Agreement-SDN-016-2023

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this Regulation is to regulate all matters concerning the preparation, elaboration, execution, and liquidation of the petty cash fund of the State Secretary's Office of the Ministry of National Defense, Central Activities, Program 01.

CREATION OF THE PETTY CASH FUND. This Regulation is created with the purpose of creating, allocating, operating, safeguarding, liquidating, and maintaining control of petty cash funds. Consequently, a petty cash fund is established in the amount of L.50,000.00 -- (FIFTY THOUSAND LEMPIRAS EXACT) for minor expenses of the Administrative Management and L.25,000.00 (TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND LEMPIRAS EXACT) for minor expenses of the Office of the State Secretary.

PETTY CASH CUSTODIANS. The Office of the State Secretary and the Administrative Management shall be responsible for designating a person responsible for administering the funds established for petty cash in accordance with the procedures established in this Regulation.

OBLIGATIONS OF THE FUND CUSTODIAN. The control and proper management of petty cash is the responsibility of each person designated in writing by means of an agreement, who must provide a bond or guarantee, a sworn statement of their income and liabilities independently of the salary earned pursuant to the terms established in the Law.

INCREASE OR DECREASE. The petty cash fund may be modified by means of an agreement, with the highest authority of this State Secretary's Office being authorized to reduce or increase the amount in accordance with the needs that arise and in compliance with this Regulation.

SCOPE. This petty cash Regulation applies to all sub-management offices, directorates, units, and departments that make up the State Secretary's Office of the Ministry of National Defense - Central Activities, Program 01, as well as the Office of the State Secretary, which are located in the physical facilities of the State Secretary's Office of the Ministry of National Defense.

REQUEST AND EXECUTION. Requests for purchases of goods and services requested by employees of the State Secretary's Office of the Ministry of National Defense shall be made by means of a memorandum issued by the requesting unit and attached with the receipt reimbursement format or advance payment, as appropriate. The Head of the requesting Unit must place approval on the petty cash fund request, thereby becoming jointly responsible for the correct and timely reporting of the values assigned and liquidated. All requests must be liquidated within three (03) business days, by presenting the final voucher or returning unused funds; otherwise, whoever has received them is obligated to make immediate restitution. The fractioning of purchases of goods and services, food and beverages, and other items shall not be permitted in order to fit them within the maximum authorized limit with petty cash funds.

AUTHORIZATION. All purchases must be authorized by whoever holds the petty cash authority in this case: the Administrative Management and the State Secretary.

AVAILABILITY OF GOODS OR SERVICES. For purchases of goods and services made with petty cash funds, a request must be sent to the Administrative Management, which shall issue instructions to the Materials and Supplies Sub-management to proceed to verify the availability of the good or availability of the requested service at the Ministry of Defense and, in case it does not exist, the Administrative Management shall determine whether the purchase is made with petty cash funds or through a purchase process. This article also applies to petty cash expenses of the Office of the State Secretary.

PROVISIONAL FUNDS. When provisional funds are delivered to a public official of the State Secretary's Office of the Ministry of National Defense for the purchase of goods and/or services, including bus and taxi fares, whose amount is unknown, the Petty Cash Advance format shall be signed, which must be liquidated subsequently and countersigned by the immediate superior within three (3) business days, presenting the invoice and immediately returning any unused funds if that is the case.

DOCUMENTARY SUPPORT. Payments made through the petty cash fund must be supported by invoices, receipts, or other original vouchers that are previously authorized by the Administrative Management and the State Secretary, which justify the cash outlay, and must comply with the following requirements: a. The documents must be originals and written by typewriter or permanent pen. b. The documents must clearly describe the article(s) or service(s) acquired. c. The documents must be in the name of the State Secretary's Office of the Ministry of National Defense and with its RTN. d. The documents must comply with the invoicing requirements established in the "Regulation of the Invoicing System, Other Documents and Tax Records of Printing Companies". e. A copy of the identity document of the payment recipient must be attached. f. The formats must have the approval of the immediate superior.

PROHIBITIONS AND SANCTIONS. The allocated funds are exclusively for official use; they may not be used to cash personal checks, payment of salaries or personnel hiring, nor to cover salary advances, personal loans, or unofficial expenses to public officials of the State Secretary's Office of the Ministry of National Defense. The person responsible for the petty cash fund who fails to comply with the provisions of this Regulation shall be sanctioned in accordance with the applicable Law as appropriate.

VALIDITY OF DOCUMENTS. The vouchers supporting payment expenditures must be presented to the fund custodian within a maximum of three (3) business days after the expense is incurred.

TRANSPORTATION EXPENSES: The Head of each area shall be responsible for validating the assignments to which they send their collaborators. The amount to be paid for each assigned mission shall be as follows: a. Radio taxi, normal taxi with a maximum value of L.200.00 (TWO HUNDRED LEMPIRAS EXACT) and in cities where it applies, motorcycle taxi for a maximum amount of L.50.00 (FIFTY LEMPIRAS EXACT). b. Tolls and parking in accordance with the amount charged by the parking lot, and must present the invoice in the name of the State Secretary's Office of the Ministry of National Defense and with RTN. c. Transportation expenses shall be recognized for personnel working overtime hours, on shifts whose office exit time is after 7:00 p.m., or on daytime shifts on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays or festive days. d. No fuel reimbursement shall be made to the person who uses their own vehicle to carry out extraordinary work assignments. e. Personnel who own their own vehicle shall not be reimbursed for fuel expenses after extraordinary hours in this case 7:00 p.m. f. In case of using radio taxi, an invoice must be requested in the name of the State Secretary's Office of the Ministry of National Defense and with RTN.

FOOD AND BEVERAGE EXPENSES. The use of the petty cash fund is authorized for the purchase of food and beverages for personnel working overtime hours, on shifts whose office exit time is after 7:00 p.m., or on daytime shifts on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays or festive days, with a maximum limit of L.200.00 (TWO HUNDRED LEMPIRAS EXACT) per person, which shall be delivered to the corresponding public official under the pertinent liquidation processes. The purchase of food is also authorized in attention to military and civilian personnel who visit our Institution for work meetings, training, and inductions. All of the aforementioned must have the APPROVAL of the Administrative Management and the State Secretary.

PETTY CASH REIMBURSEMENT. The persons responsible for managing the petty cash fund shall review all supporting documents received and when 80% of the fund allocation has been executed, they must prepare the reimbursement report to request such reimbursement. The supporting documents used in the reimbursement must bear the seal "PAID BY PETTY CASH". The petty cash seal shall be kept by the person in charge of petty cash in order to prevent them from being used and cashed again, and likewise place the code of the expense object to which the respective disbursement will be charged. The reimbursement shall be made in the name of the person responsible for managing the fund.

REVIEW BY THE PRE-AUDITOR. The report referred to in the preceding article shall be sent to the pre-auditor for review, and subsequently to request the respective reimbursement, through the issuance of a reimbursement check, which must verify that the sum of the supporting documents (invoices, receipts and vouchers) is equal to the total requested and that said documents are properly prepared, legalized, valued, correctly coded and authorized by the Administrative Management and the Secretary of State. The pre-auditor must verify possible errors that can be detected in order to make the necessary corrections and when there is a divergence in the classification of these expenses, the person in charge of the fund shall be notified so that there is unity of criteria in the records of the operations of said fund.

INVALID DOCUMENTS. The following vouchers shall have no value: a. Erasures, strikethroughs, stains, patchings, or other signs that cast doubt on their legitimacy. b. Documents shall not be accepted when the date of issuance of the documents (invoices, receipts, purchase slips, etc.) are prior to the date of delivery of the funds to the requestor. c. Documents shall not be accepted (invoices, receipts, purchase slips, etc.) without purchase details. d. Documents shall not be accepted (invoices, receipts, purchase slips, etc.) without RTN and that do not come in the name of the Secretariat of State in the Office of National Defense. e. Documents shall not be accepted (invoices, receipts, purchase slips, etc.) with dates from previous months once the reimbursement of the month has been made. f. Documents shall not be accepted (invoices, receipts, purchase slips, etc.) for purchases of alcoholic beverages of any kind.

DOCUMENT CONTROL. The supporting documents used in the reimbursement or advance shall comply with the following requirements: a. Numbered consecutively. b. Dated consecutively. c. Clear description of the payment concept. d. Values written in words and numbers. e. Name and signature of the person receiving payment. f. Correct arithmetic calculations. g. Approval by Immediate Supervisor. h. Approval by Administrative Management. i. Approval by the Secretary of State.

EXPENSE RECORDING. The person in charge of the petty cash fund shall assign the expense code to all supporting documents so that they are recorded accountingly in the budget line item corresponding to the respective expense. Invoices or vouchers that comprise more than one expense category must be properly broken down in order to affect the account corresponding to each category.

VALIDATION OF FISCAL DOCUMENTS. The person responsible for managing each petty cash fund must verify in the Tax Administration Service (SAR) validator whether the invoices are under the billing regime, complying with its requirements, otherwise the respective reimbursement or advance shall not be made. Copies of the invoices or receipts that are printed on satin paper or any other type of paper must be attached, as there is a risk that the information on these will be erased in the future.

PETTY CASH FUND RECONCILIATION. The Administrative Manager shall conduct petty cash reconciliations, who in turn may assign this function to a competent civil servant of the Administrative Management, and they may perform: When deemed convenient and whenever a reimbursement is requested, which must be verified in the "Petty Cash Reconciliation" format, and always on the last business day of each month, to comply with the generally accepted accounting principle that all transactions must fall within the month in which the transaction was made.

CONTROL MECHANISMS. The Internal Audit of this Secretariat of State, when it deems convenient, shall conduct surprise audits of the petty cash fund to ensure proper management in accordance with this Regulation.

DOCUMENT CUSTODY. All documentation originating from the execution of petty cash must be kept in a specific file in the Administrative Management.

PETTY CASH FUND CUSTODY. The petty cash funds must be in custody by the person in charge of petty cash and in a metal box, in a secure location.

GENERAL PROVISIONS. Annually or when required by the highest authority, a review of this Regulation shall be conducted so that it is consistent with the operational dynamics of the Institution and the provisions of current accounting laws, taking into account the technical opinion of the person responsible for said funds.

TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS. Modifications made to this Regulation shall only be authorized with the approval of the Secretary of State in the Office of National Defense, following the corresponding request. Cases not considered in this Regulation shall be resolved by the Administrative Management and the Petty Cash Manager, leaving a record in minutes of the decisions made.

FINAL PROVISIONS. This Regulation shall enter into force as of its publication in the Official Gazette La Gaceta. Given in the city of Tegucigalpa, municipality of the Central District, on the first day of the month of February of the year two thousand twenty-three. LET IT BE COMMUNICATED AND PUBLISHED. ATTORNEY JOSE MANUEL ZELAYA ROSALES SECRETARY OF STATE IN THE OFFICE OF NATIONAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY ROGER LENIN MENDOZA VARGAS GENERAL SECRETARY