REGULATIONS OF THE INDIAN OFFICE

Bookkeeping and Accounting

1. The object of the Indian Service system of bookkeeping and accounting is to enable disbursing officers properly to account for all receipts and disbursements by appropriations and funds and to show the location of their balances; that is, whether they are on hand or deposited, and, if the latter, in what depositories. To be effective the system must provide currently the following information relative to each appropriation and fund, except individual Indian money and special deposits, with respect to which it is necessary to show only the amount of disbursing officer's cash under the subtitles and the amount in Indian money depositaries:

(a) Treasury cash.-Balance of allotments which is available for advance to the disbursing officer or for direct settlement of claims by the General Accounting Office.

(b) Disbursing officer's cash.-Amount in hands of disbursing officer or subject to his check, including balances of advances and collections.

(c) Allotments.-Balance of funds which have been allotted and which are still available for encumbrance.

(d) Encumbrances.-Balance of actual or contingent liabilities which remain to be liquidated by payment or cancellation.

(e) Unavailable funds.--Balance of funds in the custody of the disbursing officer which have been collected but which are not available for disbursement.

BOOKS AND RECORDS

For local office records certain books, etc., are provided, which are described as follows: 2. Appropriation ledger (Form 5-616).-To be used for all appropriations and funds (a separate sheet for each) except for individual Indian money and special deposits. All entries in these ledgers will be posted from journal vouchers. Receipts and disbursements should be posted daily. Control sheets on Form 5-689 must be maintained when bookkeeping machines are used.

3. Journal vouchers.-Journal vouchers have been designed to cover all transactions affecting appropriations. With the exception of official receipts, disbursement vouchers, and encumbrance documents, they will be numbered serially from 1 up for each unit and filed in loose-leaf binders.

(a) Journal vouchers which will be entered in the field appropriation ledger fall into two main groups: First, those covering transactions which will be posted by the Indian Office directly from copies of such vouchers; e. g., allotments of funds, deposits of funds, and claim settlements, and second: Those covering transactions which will originate in the field and concerning which the Indian Office will have no knowledge before the submission of the field officer's report; e. g., purchase orders, other encumbrances, collections, and payments.

4. Miscellaneous journal voucher (Form 5-639).-This form will be used to record miscellaneous transactions; for example, interest credits to accounts of individual Indians and corrections of errors made in recording receipts and disbursements.

5. Allotment of funds (Form 5-626).-This is a form received from the Indian Office, advising of allotments of funds that have been made to the unit.

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