Guidelines for Bank Accounts in County Extension Offices


1. Purpose

  • a. The purpose of this memorandum is to establish the rules and procedures that County Extension Offices should follow for handling money (checks, cash, credit or other financial instruments) associated with programs, sales or services provided under the auspices of the University of Florida Cooperative Extension Service.

2. Procedures

  • a. In each county the County Extension Director (CED), on behalf of the University of Florida Cooperative Extension Service, is responsible for monitoring the generation, collection and expenditure of funds associated with the local Extension program, and for ensuring that proper fiscal procedures are followed to manage these items. All funds associated with the Extension local program shall be subject to this policy.
  • b. Each CED is required to assign oversight responsibility for its local account to an advisory committee for public assurance of sound fiscal management.
  • c. The following sources of revenue and their associated expenditures are examples of the types of projects that fall under the purview of the County Extension Director:
    • i. Donations and gifts
    • ii. Fees for educational programs (supplies, refreshments and etc)
    • iii. Newsletter subscriptions
    • iv. Fees collected at shows, expos, fairs
    • v. Fees for soil and water testing
    • vi. Sale of UF/IFAS publications
    • vii.  Form 990,  for the financial statements due in January.
  • d. Procurement of Banking Services
    • i. Bank account - All bank accounts must be established with a federal identification number and reported to the District Extension Director.  Banks accounts operating under a social security number must be converted to comply with the aforementioned requirement.  Bank accounts must be established under advisory committees or not-for-profit corporations. Account names must include the county name and the words, "Extension Program Account".
    •  ii. Financial Reviews
      • 1) Fiscal Year--The fiscal year for all county accounts shall be from January 1 to December 31.
      • 2) Reports–Each county will be responsible for submitting a balance sheet of the account’s yearly activity 30 days after the close of each fiscal year. CEDs report to DED by January 30 using "County Bank Accounts Annual Report" (click to save then open to download) form.
      • 3) The books and records pertaining to the account shall be reviewed annually by the oversight committee or other acceptable audit authority, such as the County Auditor or a local CPA.
      • 4) Quicken or Quicken compatible software shall be used to maintain all local accounts.
    • iii. Receipts – Income receipts are required.  Pre-numbered receipts including date, customer name, reason for receipt, amount received, type of transaction (cash, check or credit card), name of receiving party and the signature of the person receiving the funds are required for every transaction.  Where feasible a separation of duties should be maintained with regard to deposits and check writing.
      • 1) Cash Handling and Deposit procedures
        • (a) Collections on hand should not exceed $500. Deposits should be made within one business day when collections exceed this amount. Should collections include credit card or debit/ATM card transactions a deposit should be made on the next business day.
        • (b) All other collections shall be deposited no less frequently than weekly.
        • (c) The only exception to these policies is that all collections are to be deposited at the fiscal-year end regardless of amount.
        • (2) Receipt books shall be retained as permanent records.
    • iv. Disbursements – All disbursements should be fully documented to provide an acceptable audit trail. Original invoices, receipts and sales slips shall be part of the documentation for making expenditures from the account. The documentation will be kept on file for review until all final reports have been submitted at the end of the fiscal year. 
      • 1) Checks must not be signed by a county faculty member.
      • 2) Advisory Committee members should be signatories on Extension Accounts.
      • 3) Checks greater than $500 must be signed by two people.
      • 4) Checks must be numbered and all voided checks must be kept.
      • 5) The CED is responsible for monitoring signature authority on the local county accounts
  • e. Exceptions for local county regulations
    • i. Certain local county governments have fiscal policies for handling funds and are willing to process all local Extension funds through county accounts. To the extent that the University agrees to abide by all such fiscal policy guidelines and requirements of the county government in a particular district, said policies shall replace the foregoing policy. This option must be approved by the University administration on a case by case basis.

Questions and Answers

Q: How many accounts can a county have?
A: One account per county except that established 4-H Foundations will not be affected.

Q: What about exempt 4-H accounts that are not part of a Foundation?
A: We suggest that you work towards making those part of the this system since we anticipate getting tax exempt status for these accounts too. We may need to establish a time frame for removing those accounts consistent with acquiring the group exempt status.

Q: Who will monitor the account?
A: CED will be primary and the DED should review accounts at the end of the fiscal year or periodically during reviews and evaluation.

Q: What about groups that Counties help but are not officially Extension Accounts?
A: No County faculty or staff person should be associated with outside accounts.

Q: Are master gardener accounts included as outside accounts?
A: Master gardener accounts should be a part of the county office. Their program is an integral part of the Cooperative Extension effort.

Q: Can I pick the bank to set up an account in?
A: We should request from the BOR to use the fewest number of banks possible. Local situations where the bank has been supportive of the program should be considered.

Q: Who prepares the balance sheet at the end of the fiscal year?
A: Hopefully all of the offices will use banking software such as Microsoft Money or Quicken to maintain accounts. These include programs to produce balance sheets, cash flow and etc.

Q: How will this new requirement help the county office?
A: Everyone will have a consistent policy to follow that has been approved at the highest levels of the State. Eventually, we will seek and should acquire tax exempt status that will aid in the recruitment of donations and gifts to the local programs.

Q: Will state rules apply to these accounts?
A: Yes.

Q: Will those rules prohibit us from doing business as usual, ie purchasing awards and plaques for program participants, etc?
A: [Add answer!]

Q: Can travel expenses be paid from these accounts?
A: This is discouraged but if done any travel must be documented and paid in accordance with state rules