<% %> CM #11 (1995-96)
Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink/Department of Financial Services Florida from space/NASA Florida beach scene Florida palm tree Florida surf

  

My Florida.com link
December 20, 1995

COMPTROLLER'S MEMORANDUM NO. 11 (1995-96)

SUBJECT: ELECTRONIC PAYMENTS FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

The State Comptroller's Office is now making Electronic Payment available to local governments. This payment program will begin in January. The local government Electronic Payment Program will work similar to the direct deposit system for our employees and retirees. Each local government has been requested to complete the authorization form and return it as soon as possible. The authorization form contains a question concerning the receiving financial institution's Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) capability. If the local government's financial institution is EDI capable, we will electronically send an addenda record along with the payment which will be deposited to the account. The addenda record will serve the purpose of a remittance advice to explain why the payment is being made. Included in the addenda record will be the invoice number, invoice amount, site title and site telephone number. Therefore, it is important that each agency accurately input the invoice information in the required fields.

Upon receipt of an Electronic Payment Authorization form, the EFT Section will process the authorization and send a prenotification to the payee's designated financial institution. This prenotification will confirm the validity of the transit routing number, account number and account type. Twenty calendar days later, the authorization will automatically become active and payments processed after that date will be deposited electronically.

When completing the authorization, local governments will provide their Federal Employer Identification Number and name. These will be matched against payments submitted by each agency. Only those that match will be paid electronically. Those that do not match will be paid by warrant. A departmental SAMAS screen will be available to show agencies how the local governments are listed on the authorization file maintained by the Comptroller's Office. We will continually update the file as authorizations are received. The authorization file can be accessed by vendor number and name or alphabetical scrolling. If an agency uses a vendor number or name (or name variation) different from the information on this screen, the payment will be made by warrant rather than electronically. We will use the first thirty one positions of the name field for the match. Please exercise care to insure that the vendor number and name used for voucher audit is the same as the vendor number and name on the authorization file.

The effective date or payment date will be three banking days after the voucher is posted in voucher audit. For example, vouchers posted on Monday will produce warrants with Monday's date. Electronic payments posted the same Monday night will have an effective date of Thursday. An example of the new warrant or payment register is attached.

Any payment returned to us through the banking system will be canceled and returned to the original disbursement account the same as a warrant cancellation. We will not be in a position to routinely retrieve payments made in error. These errors will be handled by the agency which initiated the payment.

Initially, we will provide a remittance advice for each payment made by EFT, including those that also receive the addenda record. The remittance advice should be mailed to the payee. In the near future, we will consolidate the remittance advice for each local government/vendor paid by electronic payment and mail it from the Comptroller's Office. It will include the payments made by each agency to the vendor on the same remittance advice. We will then implement a minimal charge to the agency based on the number of payments and addenda records sent to the payee. This charge will be to defray the cost of sending these payments through the Federal Reserve Automated Clearing House system. This cost will be much less than the handling and mailing costs of sending warrants or remittance advices. We will be in contact with each agency concerning this process at a later date.

Enclosed is a copy of the memorandum we issued to all local governments on this subject. Should you have any questions please call the EFT Section at 488-2922 or Suncom 278-2922.

December 20, 1995

TO:   LOCAL GOVERNMENT ADDRESSED
SUBJECT:    ELECTRONIC PAYMENTS FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

The State Comptrollers Office is now making Electronic Payment available to local governments. This payment program will begin in January. The local government Electronic Payment program will work similar to the direct deposit system for our employees and retirees. Please complete the authorization form enclosed and return it as soon as possible. The authorization form contains a question concerning the receiving financial institution's Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) capability. If your financial institution is EDI capable, we will electronically send an addenda record along with the payment which will be deposited to the account. The addenda record will serve the purpose of a remittance advice to explain why the payment is being made. Included in the addenda record will be the invoice number, invoice amount, State agency and telephone number.

Upon receipt of an Electronic Payment Authorization form, the EFT Section will process the authorization and send a prenotification to the payee's designated financial institution. This prenotification will confirm the validity of the transit routing number, account number and account type. Twenty calendar days later, the authorization will automatically become active and payments processed after that date will be deposited electronically.

When completing the authorization for this payment method you will provide your Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN) and name. These will be matched against payments submitted by each State agency. Only those that match will be paid electronically. Those that do not match will be paid by warrant. A departmental SAMAS screen will be available to show agencies how the local governments are listed on the authorization file maintained by the Comptroller's Office. We will continually update the file as authorizations are received. The authorization file can be accessed by vendor number and name or alphabetical scrolling. If an agency uses a vendor number (FEIN) or name (or name variation) different from the information on this screen, the payment will be made by warrant rather than electronically. We will use the first thirty one positions of the name field for the match.

We have asked the agencies to exercise care to insure that the vendor number and name used for voucher audit is the same as the vendor number and name on the authorization file. In addition we request that the local governments provide on their invoices, their FEIN and name as they appear on the electronic payment authorization form and W-9 that was submitted to our office. This will aid the agencies and help insure that the payment is made electronically rather than by warrant. You may wish to give consideration to the invoice numbering system you use for these payments so they can be easily identified from the remittance information. Our system can accommodate an invoice number composed of 9 alpha or numeric characters.

The effective date or payment date will be three banking days after the voucher is approved for payment by the Comptroller's office. Any payment returned to us through the banking system will be canceled and returned to the State agency initiating the payment to reissue the payment.

Initially, we will provide a remittance advice for all payments made electronically. The remittance advice should be mailed to the payee by the State agency. In the near future, we will consolidate the remittance advice for each local government/vendor paid by direct deposit and mail it from the Comptroller's Office. It will include the payments made by each agency that day to the vendor on the same remittance advice.

Should you have any questions please contact the Bureau of Accounting, EFT Section, at 410-9466, Suncom 210-9466.

THIS MEMORANDUM INCLUDED A SAMPLE DOCUMENT WHICH CANNOT BE TRANSMITTED. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO OBTAIN THIS DOCUMENT, PLEASE CALL KAREN SHAPIRO AT 488-3066 OR SUNCOM 994-3066.