SECTION OVERVIEW AND POLICIES

The purpose of this section is to provide guidance to Business Units on year end payment processing and lapsing procedures.

The appropriation lapsing date is the last date an appropriation can be legally used and is the date by which a Business Unit must process its vouchers using that appropriation. State Operations appropriations have an appropriation lapsing date of June 30th. Local Assistance, Community Projects, Capital Projects, Legislature and Judiciary, and Debt Service appropriations lapse September 15th.The State University of New York (SUNY) and City University of New York (CUNY) have a fiscal year ending on June 30th. Appropriations for SUNY and CUNY State Operations and SUNY Aid to Localities lapse on September 30th. CUNY Stabilization Account appropriations lapse on March 31st, and SUNY Stabilization Account appropriations lapse on June 30th. Generally when a lapse date falls on a weekend, the appropriation lapsing date will be deferred.

When an appropriation lapses, the funds are no longer available to pay the liabilities from the prior fiscal year. To ensure timely processing, Business Units are encouraged to review the “Appropriation Due to Lapse Report”, as well as their own Business Unit “Unused/Open Appropriation” or “Voucher Pending” reports. It is the responsibility of each Business Unit to ensure appropriations are not lost. After the lapsing date, no payments or adjustments from the lapsed appropriations are permitted.

For each lapsing, the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) will publish the lapse date for each appropriation and will identify the exact date a Business Unit must process a voucher by, depending on the appropriation lapsing date. It is important that Business Units use the current year procedures from the Guide to Financial Operations pertaining to their Business Unit when processing the payments, taking note of the “Effective On” and “Expires On” dates for the procedures when issued.

Process and Document Preparation:

Business Units shall not process a payment against lapsing funds until goods have been physically received by the agency in satisfactory condition, and/or services have been satisfactorily rendered in full.

OSC auditors may confirm the receipt of goods and services for any voucher, including vouchers using lapsing funds. (See Section 3 - Record Retention - Accounts Payable Vouchers and Land Claims of this Chapter for more information regarding record retention and availability.) Business Units must ensure they process vouchers using lapsing funds before the published deadline. It is imperative that the voucher and supporting documentation contain all required information. If a voucher using lapsing funds is not processed correctly, or the Business Unit cannot provide the supporting documentation, the voucher may remain unpaid. Vouchers which cannot be approved run the risk of losing the use of the lapsing appropriation if OSC is unable to approve the voucher and confirm receipt of goods and/or services by the lapse date.

If this occurs, the agency could lose the funds if the voucher cannot be reprocessed prior to the deadline.

Please see Section 5.A - Selecting the Appropriate Voucher Style of this Chapter to ensure a voucher using funds that will be lapsing is processed correctly.

For questions regarding lapsing and year-end processing dates, please contact the Bureau of State Expenditures’ Customer Service Help Desk at (518) 474-4868, or by email addressed to [email protected].

Guide to Financial Operations

REV. 06/20/2012