Subject

Payroll Certification Legal Obligations

Purpose

To re-state Payroll Certification procedures and provide a revised Payroll Certification Form. AC 3202

Affected Employees

All State Agencies.

Background

Pursuant to Section 110 of the State Finance Law, the Office of the State Comptroller must audit and verify that the payroll submitted every Pay Period by each Agency is certified and authorized by a preapproved designated Agency Representative.

A completed Payroll Certification Form affirms that an Agency Representative has reviewed and certified that the transactions entered into the OSC payroll system (PAYSERV) represent work performed and that payments are due.

All authorized signatures of Agency Representatives must be forwarded to OSC on an AC 2822 which will be kept on file at OSC.  This form must include the name, title and signature of each designee.  Each time an Agency Representative is added or removed, a new AC 2822 must be forwarded to OSC with all of the authorized signatures.

In accordance with state internal controls and risk management, OSC mandates a new Certification Form be submitted each calendar year or as changes occur.

This bulletin supersedes Payroll Bulletin 460 issued on February 25, 2004.

OSC Actions

OSC has revised the Payroll Certification Form AC 3202 to include updated contact information and the email address of the Payroll Certification mailbox.

NOTE:  The AC 3202 (Payroll Certification Form) is available on the Payroll Services Web Page.

Agency Actions

If an Agency is certifying more than one Agency, each Agency must be listed separately in the spaces provided.

An original Payroll Certification Form must be signed and dated after all of the transactions are entered into the payroll system (usually the Wednesday of the Agency deadline, as per Payroll Bulletin 975) and then the original must be received by OSC by the Monday following the submission deadline.

Any transactions entered on the same date as the date on the Payroll Certification Form cannot be considered “certified” by the agency and may not be processed by OSC.

Transactions entered into the payroll system after the Agency on-line deadline may not be processed.  These transactions, especially retroactively dated transactions, that are not processed can cause inaccurate payments.

Strict adherence to the schedule must be maintained in order to avoid any of these problems and ensure the Comptroller’s Office is compliant with State law.  Should an unusual circumstance require transactions be submitted after the Agency on-line deadline, a request for an “Additional” transaction must be made and granted to the Agency by appropriate OSC staff.  An additional AC 3202, Payroll Certification Form, must be submitted to OSC each time this request is granted. 

If approval is given for any “Additional” that is requested to be added after the Agency deadline or corrections are made to existing transactions, a new Payroll Certification Form must be signed and dated and the field “Additional or Corrected transactions have been approved and entered into the PayServ System. “ must be checked.  A copy of the additional AC 3202 should be faxed to OSC immediately after permission is given for the  “Additional” but both the original Payroll Certification Form and the “Additional” Payroll Certification Form must be received at OSC by the Monday following the Agency deadline or as soon as practicable.

Questions

Questions referring to the submission of this form should be directed to the Payroll Certification mailbox.