Cash/Treasury and Investment Unit

This section is subdivided into two to comply with sections of the financial regulations which require the separation of staff that pay or receive money from those who keep and reconcile the records of the financial transactions. The two sections are the cash and the records and reconciliation office made up of the Receiving Cashier, the Paying Cashier and the Reconciliation Officer. The two sections work hand in hand to fulfil the following functions for which the unit exists.

• To receive all monies due to the University and issue receipts for the money.
• To ensure that all such monies are kept in secure custody until lodged into the institution’s bank account
• To produce the receipt analysis and summary registers from where the Main Cash Book is prepared.
• To pay all staff and student claims.
• To pay all duly authorized vouchers relating to supplies of goods and services from contractors.
• To pay staff salaries, pensions and gratuity claims as duly processed and approved.
• To prepare the Cashbook for all cash and bank transactions and ensure agreement with cash at hand.
• To draw up the daily or weekly fund position statements for the attention of the Bursar and the Vice-Chancellor.
• To prepare the Monthly Bank Reconciliation Statements.
• To keep custody of all original payment vouchers and book copies of all receipt vouchers, as well as a record of their movement to other Units until the Internal and External Auditors, have acted on them.
• To prepare other reports on demand.

1. Accounting Record

To carry out these duties successfully, the Unit keeps the following books.  A Register for each bank account to record all payments made on that bank account in their strict serial orders.

• Receipts Analysis Register in which all receipts issued are entered in their serial number order daily; extended to a total column and to a column for the accounts code to be credited with the amount received.
• The Main Cash Books; Despite current computerization, which is intended to produce cash and bank accounts and even reconciles these amounts with statements from the bank, the need for a properly written up cash book is well recognized. The University has several bank accounts. A cash book is maintained for each bank account.
• Bank Reconciliation Statement Files: Bank reconciliation must be done monthly or even more frequently. The monthly statements together with the Bank Statement should be accumulated in files opened for each bank account.

2. Disbursements

All payments are made through the e-payment system as directed by the Accountant-General of the Federation. The following processes are involved;

• Payment vouchers raised in favour of vendors, contractors, staff and students are received from the Internal Audit Unit.
• The incoming payment vouchers are keyed into the computer system and assigned numbers.
• A mandate is raised for payment with the following features;
  
  • Name of the beneficiary
  • Bank details
  • Amount to be paid
  • Purpose of payment
  • Mandate number
  • Authorized signatories

After due authorization, the mandate is uploaded in the payment platform for disbursement.