17-A-004 Statewide Encumbrance Policy (October 11, 2016)

Informational Circular 17-A-004 introduces a new statewide accounting policy for encumbering agency obligations.  The three methods for encumbering in the Statewide Management, Accounting & Reporting Tool (SMART) are purchase orders, travel authorizations and General Ledger (GL) encumbrance journals.

The new encumbrance policy resides in Policy Manual (PM) Filing number 10,300 – Statewide Encumbrance Policy, and can be found at:  https://admin.ks.gov/offices/chief-financial-officer/policy-manual. 

PM Filing 10,300 identifies obligations that are required to be encumbered as well as obligations that are not required to be encumbered but are optional for agency budget management.  In addition, best practices are found in the attached document.

Please note:  The following payments remain under review pending a determination of any encumbrance requirement:

• Payroll expenditures and remittance of payroll taxes, deductions and garnishments
• Single Pay voucher payments

The provisions of PM Filing 10,300 should be followed in conjunction with all requisition and purchase order requirements issued through the Office of Procurement & Contracts.

PM Filing 10,300 will be effective January 1, 2017.

The Department of Administration recognizes the significant impact this will have on agency processing.  A six month transition period will allow agencies the opportunity to review and amend internal procedures and processes necessary for compliance with the statewide encumbrance policy.  Auditing by the Agency Audit Services Team of the Office of the Chief Financial Officer for compliance with the statewide encumbrance policy will begin July 1, 2017.

DH:ME

Attachment:
Best Practices – Statewide Encumbrance Policy
Printable Version of 17-A-004