Susanne G. DeGraba, Chief Financial Officer :Y

Transcription

1 This message has been approved for distribution by Mr. Larry A. Bowers, chief operating officer. No hard copy wil l be provided. MEMORANDUM Department of Financial Services MONTGOMERY COUNTY PUBLC SCHOOLS Rockville, Maryland October 24, 2014 ACTON DUE: January 20, 2015 To: From: All Principals Susanne G. DeGraba, Chief Financial Officer :Y Subject: ACTON- Escheatment of Unclaimed School Checks ' The purpose of this memorandum is to inform you of action necessary to remit outstanding (uncashed) school checks that have been unclaimed for 180 days or more as ofdecember 31,2014. Maryland state law requires that checks which have been unclaimed are remitted to the state and reported as abandoned property (escheat). Since the implementation of the School Funds Online system, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) makes every effort to be in full compliance with this requirement. The attached process instructions provide guidance to your school financial agent on how to submit the list of checks to the Division of Controller (Attachment A). The report is due to Division of Controller by Tuesday, January 20, Schools must remit funds to MCPS through the ireceivable process as soon as possible upon receiving the invoice request. The staff in the Division of Controller will make a final attempt to contact the payee of the check and issue a duplicate check if a response is received. f no response is received, the outstanding school check information and funds will be included in the annual Escheat Report and Remittance to the Comptroller of Maryland. A process map is attached for your reference (Attachment B). n addition to Attachments A and B, a quick guide, Escheatment Best Practice, has been created for your use (Attachment C). f you have questions regarding this process, please contact me at or via or Mrs. Susan Chen, controller, at or via . SD:tdg Attachments Copy to: Executive Staff Mrs. Camp Mrs. Chen Elementary School Administrative Secretaries Mr. Pisha School Business Administrators School Financial Specialists Mr. Koutsos

2 Attachment A ndependent Activity Fund (AF) Accounting With Escheatment Process The escheatment process defines the MCPS procedures to comply with the Maryland regulation for unclaimed checks. 1. School Financial Agents begin the escheatment process in the following order: Finish the December bank reconciliation in January. Generate and verify the outstanding check list for checks over 180 days as of December 31 Once checks are identified to be escheated, go to Bank Recon > Bank Recon, click Step #4 Checks to mark checks as reconciled. Next go to JE's > Transfer, click Asset Transfer to establish the holding. TRANSACllON Do\ TE,., aun ==----m; ADO-TO ACCOUNT T ransflft Fund Transf«AEF Eilts Multi Fund Transfer AXli110HAL Ca.EHT1 (PttOOF SHEET ONLY) RMew JE's Asset T rensfer Void JE's Miscelwleoos Page 1 of 2 Montgomery County Public Schools, MD 2/2014

3 (All fields below are required except Additional Comments). Attachment A Transaction Date: Automatically inserts the current date. Update this to reflect the actual posting date. The transaction date cannot be outside the current fiscal year. Transfer Amount: Enter the amount to be escheated (total amount of checks over 180 days). Take From Account: Escheated account ( ). Add to Account: Checking account ( ). Reference: Enter a description for this entry. Additional Comments: Enter any additional comments/description for this JE not entered in the reference field. This information will print only on the proof sheet. Once the screen is completed, click on the Preview button to display the preview entry. Verify all information and click on the Post and Generate Final Proof button. The entry has now posted. When the proof sheet appears, click on the printer icon to print a copy of the entry for documentation. Note: Be sure to print the proof sheet. f you need to "reverse" this entry, reenter the exact same entry again, except enter the amount as a negative. Prepare and send the approved memorandum to the Division of Controller with detail for checks to be escheated that includes the following information: o check number, check date, amount to pay, SFO vendor name, SSN/TN, and vendor address for each check escheated o approval line for the principal o memorandum due date: February Once the Division of Controller reviews and verifies the information in the memorandum, an invoice is issued to the school. 3. When the school receives the invoice request through the ireceivable application, initiate the payment process through ireceivable as soon as possible. The school must record the electronic payment through the SFO Manual Check process by charging the Escheat account ( ). 4. The Division of Controller starts the districtwide escheatment process after receiving the money from the schools. The Division of Controller will transfer the escheated funds to the State in October. 5. Refer any calls /inquiries about escheated checks to the Division of Controller, at , or via fmsmaint@mcpsmd.org. Page 2 of 2 Montgomery County Public Schools, MD 2/2014

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5 Attachment C ndependent Activity Fund (AF) Accounting With Escheatment Best Practice The escheatment process is for checks over 180 days as of December 31 (June 30 or before). Reconcile checks and prepare Asset Transfer Journal Entry. Follow the instructions outlined in the SFO Escheatment Process. Checks issued to MCPS are not to be escheated. Attempt to follow-up with the MCPS department where the check was sent. Search FMS in AR nquiry to identify an outstanding receivable. Contact the Division of Controller if help is needed in identifying the source for the payment. MCPS checks should be voided if the source cannot be identified. A memorandum, containing a list of checks to be escheated, is to be signed by the principal. The list is to contain: Check number Check date Check amount SFO vendor name/payee Vendor address (a letter cannot be sent without an address) The memorandum/list is due to the Division of Controller by February 14.