be issued in the name of the administrator. Where checks have been issued in favor of the deceased in an amount in excess of the accrued compensation and such checks have been returned, all such returned checks should be canceled and a check for the amount due issued in the name of the administrator. Where checks have been issued in the name of the deceased for the exact amount due, such checks, with the letters of administration attached, should be forwarded to the disbursing clerk, central office, for transmittal to the Comptroller General for settlement. Where there is an amount due the estate, in addition to the amount of the checks issued in the name of the deceased, the administrator should make claim for such additional amount on voucher, Form 953. The voucher, which should be prepared in triplicate, the administrator signing only the certification on the original, should be forwarded, together with administration papers and checks issued in the name of the deceased, to the disbursing clerk, central office, for disposition. 3. Where no administrator is appointed and an amended award has been made "no administrator appointed," claim is presented by the person who bore the expense of last illness and burial, such claimant should be furnished with a copy of voucher, Form 927, and Form 69, affidavit relating to representatives of deceased payees, together with proper instructions for execution. In addition to the summary of expenses that appears on the face of the voucher, there should be submitted, securely fastened to the voucher, bills covering the individual items. The funeral bill must be itemized at least to the extent of showing the cost of the casket. Each bill must show that the expenses were incurred in behalf of the deceased and by whom payment was made. It must be stated specifically whether bills were paid out of the personal funds of the claimant or from the estate of the deceased. Where the amount of the funeral bills is equal to or in excess of the amount of compensation accrued, it will be unnecessary to obtain bills covering other items. If any part of a bill is unpaid, it must be waived in favor of the person who is making claim for the amount due. The form of waiver is given in Instruction No. 9 on the reverse side of the voucher, Form 927. When all of the required data have been collected the voucher should be forwarded to the finance division, central office, for attention. Before forwarding to the central office the voucher should be carefully checked by the district auditor to determine that the account is correctly stated, that an abstract of payment (Form 965) is attached, and that the requirements of the General Accounting Office, as shown on Form 927 and Form 69, have been complied with. In no case should the special disbursing agent of the district office issue checks in cases of this character, as payment can be made only after the approval of the Comptroller General has been secured. Where checks in an amount equal to or less than the accrued compensation have been issued in favor of the deceased and are returned, and no administration is had on the estate, General Accounting Office Form 92 should be executed in lieu of Form 69, and, together with the returned checks, attached to the voucher prior to its being forwarded to central office. Returned checks that cover compensation not accrued at date of death should be canceled and should not be forwarded with the voucher to the central office. 4. Where the ex-service man himself dies, the case becomes a death case, and the issuance of checks, including the settlement of the accrued award claim, automatically becomes the function of central office. HAROLD W. BREINING, Assistant Director. (General District Manager Letter, Finance Division, No. 62. TRANSFER OF CASE FILES Canceled by General Order No. 330) Where request for transfer of a case file is received by a district office after a compensation check has been drawn, but prior to the expiration of the period covered by such check, the check shall be canceled and the transfer accomplished with the least possible delay. Immediately upon receipt of the case file in the new district a review shall be made of the last payment on the award and any payments due shall be issued by the district. HAROLD W. BREINING, Assistant Director. (Special District Manager Letter, Finance Division, No. 1. Canceled by General Order No. 330) RECOVERY OF COMPENSATION OVERPAYMENTS AUGUST 31, 1922. Complaint has been made by several of the districts because central office has failed to advise when overpayments made on compensation are recovered. Overpayments on account of vocational training are in nearly all cases recovered by deductions made from training pay at the rate of $10 semimonthly. These deductions are made on a special deduction pay roll, a copy of which is forwarded to the district auditor carrying the account. Names appearing on the roll are arranged in alphabetical order and carry both R number and C number. It is, therefore, possible for the district office to check these rolls against their overpayments and in this manner determine whether or not recovery is being made or has been made. Wherever a compensation check is returned to the central office by payee direct it is canceled if the account shows an overpayment. A copy of the cancellation notice is forwarded to the district office, and if properly checked up there should be no question when adjustment check covering the amount due to date of vocational training is received. In cases where direct remittance is received from the payee, either by money order or draft, a receipt is issued on Form 1149, a copy of which is inclosed as a sample. In the future an extra copy of these receipt forms will be prepared and forwarded direct to the district auditor's office. This The remaining channel through which overpayments are recovered is the resumption of compensation payments or an increase of award on a new medical rating. In these cases recovery is made by set-off. will be shown by adjustments made in your office in the initial payment on the resumed or amended award. HAROLD W. BREINING, Assistant Director. (Special District Manager Letter, Finance Division, No. 2) CHECK NUMBERS ON CARBON COPIES OF PAY ROLLS OCTOBER 12, 1922. District offices are now required to forward to central office a copy of each pay roll immediately upon making payment. Such copies of pay rolls hereafter forwarded will be made to show the check number opposite the name of every employee appearing on the pay roll. As soon as the check numbers have been affixed to the pay roll, one carbon copy should be forwarded to finance division, central office. HAROLD W. BREINING, Assistant Director. (Special District Manager Letter, Finance Division, No. 3) OCTOBER 30, 1922. In the future when central office remails a check a carbon copy of remail notice (Form 991) will be forwarded to the district auditor, showing check number, amount of check, old and new address, and date check is remailed. In all cases where remail notices are fowarded the word "remailed" and date of remailing will be written in ink at the bottom of remail notice; i. e., "Remailed 10-16-22." Any remail notices received by district auditor with this omitted should be returned to central office for completion. HAROLD W. BREINING, Assistant Director. (Special District Manager Letter, Finance Division, No. 4. Obsolete) CORRECTION IN COMPENSATION INSURANCE AND TRAINING ALLOWANCE PRORATE TABLES NOVEMBER 6, 1922. Your attention is directed to the following error which has been noted in the prorate tables, Form 1004, furnished your office: On page 15 the $9.50 rate for the eleventh day is shown as $6.6333. This rate should be $6.3333. Kindly see that all prorate tables in your office are corrected accordingly and advise the central office when this correction has been made. HAROLD W. Breining, Assistant Director. (Special District Manager Letter, Finance Division, No. 5. Canceled by General Order No. 330) NOVEMBER 13, 1922. A number of the special disbursing agents in the field are not giving the proper attention to the preparation of their monthly accounts and supporting schedules. The following instructions should be strictly observed in the preparation of these accounts: All vouchers should be scheduled in proper numerical sequence on the schedule for each appropriation. Each page of the schedule should be totaled and a summary of all pages of the schedule should be made on the last page, showing the total payments for the month for that appropriation, which must check with the disbursement shown on the account current. The carbon copy of such schedule transmitted by the special disbursing agent must be an exact duplicate of the original schedule. All vouchers should show the name, address, and symbol number of the special disbursing agent by whom paid. Where vouchers are paid from more than one appropriation dummy vouchers must be prepared and filed with each appropriation from which payment is made, except the appropriation under which the original voucher is filed. These dummies must show the appropriation under which the original voucher is filed, so that ready reference can be made to the same when checking the accounts. Finance Division Letter No. 15, dated April 29, 1922, is not being complied with by some special disbursing agents. Instructions contained therein must be strictly adherred to, and the total under each appropriation on the schedule must agree with the amount claimed on your account current. Revolving fund checks need not be itemized. Attention is also called to Finance Division Letter No. 22, dated May 31, 1922, and Finance Division Letter No. 32, dated July 3, 1922. In addition to the information requested in these letters the schedule of canceled checks should show the apropriation from which payment is made, and on cancellation of salary checks the subdistrict office at which employee is located. A suggested form is attached. List in column 1 the voucher number on which original payment was made. List in column 2 the class of the original expenditure, i. e., salary, allowances, X ray, medical examination, dental treatment, etc. List in columns 3, 4, 5, etc., the amount of the canceled check or refund, using a separate column properly headed for each of the appropriations to be credited. List in the last column the total amount of the canceled check or refund. Total all columns at the foot of each page, with a grand total of each column on the last page. (Special District Manager Letter, Finance Division, No. 6. Canceled by Special All District Manager Letter, (Finance Division, No. 6-A, and General Order No. 265) DEDUCTIONS ON ACCOUNT OF RETIREMENT FUND NOVEMBER 18, 1922. Your attention is called to decision, Review No. 2421, of the Comptroller General, dated October 16, 1922, in connection with review of settlement No. W-71303, wherein were disallowed certain items in the accounts of Maj. J. A. O'Connor, "being refunds made to Walter Shea, amount $12.16, and Albert Spring, amount $9.65, the said disallowances having been made because the claims for such refunds should have been filed with the Commissioner of Pensions instead of being paid out of the appropriation." In reviewing the disallowance made in the account of Major O'Connor the comptroller stated: “Adjustment by a disbursing officer of amounts deducted from the pay of employees in excess of statutory requirements, as provided in circular letter of August 12, 1920 (E. D. file 102272)—that is, deductions made through errors in computation, etc.-is a matter distinctly different from refunding amounts shown otherwise to have been erroneously deducted on account of the status of an employee being such as not to be covered by the terms of the act, etc. In the former case, as provided in the circular letter of August 12, 1920, adjustment of errors may properly be made, but in the latter case they may not, and the action of the claimant in making the refunds here in question was unauthorized. The matter of these refunds may now be submitted to the Commissioner of Pensions |