accounts no further advance of moneys can be made until the reasons for the delinquency have been fully explained to this office and a waiver thereof obtained from the Secretary of the Treasury. (26 Stat. 413; 28 Stat. 209, 807.)

Except in those cases in which disbursing officers have specific instructions to transmit certain original papers at an earlier date, each disbursing officer will, as soon as practicable after the close of each quarter and within 20 days transmit in an envelope separate from other matter:

(a) All original vouchers paid during the quarter;

(b) A quarterly abstract of expenditures listing such vouchers; and (c) An original and duplicate account current for the quarter.

320. "Other accounts."-In case a disbursing officer is required to close his account at a time other than at the close of a quarter (either on account of the execution of a new bond or the termination of his services under the appointment in connection with which he was designated a disbursing officer) he should immediately transmit his report of expenditures, balances, and liabilities (Form 4-163) for the fractional month ending with the date on which the account closes and within 20 days after said date he must transmit the original vouchers, original abstracts of expenditures, and original and duplicate account current for the fractional quarter terminating on that date.

NEW BONDS

321. Account under begins when.-In case a fiscal officer is required to execute a new bond either on account of a new appointment or of a new designation, his account under his new bond (or under both bonds if the latter is additional or cumulative) will begin on the date of the approval of such new bond by the Secretary. The fact that notice of such approval may not be immediately received by the officer is not material; he is accountable under the old bond for a proper disbursing of and accounting for the funds advanced thereunder and may continue to disburse such funds until he has received notice as to the date of approval of the new bond. This, however, does not change the fact that the account under the new bond must date from the approval thereof, notwithstanding the fact that a failure to receive prompt notice may result in the stating of two accounts for the intervening period, and notwithstanding the fact that no funds may have been received under the new bond until after the first account under such bond is due to be transmitted.

322. Account under old to be closed.-Immediately on receipt of notice of the Secretary's approval of a new bond the disbursing officer must deposit his admitted balance then on hand under the old bond, state his final account under such bond, and promptly transmit it to this office. Until the account under one bond is balanced by the deposit to the credit of the Treasurer of the United States of the admitted balance thereunder no advance may be made under a new bond.

323. What may be paid under.-The period covered by an account under a particular bond has no relation whatever to the period of service covered by vouchers which he may pay from funds advanced under that bond and, although the accounts under one bond are as separate and distinct from those rendered under another bond as

though the accounts were rendered by separate individuals, a disbursing officer having executed a new bond and received an advance of funds thereunder may pay any voucher made up in prescribed form and chargeable to the appropriations so advanced notwithstanding the fact that part or all of the service represented was performed prior to the date of the new bond.

324. Difference from old not to be brought into account under.Differences found in an account under one bond are in no case to be brought into or taken up in connection with an account under a new bond, or account under old and new bonds when the latter is additional or cumulative. Accounts under a new bond or (when an additional or cumulative bond is furnished) under new and old bonds jointly are as separate and distinct from those rendered under an old bond as though the accounts were rendered by separate individuals,

DIFFERENCES

325. A claimant's rights.-Each claimant has a right to have his claim against the United States finally settled in the Treasury Department and must not be denied the right to state his claim in such amount as he thinks is justly due him. Some certifying officers have assumed the right to dictate to a claimant the particular items or amounts he may claim in his voucher. Certifying officers, approving officers, or disbursing officers may advise a claimant as to what will be allowed (and the claimant may if he desires accept these suggestions and state a new voucher), but he must not be deprived of his right to state his claim for what items or amounts seem to him lawful and just. The adjudicating officers will certify or approve such of the items or amounts claimed as are proper, leaving untouched the statements and figures certified by the claimant. No one has any authority to make any changes in the amount certified by the claimant nor to insert any statement of difference over his signature. Suspensions made by a certifying officer or an approving officer should be itemized over their respective signatures, and the suspensions made by a disbursing officer may be made over his signature or by attaching a carbon copy of his letter to the claimant, in which appears an itemized statement of the difference between the amount claimed and the amount of the check issued in payment. In any case an itemized statement of the difference should appear on or be appended to both the voucher and the memorandum copy.

326. Procedure-Jurisdiction.-The successive steps in securing payment of vouchers or claims and the gradations of jurisdiction in the adjustment and settlement of claims and accounts are as follows: The claim shall be:

(a) Stated in form and manner hereinabove prescribed;

(b) Sent to the proper certifying officer, who may:

(1) Certify to the voucher as stated,

(2) Suspend any item or items therein that are not properly stated or properly evidenced, or

(3) Disapprove any item or items that he knows are not proper;

(c) Transmitted to the proper disbursing officer (usually by or through the certifying or approving officer), which disbursing officer may:

(1) Pay the voucher as presented,

(2) Pay a part and suspend a part,

(3) Suspend payment on all and either return the voucher to the claimant for proper statement or forward to this office for instruction or for direct sett.ement;

(d) Claims (unpaid vouchers) transmitted to this office for direct settlement (either through a disbursing officer or by the claimant direct), or accounts of disbursing officers stated and transmitted in accordance with the foregoing instructions, receive here the administrative examination required by law, on which examination the entire account or claim (or any item or items therein) may be:

(1) Approved,

(2) Suspended, or

(3) Disapproved;

(e) After which the account or claim is transmitted to the Auditor for the Interior Department for settlement, which officer may (as to any or all items appoved or disapproved by this office):

(1) Allow,

(2) Suspend, or

(3) Disallow;

(f) A claimant on a voucher presented for direct settlement may refuse to accept payment on the auditor's settlement and appeal to the Comptroller of the Treasury for a revision of such settlement as to any item or amount disallowed therein, and a disbursing officer may likewise appeal to the comptroller for a revision as to any item or items disallowed by the auditor in his account. (See also paragraphs 193, 331, and 336.)

Items suspended by this office are not before the auditor for consideration, and the comptroller has no jurisdiction to revise an account or claim as to any items suspended by the auditor.

327. Accepting check no bar to appeal.-Any claimant who receives from a disbursing officer in payment of a claim against the Government a check for a lesser sum than the claim stated by him may thereafter present a supplemental voucher for the amount suspended before payment; his acceptance of the check in payment of a claim which has not been settled by the auditor does not bar him from right of appeal. As to acceptance of payment under a settlement by an auditor, section 8 of the act of July 31, 1894 (28 Stat. 208), provides:

Any person accepting payment under a settlement by an auditor shall be thereby precluded from obtaining a revision of such settlement as to any items upon which payment is accepted;

328. Supplemental voucher.-New, or supplemental, vouchers must be stated for any amounts claimed on account of differences found before payment, or for items omitted from an original voucher, the employee designating it as supplemental for the particular month to which the expense pertains, and making the voucher as complete in every respect as is required of originals, except that items sworn to in an original voucher need not again be sworn to in a supplemental. As stated in paragraph 269, explanation must be made in connection with supplemental vouchers for items omitted from a voucher for services and traveling and other expenses as to why such items were not included in the original voucher.

329. Disapprovals.-Items disapproved by this office will not ordinarily thereafter be approved, but the disbursing officer is under no obligation to concede such items until they have been disallowed by the auditor.

330. Disallowances.-Items disallowed by the auditor may not again be considered by that officer within a year from the date of his settlement, nor will they be thereafter reconsidered by him except upon the presentation to him of newly discovered material evidence, and a disbursing officer should, in the first account current rendered after the receipt of an auditor's certificate of settlement,

concede all the suspended items appearing therein for which he does not intend to make further claim, and all items disallowed, or immediately appeal to the Comptroller of the Treasury for a revision of the auditor's settlement as to such disallowed items.

331. Appeal to the comptroller.-A decision of the comptroller is final and conclusive upon the executive branch of the Government and an appeal to him carries before him for revision not only the item or items on which the appeal is made but the entire account or claim excepting only such items as have been suspended. A disbursing officer should at once concede all items disallowed by the comptroller on appeal. (See par. 193.)

332. Answering differences-payees. In case a difference is found in an employee's voucher after payment by a disbursing officer the employee should, at the earliest practicable date after receipt through such disbursing officer of notice of a deduction, reimburse the officer for the amount erroneously paid or furnish him with the evidence necessary to relieve the suspension. Answers must in all cases be made within 15 days from receipt of notice, even though the employee may not at that time have received the necessary evidence.

333. Answering differences-disbursing officers.-Differences found in the adjustment of accounts by this office, or in the settlement. thereof by the auditor, should be taken up by the disbursing officer, at the earliest practicable date, with the office making the deduction and such explanation offered or evidence furnished as will relieve the suspensions, no deposit being made on account of conceded items till the auditor's certificate of settlement covering such items has been received unless the disbursing officer is certain that the item or items can not be allowed. Ordinarily differences found by this office in connection with one account will not again be taken up until the next account is being adjusted, and disbursing officers should transmit answers to differences so that they will be received by that time even though they are not then able to answer all the differences then outstanding. Differences may be answered as long as they are carried by the auditor as suspensions.

334. Answering differences-Abstract form in duplicate.-The differences will be taken up in abstract form similar to that followed in the notice of adjustment sent to the disbursing officer, except that the reason for the suspension or disallowance need not be given, a brief statement being made in connection with each item as to whether a perfected voucher is transmitted, explanation offered, or amount conceded. Answers to differences to this office must in all cases be made in duplicate (including letters of explanation furnished by payees or other like evidence supplemental to the principal letter), as the original is transmitted to the auditor and a duplicate is necessary for the files of this office.

335. Adjusting differences-By deductions from vouchers.-Unless it is impracticable to do otherwise, a disbursing officer should not adjust a difference found in the adjustment or settlement of his account by deducting the amount from a subsequent voucher presented by the employee; and in case adjustment must be made in that manner the disbursing agent should concede the original disallowance and should claim credit for the full amount of the new voucher, thus in effect applying in payment of the new voucher the amount of over

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payment made to the same claimant on the voucher in connection with which the disallowance was made. A claimant from whose voucher an amount has been deducted on account of a difference found in a former voucher is entitled to state a supplemental claim for the amount so deducted and to have it transmitted through the usual channels for settlement notwithstanding the fact that the amount deducted represents items that have been disallowed by the auditor. (2 Comp. Dec. 4.)

336. Adjusting differences By concession in account.-A debit difference conceded is adjusted by crediting the United States therewith on the face of the account current as "Corrections on account of disallowances conceded," a complete itemized statement of which must appear on the debit side of the cash account. A credit difference concurred in is adjusted by debiting the United States therewith on the face of the account current as Corrections on account of credit difference, per "-(showing the particular certificate or paper by which the difference was found), the specific items of which should appear on the credit side of the cash account. There is one exception as to conceded items appearing in the cash account. In cases where in the auditor's settlement a transfer between appropriations is accomplished by debiting the disbursing officer under one and crediting him under another the adjustment will be made on the face of the account current by crediting the United States under the appropriation in connection with which the debit is found as "Corrections, amount chargeable per auditor's certificate No. " and by debiting the United States under the appropriation in connection with which the credit is found as " Corrections, amount credited per auditor's certificate No.

337. Concessions and deposits distinct. The concession of a difference harmonizes the disbursing officer's account with the auditor's settlement so far as that particular difference is concerned. The deposit of an amount conceded is a matter entirely separate and distinct from the action necessary to adjust the difference; an amount, conceded may, if it pertains to an appropriation then current, be carried as cash or deposited to the disbursing officer's official credit, or if it pertains to some fund or appropriation not then current, to his personal credit.

DEPOSITS

338. Depositing balances at close of fiscal year.-Unexpended balances of annual appropriations shall be repaid into the Treasury as soon as practicable after the close of the fiscal year for which they were made, and not later than September 30 of each year. Those appropriations that have no fiscal year attached are not annual appropriations and balances thereunder need not be deposited at the close of each fiscal year.

Credit for the amounts deposited should be claimed in the account. for the period in which the certificate of deposit is dated. After the balances are deposited any vouchers that may be received chargeable to those appropriations will have to be sent to Washington for settlement. (Treasury Circulars Nos. 133, 1897 and 133, 1903.)

339. Retain funds to cover liabilities outstanding.-While it is advisable wherever practicable to complete payment at the close of