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HomeMy WebLinkAboutP 007 FIN - Signing authority and Spending Controls -1- P.007.FIN POLICY P.007.FIN TITLE: SIGNING AUTHORITY AND SPENDING CONTROLS Date issued: 30 January 1998 Revised: 22 May 2012 Authorization: Board: 16 December 1997 1.0 OBJECTIVE To designate the officers of the corporation as signing officers and establish a framework to ensure control over spending. 2.0 DEFINITIONS In this policy, 2.1 Contract refers to written contracts, and includes mortgages, deeds, hypothecs, charges, conveyances, the transfer or assignment of real or personal property, immovable or movable, agreements, leases, releases or discharges for payment of money or other obligations, debentures, by-laws, or other securities, and all written documents intended to be binding on the District. 2.2 District refers to the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board. 3.0 POLICY General 3.1 The Corporate signing officers of the District shall be the: a) Chair of the Board of Trustees; b) Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees; c) Director of Education; d) Associate Director of Education; e) Treasurer; and f) Assistant Treasurer. -2- P.007.FIN 3.2 Contracts requiring execution on behalf of the Board of Trustees shall be signed by the Chair or Vice-Chair, and one of the following: a) the Director or Designate; or b) the Treasurer or Assistant Treasurer (in the Treasurer’s absence). 3.3 Real estate transactions; contracts involving the real property of the board, including acquisition, sale, major leases exceeding one year and the granting of easements shall be signed as outlined above. 3.4 As a matter of practice, contracts over $500,000 should be signed by the Chair and Director. When the Chair or Director is unavailable, the other corporate signing officers shall be called upon to execute required agreements. 4.0 SPECIFIC DIRECTIVES Delegation 4.1 The Board delegates spending and approval authorization for $500,000 or less to staff as outlined in procedure PR.502.FIN, Spending and Approval Authorizati on. With the exception of real estate transactions as outlined in Subsection 3.1 above, the Director of Education or Designate and the Treasurer or Assistant Treasurer (in the absence of the Treasurer), are authorized to sign all other contracts under $500 ,000 and to commit the District financially within the limits established in the Board's annual budget, and provided tendering or other approved processes for acquiring goods and services, have been followed. This authorization may be sub-delegated in all or in part to other members of staff, within their spheres of operation and budget limitations, subject to adequate checks and controls being in place. Execution of Payments 4.2 The Chief Financial Officer is authorized to process all payments under authorized contracts or as required under Federal or Provincial law, such as, pension fund contributions, insurance premiums, remittances to Canada Revenue Agency, payment to utility companies, payments to other school Boards, payments to Ottawa Student Transportation Authority, and all necessary short-term financial arrangements. The Chief Financial Officer is also authorized to make interim payments in these areas in order not to incur late payment penalty fees. Execution of Cheques and Banking Documents 4.3 All cheques and banking documents shall be signed by any two of the following, either manually, by facsimile or by electronic transmission: a) one of the Chair or Vice-Chair; b) the Director of Education or Designate; and c) the Treasurer or Assistant Treasurer (in Treasure’s absence). Execution of Purchase Orders and Contracts -3- P.007.FIN 4.4 The Coordinator of Purchasing or designate is authorized to issue under his/her own signature purchase orders and contracts for all goods and services: a) for which funds have been provided in the Board's annual budget; b) and have had prior approval of the Board or authorized budget holder to spend the funds as outlined in procedure PR.502.FIN, Spending and Approval Authorization; and c) when approved tendering procedures or other approved processes for acquiring goods and services have been followed. Additional Funding 4.5 The Board will be informed of the receipt of any significant additional funding announcements (over $500,000) that have not been allocated in the annual budget process prior to spending. 4.6 Where required, the Corporate Seal shall be affixed to contracts, in particular those dealing with real estate, or official extracts from Board records. 4.7 The District shall accept no responsibility for any contract or expenditure made in its name, which is not authorized or executed under this policy or relevant procedures. In Year Budget Variances 4.8 The transfer of non-compensation funds from any budget area to a discretionary budget area approved by the Board shall require Board approval, where the amount of increase to the receiving budget area exceeds the lesser of: a) 25% of the original receiving budget where the amount transferred is greater than $100,000; or b) $500,000. 4.9 Unspent funds in any non-compensation budget area approved by the Board which are greater than $500,000, or 25% of the budget area concerned if greater than $100,000, shall be assigned to the year end surplus, unless otherwise approved by the Board. 4.10 For the purposes of determining the applicability of the in year budget variance provisions contained in this policy, multiple budget transfers into or out of a particular budget within a fiscal year are to be considered as a single budget transfer. 4.11 Nothing in this policy shall be considered to: a) change the emergency purchasing provisions of Policy P.069.FIN (Tendering, Purchasing and Acquisition of Supplies and Services); b) preventing the Board from establishing additional standing orders if it so wishes; or c) reversing the existing Board approval for automatic school budget carry forwards. 4.11.1 This provision shall not apply to budgets relating to compensation costs. -4- P.007.FIN 5.0 REFERENCE DOCUMENTS The Education Act, 2011, §170(1), 171(1), 198 Board Procedure PR.502.FIN: Spending Authorization and Controls.