Payments
Policy
FIACCT 05-24_00 Payments – Checks/warrants – overview
Effective: April 3, 2000
Revised: January 1, 2015
Reviewed: January 1, 2015
Purpose
This policy explains how the State of Utah handles checks/warrants.
Definitions
Warrant
Payment Tracking System
Feeder System
Stale Date
A paper document similar to a check used for payment, which requires approval from the State Treasurer before the State’s financial institutions will honor it.
A system maintained by the Division of Finance that receives payment information, for warrants, electronic funds transfers (EFTs), and for payments to vendors by credit card (Payment Plus), from State of Utah agencies; transmits that information to banks; and receives updated information from banks, including cleared warrants and rejected EFTs.
A system which generates payments to individuals, vendors, or organizations on behalf of state agencies. Feeder systems regularly send payment transaction information to the Payment Tracking System (PTS). They include, but are not limited to ORS, Human Services, Health, Workforce Services, Tax, Payroll, FINET, etc.
The date after which a warrant is no longer valid and should not be cleared by the bank. Each agency defines for its own feeder system how long its warrants are valid. This period is printed on the warrant itself, e.g., Void one year from date or Void 90 days from date.
Background
A. The State uses checks/warrants as one of the methods to make payments for state agencies. The warrants may be created by the FINET system or by an agency interface from a separate feeder system. The warrants are then processed through the Payment Tracking System (PTS).
B. The Division of Finance tracks information pertaining to these warrants through PTS and provides that information to agencies. The tracking information is available until the data is archived. Information on the cleared status of a FINET warrant is also available through the Finance Data Warehouse. To obtain information about data warehouse training or to request access to the data warehouse, call 801-538-9690.
C. The Division of Finance also provides agencies with monthly reports showing totals for warrants that have been added, cleared, canceled, and stale dated for each individual feeder system. In addition, a separate report lists the individual items stale dated for the month.
D. The policies in this section more clearly define how the State handles:
Dealing with undeliverable warrants
Canceling warrants
Replacing warrants
Issuing manual or hand typed warrants.