5-687 and 5-688) will be accepted in lieu thereof. In whichever form submitted, they must show the location, or station, and symbol number of the disbursing agent, and month for which rendered, and must be certified as to correctness.

262. Either lists and statements on the prescribed forms or copies of check registers must be mailed promptly to "The General Accounting Office, Audit Division, Washington, D. C." Neither they, nor copies thereof, should be sent to the Indian Office. Letters of transmittal are not required except when necessary for explanations.

263. If a check is drawn in exchange for funds the notation "Exchange for funds" should be made on the list. "Spoiled" or "voided" checks, i. e., those for which credit has not been claimed, must be included in the lists, with appropriate notations, and forwarded therewith, to the General Accounting Office, Audit Division. "Canceled" checks, i. e., those for which credit has been claimed, must be listed separately and forwarded to the General Accounting Office with the statement of depositary account upon which the disbursing agent will charge himself with the amount thereof. (Gen. Reg. No. 31, Gen. Acct. Office.)

CLAIMS

264. Unless otherwise specifically directed, vouchers in favor of common carriers for passenger and freight transportation; those for Sioux benefits, pro rata shares of tribal trust. funds and unpaid shares of per capita payments; those of doubtful validity; those under indefinite contracts; those for damages of any kind; those subject to deduction for liquidated damages about which there is any controversy, or for other reasons, except discounts offered by vendors; those the payees of which are reported by the General Accounting Office to be indebted to the United States; and those which for any reasons disbursing agents are unable or unwilling to pay, will not be paid by disbursing agents but submitted to the Indian Office for settlement as claims. This rule does not apply, however, when an expense is payable from a special fund which is collected and expended without being deposited to the credit of the United States. In all such cases payment will be made by disbursing agents who, however, may submit the vouchers to the Comptroller General for advance decision as to legality if they desire to do so.

265. Every voucher forwarded to the Indian Office for payment as a claim must be accompanied by a statement of the reasons why it can not be paid by the disbursing agent, unless such reasons are obvious from the preceding paragraph. The fact that a disbursing agent has no applicable funds on hand or available balance in his allotment is not, of itself, sufficient as the incurring of indebtedness in excess of allotments, is forbidden except in emergencies involving the loss of life or property and allotted funds can be obtained upon requisition for payments by disbursing agents.

266. Disbursing agents can not escape responsibility for exceeding their allotments by sending vouchers to the Indian Office for settlement. This applies to expenses incurred in previous fiscal years as well as to those of current years.

267. Vouchers submitted for settlement as claims must be prepared with the same completeness as those for payment by disbursing agents and, in addition, the Indian Office must be advised, by the use of Form 5-647, of the fund from which payment is recommended and whether or not the disbursing agent has an available balance in his allotment.

268. One memorandum copy must always accompany the original claim to the Indian Office. Certificates of disbursing agents on vouchers submitted as claims, must be modified so as to show that the amounts claimed are due and unpaid.

269. When claims are settled in Washington, disbursing agents will be notified by the Indian Office in a manner which will show the amount charged to each appropriation or fund. Such notices will be used as journal vouchers for liquidation of encumbrances.

INDIVIDUAL MONEYS

270. Individual moneys are of five classes, viz., individual Indian moneys, special deposits, outstanding liabilities, interest on individual moneys, and invested in securities.

271. Individual Indian moneys.-Individual Indian moneys are funds the ownership of which has been determined to vest in individual Indians. Funds of the following general descriptions fall within this class:

(a) Proceeds of sales of real and personal property belonging to individual Indians.

(b) Rentals of Indian allotments, etc.

(c) Shares of per capita payments not paid direct.

(d) Voluntary deposits.

(e) Pupils' funds.

(f) Liberty loan bonds and similar securities.

(g) Interest credited to accounts.

(h) Collections from miscellaneous sources.

272. Special deposits.-Special deposits are funds carried temporarily in accounts of disbursing agents pending determination of their ownership, such as the following:

(a) Guaranty deposits of successful bidders.

(b) Payments on sales of Indian property, tribal and individual, awaiting approval.

(c) Payments on tribal and individual leases awaiting approval.

(d) Fees on sales, leases, etc., awaiting approval.

(e) Right of way damages across tribal and allotted lands.

(f) Contributed funds.

(g) Funds whose identity is unknown.

(h) Other funds of undetermined ownership.

273. Outstanding liabilities.-This represents the amounts of checks which have been delivered to payees and have remained outstanding and unpaid for more than two full fiscal years. 274. Interest on individual moneys.-Interest credited by bonded depositories on funds to the official credit of disbursing officers, and otherwise paid or credited as interest on judgments or interest on Liberty bonds, will be recorded under this caption.

275. Invested in securities.-See paragraphs 426 to 429.

276. Collections.--For each collection of individual money, an official receipt must be issued to the payer and such collections must be posted daily to the cash book, appropriation ledger and individual ledgers.

277. Whenever by reason of incompetency, death, etc., of payees, shares of per capita payments or other trust funds are to be credited to the individual accounts of Indians instead of being paid to them direct, the total amount of such shares as shown on the roll will be withdrawn by issuing a check on the Treasurer of the United States in favor of the disbursing officer, who will then issue his official receipt to the Treasurer and attach thereto a schedule of the shares transferred.

278. All checks, drafts and warrants must be payable at par and any charges incident to collection of negotiable instruments, such as exchange, protest fees, etc., shall not be assessed against the Government but must be borne by the drawer of the instrument.

279. Deposits. All collections of individual moneys must be deposited daily to the official credit of disbursing officers either in local bonded depositories or with the Treasurer of the United States, provided that the Commissioner of Indian Affairs may upon application and for satisfactory reasons grant authority to make deposits of cash at less frequent intervals.

280. Disbursing officers will be held responsible for any loss sustained on account of noncompliance with this requirement or for depositing funds of this character in unauthorized depositories or to their personal credit.

281. Deposits shall be made directly in the local bank, unless it is necessary to place deposits in the Treasury or the exchange covers both individual moneys and sundry 1eceipts. In the latter event, the exchange will be transmitted directly to the nearest Federal reserve bank or branch bank for collection and deposit to the official credit of the disbursing officer with the Treasurer of the United States and when notice of deposit is received, he will issue his check on the Treasurer payable to the local bank for the portion representing individual moneys.

282. Deposits will not be placed to the official credit of disbursing officers in the Treasury so long as local banking facilities are available. Whenever the bonded security is exceeded by the balance on deposit plus current receipts, the excess receipts will be deposited with the Treasurer of the United States until additional banking facilities are provided.

283. In no event will individual moneys be deposited to the credit of the United States unless instructions are expressly given to this effect. Accordingly, unexpended balances of individual moneys, unlike most public funds, must not be deposited to the credit of the United States at the close of the first quarter following the preceding fiscal year.

284. A cash reserve shall be maintained only when specific authority has been granted for this purpose and disbursing officers who retain an unauthorized balance of cash on hand do so at their peril.

285. As soon as deposits are completed, entries shall be made on the cash book and proper check register.

286. Disbursements.-Cash payments are prohibited, except as hereinafter provided, and all payments will be accomplished by the issuance of official checks.

287. Checks against accounts of minor or incompetent Indians may be drawn to the order of their parents or guardians and, when Indians have signed requests therefor on purchase orders (Form 5-367 f), checks against their accounts may be drawn to the order of and delivered to dealers in payment for goods furnished upon such orders. Checks will be drawn to the order of the Indians against whose accounts they are charged, except when otherwise authorized by these regulations or by letter from the Indian Office.

288. Checks payable to creditors of a restricted Indian may be issued after obtaining his consent without resort to undue influence.

289. Before a check is issued, it will be necessary to make a record of the disbursement on the individual ledger and check register.

290. While a balance remains to the official credit of a disbursing officer with the Treasurer of the United States, checks shall be issued against that account instead of drawing on balances carried in local depositories.

291. The purpose for which drawn and also the authority for the payment, where spaces are provided, will be noted on all checks.

292. Total disbursements of individual moneys will be posted daily by journal voucher reference to the appropriation ledger.

293. Checks against accounts of Indians indebted to the Government for heirship fees or sales of reimbursable property will be drawn to their order except when otherwise authorized. After such a check has been indorsed and the Indian's ledger account charged with the disbursement, an official receipt will be issued to the payer and the amount taken up in the disbursing officer's appropriation accounts as sundry receipts and deposited to the credit of the United States.

294. The aggregate of all disbursements from each class of individual moneys must be carried to the schedule of disbursements at the close of the month or other accounting period.

295. Transfers. It has been seen that initial collections are brought into the accounts by the medium of official receipts and funds are withdrawn by the use of official checks. Occasions will arise, however, when it becomes necessary to make debit and credit entries on the records involving neither actual receipts nor disbursements.

296. The basis for such entries is a miscellaneous journal voucher, Form 5-639, which will be prepared in quadruplicate. One copy is for the use of the individual ledger clerk, one for the appropriation ledger clerk, and the original and one copy will accompany the accounts.

297. The primary use for which journal vouchers are designed is to effect transfers of funds between accounts of one class of funds, between the different classes of funds, or between appropriation and individual money accounts. For instance, a journal voucher will be issued to distribute the funds of an estate to the heirs, debiting the account of the estate and crediting the accounts of the heirs. A journal voucher will also be issued to transfer interest from the fund, interest on individual moneys, to the fund, individual Indian moneys, or to sundry receipts.

298. A further use for journal vouchers is to make adjustment entries in the accounts for the purpose of rectifying errors. In such cases, full explanation of the errors must appear on the journal vouchers. Journal vouchers are used also as supporting papers, as, for example, to record the actual daily disbursements of individual moneys on the appropriation ledger.

299. The amounts of canceled checks will be brought back into the accounts by means of journal vouchers and such checks must be itemized thereon.

300. When an Indian is the successful bidder on the allotment of another Indian, unless he makes payment in cash, the amount bid should be transferred from his account to special deposits and held pending action on the proposed sale by the office.

301. Journal vouchers must be numbered in a series beginning with "1" for each fiscal year and should be filed in a loose-leaf or ring-clip binder for ready reference.

302. Entries will be recorded promptly in the appropriation ledger, individual ledgers, check register, and cashbook, as each particular transaction may affect either one or more of these records. As an illustration, the journal voucher covering daily disbursements will be recorded only in the appropriation ledger, since the charges were entered in the check register and individual ledger before each check was drawn and the cashbook is not affected by payments of this character. However, no entry will be made in the individual ledgers that is not also shown on the appropriation ledger, and conversely.

303. Vouchers. All transactions pertaining to individual moneys during the period of an account must be vouchered and an accounting made to the Indian Office on appropriate forms. at the close of the month or other period to which they relate. Two forms of vouchers are used for this purpose (Forms 5-321 and 5-321a), which, because of the difference in the manner of their preparation and arrangement, require separate explanation.

304. Form 5-321.-This form is known as the abstract of individual Indian moneys and special deposits and is for use at units where the individual ledgers are posted by hand.

(a) The voucher will be prepared in triplicate directly from the ledgers and the original and one copy will be forwarded to the office with the accounts.

(b) Four columns have been provided so as to show for each individual account the opening. balance, receipts, payments, and closing balance.

(c) The opening balance and each item of receipts and payments will be listed in chronological order on separate lines. The closing balance will be shown on the same line as the last transaction or, if there were no transactions in an account during the period, on the same line as the opening balance.

(d) The subtotals for each page need not be shown, but the grand totals of each voucher must be recapitulated on the last sheet.

(e) The name of the depository on which a check was drawn must be stated in the column provided for this purpose.

305. Form 5-321a.-This form is intended for use on bookkeeping machines. When transactions are posted mechanically to individual ledgers corresponding entries are made by the same operation on the voucher form.

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(a) One ruled and one unruled copy of each individual account will compose the voucher, a separate page being devoted to each account, whether or not there were any transactions during the accounting period.

(b) These sheets will be arranged in alphabetical order and assembled in volumes of approximately 100 sheets. Each volume will be bound by stiff cardboard beneath and flexible cardboard above and the edges glued together, if these supplies are procurable. Otherwise, the left margin will be perforated and heavy pasteboard or cardboard will be used as a covering and cord or tape used to bind the volumes.

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(c) Each volume shall be labeled to show the voucher number, name of unit, period, account numbers embraced, and whether original or duplicate.

(d) Each volume must be accompanied by a summary showing the combined opening balances, receipts, expenditures, and closing balances of accounts embraced therein. A similar summary by volumes and a control sheet for the entire account is required with the last volume. 306. General.-A separate voucher is required for each class of funds on hand and each voucher, with appropriate caption, must be complete in itself. (See par. 311.)

307. All accounts will be arranged in alphabetical order and the accounts under each letter shall be in numerical sequence, beginning with "1" for each letter. When a new account is opened, the ledger sheet should be assigned the next number in order and half-numbers will not be permitted.

308. An account must be carried as long as funds remain to the credit of the Indian, the payer, or the claimant.

309. In all vouchers upon which payments are shown, the year of birth and sex of Indians must be given.

310. The ledger account number must be noted on the voucher and where two or more names are identical the allotment number, if any, must be stated, to prevent confusion.

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311. Each voucher shall be assigned a serial number, preferably in the following order: Individual Indian money, special deposits, outstanding liabilities, and interest on individual Indian money. The numbers employed for this purpose will be in the same series as that for vouchers comprising the monthly appropriation accounts.

312. The bringing forward of the opening balance of special deposits or any other class of funds in a lump sum will not be permitted, but all accounts will be itemized, as explained in paragraph 304b.

313. Copies of expenditure authorizations are not required to be attached to individual Indian money youchers, but the vouchers must make reference in all cases to the authorities or regulations under which the money is disbursed,

314. A recapitulatory statement must be attached and made a part of each voucher. ÀÏl receipts and disbursements must be itemized. Actual receipts, corresponding to the amount of such funds on the schedule of collections, will first be itemized by sources and a subtotal drawn. Following this, receipt items which are not actual collections, such as transfers between accounts, canceled checks, etc., will be listed and subtotaled. The sum of all receipts will then be shown and added to the amount of the opening balance. Disbursement items will likewise be reported; that is, showing actual payments and technical disbursements separately, and the sum of the two classes of disbursements will be deducted from the grand total of receipts and the opening balance to obtain the closing balance.

315. Transfers to other jurisdictions must be specifically stated under actual disbursements in the recapitulation.

316. Account current. The opening balance, receipts, disbursements, and closing balance of each class of individual Indian money and special deposits will be shown on the monthly