Unretired Imprest and Year-End Virement Without Warrant

The accountant should not approve the fresh imprest while the previous one remains unretired. The key principles are:

• An imprest is a temporary advance that must be retired with receipts and a statement of expenditure. A new imprest should not be issued to the same officer while an earlier advance is outstanding.
• N1.8 million is unretired, and N600,000 has no receipts. The accountant should ask the director to account for the N600,000 or have it surcharged, and to retire the balance promptly.
• The new workshop should not be used to bypass the outstanding retirement. If the workshop is genuine, the director should first clear the old imprest or show that the unretired amount has been recovered from him.
• The accountant should minute the refusal, keep the imprest ledger and inform the Permanent Secretary in writing. If the director persists, the matter should be reported to the Accountant-General.

Issuing a fresh advance in these circumstances would breach financial control and expose the accountant to audit and surcharge.

No. The virement should not be processed on the Permanent Secretary's approval alone. Virement is a reallocation of funds within approved estimates, and it must follow the prescribed authority and limits. Here:

• The training programme was cancelled, but that does not automatically free the vote for vehicles; the correct step is to seek proper reallocation through the budget process.
• The Accountant-General's office has not issued a warrant for the vehicle purchase, so there is no authority to spend.
• The capital vote is almost exhausted, and the request is made three weeks before year-end. Year-end pressure is not a legal basis for sidestepping controls.
• 'No time to go to the Budget Office' is not an acceptable reason. The accountant should refer the request to the Budget Office and the Accountant-General for clearance.

The accountant should refuse to process the payment, record the refusal and advise the Permanent Secretary in writing of the correct procedure. If the Permanent Secretary insists, the accountant should report the matter through the accounting officer and the internal audit channel.

The internal auditor should not 'keep the files moving'. The auditor's duty is to report the two queries and the attempt to override controls. The auditor should:

• issue a written query or report on the unretired imprest and the missing receipts;
• report the proposed virement and the absence of a warrant to the Accounting Officer and the Accountant-General;
• ensure the audit committee or the appropriate oversight body receives the report;
• follow up to confirm that the imprest is retired or surcharged and that no payment is made without a warrant.

Records to keep include the imprest register, the retirement file, the virement request, the Permanent Secretary's approval, the internal audit queries and replies, and the correspondence with the Budget Office and Accountant-General. The accountant should also keep a minutes file showing why the fresh imprest and virement were refused. These records protect the officers who acted correctly and provide evidence if the matter is later investigated.