COMMISSION ON AUDIT CIRCULAR NO.

92-389 November 3, 1992

TO

: All Heads of Departments, Bureaus, Agencies, and Offices of the National

Government, Heads of Governing Boards of Government-owned or Controlled
Corporations; Chief Accountants/Corporate Treasurers; Provincial Governors;
City and Municipal Mayors; Local Treasurers, Accountant, and Budget Officers;
COA Directors, Auditors, all other Fiscal Officers and all others concerned.

SUBJECT:
1.

Restating with modifications COA Circular No. 81-155, dated February 23, 1981,
and prescribing the use of the Disbursement Voucher, General Form No. 5 (A).

Rationale

The revision of the voucher was prompted by the need to update, simplify and minimize
the number of signatories in the Disbursement Voucher and to make it more effective and
responsive to the requirements of Republic Acts No. 6713 and 7160, the Code of Conduct and
Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees and the Local Government Code of 1991,
respectively.
2.

Voucher Preparation

The Voucher should be prepared in Triplicate copies or more if necessary. The use of the
attached new Disbursement Voucher, General Form No. 5(A) Revised August, 1992, with the
following modifications, is hereby prescribed:
A.

Boxes for "Prepared by and Upon Request/Direction of and Date Prepared" are
deleted.

B.

The "Voucher No." box shall indicate the number of the voucher in accordance with
COA Circular No. 78-79 dated April 5, 1978, which prescribes the Voucher
Numbering System. The voucher number shall be indicated on the face of the
voucher and on every supporting document.

C.

The "Paying Agency" box shall indicate the name of the Department/Bureau or
Office, Corporation, Commission, or Local Government Units, which shall pay the
expenditures.

D.

The "Name and Address of Claimant" box shall indicate the identity of the payee or
creditor and his place of residence or office.

E.

The "Employee No./TIN" box shall indicate the Employee No. if the claimant is an
employee of the paying agency or the Taxpayer Identification Number in case the
claimant is not an employee of the paying agency, private person or entity.

F.

The "Particulars of Payment" box shall indicate a brief description of the nature of
the transaction for which payment is to be made, indicating in words the amount
proposed to be paid.

G.

The "Amount" box shall indicate the net and exact money value to be paid.

3.

H.

Box No. 1 is deleted. Acknowledgement of receipt of supplies, materials, or

property in the Sales Invoices or Certificate of Acceptance, Requisition and Issue
Voucher, Purchase Request, etc., is sufficient.

I.

Boxes Nos. 2 & 3 are consolidated in Box A. This box shall be signed by the
responsible Officer having direct supervision and knowledge of the facts of the
transaction.

J.

Box No. 4 is now Box B. This box shall be accomplished by the Accountant or other
equivalent Officials in the Government Owned or Controlled Corporation.
The
"journalized by" and "indexed by" section shall be signed or initialed by the
Accountant or his duly designated subordinates.

K.

Box No. 5 is now Box C which shall be approved by the Head of the Agency or
other duly authorized Official/s. In the case of the Local Government Units, approval
of the Disbursement Voucher by the Local Chief Executive himself shall be required
whenever local funds are disbursed, except in cases of disbursements involving
regularly recurring administrative expenses such as payrolls for regular or
permanent employees, expenses for light, water, telephone and telegraph
services, remittances to government creditor agencies such as the GSIS, SSS, LBP,
DBP, National Printing Office, Procurement Service of the DBM and Others.

L.

The "Allowed in Audit" box is for the exclusive use of the COA Auditor.

M.

The "Received From" of the voucher shall be accomplished by the claimant or his
authorized representative after actual receipt of cash or check. The details of the
"Check" portion shall be immediately indicated after the check preparation. The
"Official Receipt" portion shall be accomplished by the Releasing Officer after the
claimant had affixed his signature. The cash or check shall be released only to the
payee or his duly authorized representative.

N.

In the case of the Local Government Units, the certification of the Accountant, the
Budget Officer, and the Treasurer in the request for Obligation of Allotment (ROA),
shall serve as their certification on the Disbursement Voucher as required by the
Law.

O.

Names of documents accompanying the Disbursement Voucher shall be marked "X"

and initialed by the accountant or the reviewer on the reverse side of the voucher.

P.

Original supporting documents, bills, invoices,

attached to the voucher.

Q.

Paid vouchers, including its supporting documents, shall be perforated and

conspicuously stamped Paid by the Cashier. The stamp shall provide space for the
number of the check issued and date of actual payment, and its size should be 2" X
3".

R.

The Number of the signatories in the Disbursement Voucher before payment could
be made is reduced to three (3).

Document Checklist at the Back of the Voucher

purchase orders, etc., shall be

The checklist at the back of the voucher enumerates the mandatory minimum supporting
documents for the selected transactions.
It should be clear, however, that the submission of the supporting documents enumerated
under each type of transaction does not preclude reasonable questions on the funding,
legality, regularity, necessity or economy of the expenditure or transaction. Such questions
may be raised by any of the signatories to the voucher.
The demand for additional documents or equivalents should be in writing. A blank space
is provided for additional requirements, if any, and if authorized by any law or regulation. If
the space is insufficient, separate check may be used and attached to the voucher.
4.

Initials of Reviewers Column

Voucher reviewer should affix their initials in the column provided after verification for
completeness of the supporting documents.
5.

Documentation of Claim not Covered by the Checklist

Constraints of space prevent the inclusion of all transactions in the checklist of

supporting documents.
As to the transactions not covered by the checklist reference should be made to the
Government Accounting and Auditing Manual (GAAM) and other COA issuances.
6.
Terminal Leave
In the case of Terminal Leave, Fiscal's Clearance and the Affidavit that there is no
pending criminal case (R.A. 3019) shall no longer be required as mandatory supporting
documents.
7.

Transitory Provision

To avoid unnecessary losses and wastage of government supplies, and as an interim

control to ensure that Agencies of the government shall first exhaust the existing stock of the
old Disbursement Voucher, all requisitions for the new Disbursement Voucher should be
coursed thru the Resident Auditor who shall verify the existing stock of the old Disbursement
Voucher. In case there still remains a sizeable stock of the old Disbursement Voucher, the
Auditor shall advise the Agency Head to hold-in-abeyance the said requisition. However,
effective January 2, 1993, the new Disbursement Voucher shall be used.
8.

Repealing Clause

All COA Circulars, Memoranda and other issuances inconsistent herewith are hereby
revoked accordingly.
9.

Effectivity

This Circular shall be effective immediately subject to the conditions specified in

Paragraph 7 hereof.

(SGD.) SOFRONIO B. URSAL, Commissioner

(SGD.) ROGELIO B. ESPIRITU, Commissioner
(SGD.) EUFEMIO C. DOMINGO, Chairman
Attachment:
DISBURSEMENT VOUCHER, GENERAL FORM NO. 5 (A)