OF SALES, CONDEMNED PROPERTY.

243. The proceeds of the sale of condemned stores should be inventoried on Form 214, account of sales rendered on Form 215, and accounted for on the account current Form 11.

244. The proceeds of the sale of condemned stores or other public property of any kind should be deposited to the credit of the United States as "miscellaneous receipts on account of proceeds of Government property."

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245. The act of June 8, 1896, authorizing the payment of expenses as approved by the accounting officers of the Treasury” incurred in the sale of old material, etc., from the gross proceeds thereof, and the payment into the Treasury of the net proceeds only, does not require that such expenses shall be so approved before payment, but simply that an itemized account thereof shall be rendered to the accounting officers for settlement as any other item of expenditure of Government funds. (Davis, par. 616, of 1901.)

246. When necessary to employ a civilian auctioneer for the sale of public property the officer, when practicable, will determine before employment the amount he shall be paid for the service. This should be reasonable. In case of fees the percentage should be that usually obtained in that locality, and under this form of payment the auctioneer should bear all the expenses of advertisement.

247. For ordinary sales the services of a clerk or employee should be utilized as auctioneer, without expense to the Government.

SALE OF SIGNAL CORPS EQUIPMENT.

248. In connection with paragraph 1586, Army Regulations, authorizing officers of the Army to purchase from the Signal Corps articles of Signal Corps equipment, the following instructions should be observed:

Officers of the Army in the United States and Alaska desiring to purchase Signal Corps equipment will submit to the Chief Signal Officer of the Army, Signal Corps Form No. 240, properly accomplished in duplicate, and accompanied by post-office money order or check for the amount of the purchase, made payable to the "Disbursing Officer, Signal Corps, United States Army." The cost of transportation may be included in the check if desired.

The property officer at one of the Signal Corps supply depots will then be directed to make issue, transportation charges collect or paid, as the case may be.

The shipping officer will advise the consignee of the shipment of the property, stating the date of the purchase order.

The accountable officer will file the shipping instructions, which will be authority for dropping the article, as a voucher to his property return.

The disbursing officer accounting for proceeds of these sales will deposit the money received to the credit of the Treasurer of the United States, the certificate of deposit to bear notation of proper appropriation. All sales will be abstracted on Signal Corps Form No. 239 (Abstract of Signal Corps equipment sold). This abstract will be forwarded as a voucher to account current for the month in which the sale was made. Form No. 240, pertaining to this abstract of sales, will accompany the abstract as vouchers thereto.

Officers in the Philippines desiring to make purchases may submit Form No. 240, made out in accordance with paragraph 1 of this circular, to the chief signal officer, Philippines Division, Manila, P. I. The property will be issued from the Signal Corps property depot in Manila and the money accounted for by the Signal Corps disbursing officer in Manila.

SETTLEMENTS FOR PROPERTY TRANSFERRED BETWEEN BUREAUS.

249. The transfer of public property from one bureau or department to another is not regarded as a sale. If money is received therefor it may be used to replace such stores and will be reported accordingly. (A. R. 630.)

250. Vouchers for services rendered or invoices of supplies furnished by any other department, bureau, or office to the Signal Corps, or by the Signal Corps to any other department, bureau, or office should be sent in duplicate to the Chief Signal Officer of the Army for settlement.

251. Under Army Regulation 682, supplies will not be furnished to another department or bureau, except in the Philippine Islands, prior to the approval of the Secretary of War, and the papers in the case will be forwarded to the Chief Signal Officer of the Army for such approval. Invoices covering supplies so furnished will bear notation as follows:

These supplies should be considered as property of the reimbursement therefor will be obtained by the Signal Corps.

DECISIONS BY TREASURY DEPARTMENT.

department, as

252. Disbursing officers, under section 8 of the act of July 31, 1894 (28 Stat., 208), can appeal to the Comptroller of the Treasury for

decision as to the legality of payment of any account. This section reads as follows:

Disbursing officers, or the head of any executive department, or other establishment not under any of the executive departments, may apply for and the Comptroller of the Treasury shall render his decision upon any question involving a payment to be made by them or under them, which decision, when rendered, shall govern the Auditor and the Comptroller of the Treasury in passing upon the account containing said disbursement.

The comptroller in interpreting this statute decides that he is not authorized to render a decision in advance of payment except when the account which is to be paid is submitted with request for decision.