701 Bank Accounts

1. Establishing Bank Accounts

***  The establishment of a University bank account requires the approval of Council.  ***

Bank accounts may be established by the University to receive moneys due or for funds administered by the University for University related activities (refer Australian National University Act 1946, Section 31[A]).

The establishment of a University bank account requires the approval of Council.  However, Council may delegate its powers and functions (refer Australian National University Act 1946, Section 25[1]).  Council has delegated this power to its Finance Committee.

All moneys under the control of the University must therefore be placed in bank accounts approved by Finance Committee.

The Australian National University Act requires that bank accounts must be with an approved bank.  For the purpose of the Act 'approved bank' means The National Bank or another bank approved by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor/Vice President of the University.  Some minor bank accounts are operated outside Canberra to serve sections of the University in remote localities.  The usual purpose of these accounts is for the lodgement of cash receipts and subsequent forwarding to Canberra.  Some of these accounts operate as imprest accounts.

A Register of Bank Accounts and Signatories, providing details of the establishment and purpose of each bank account, is maintained by Finance and Business Services.
 

2.  List of Bank Accounts

2.1 The Australian National University General Account

This is the main bank account for managing the University's grants, revenue and expenditure, and the principal account for processing general transactions.  Transactions processed by this account relate to Recurrent, Special Purpose, and University Business Units Funds.  The account was established by authority of the Interim Council of the University on 23 April 1947.

2.2 Bank Accounts, Other

The University has approved the establishment of a number of bank accounts to service University activities at locations distant from Canberra, and for superannuation and trust fund purposes:

ANU General Account
ANU USD Bank account
Ausaid ADS Special Account
ANU Suva House Collections Account & Operating Account
ANU New Guinea School Services Collections Account
ANU Superannuation Account
Cambodian ANU Imprest Population Development Account 

3. Bank Accounts, Taxation

The University is exempt from the Bank Accounts Debit Tax and from Financial Institutions Duty (A.C.T.) in respect of accounts operated with financial institutions in the Australian Capital Territory.  The exemption is provided under the Financial Institutions Duty Ordinance 1987.
 

4. Bank Reconciliations

The regular checking of the balance of a bank account in the ledger with the balance shown on the bank statement for the same period is an important accounting requirement.  Although the two separate records cover cash transactions for the same period, it is rare for the two balances ever to agree.  The effect of a bank reconciliation is to identify the differences between the bank statement balance and the financial ledger.

All receipts, Accounts Payable entries and other journal entries are processed before reconciliation is attempted.  A National Online Corporate file is uploaded from the bank each morning.  This file contains all presented cheques, deposits and any other entries to the bank statement.  The total amount of unpresented cheques for the period is deducted from the bank statement balance.  The effect of this action is to adjust the bank statement balance to the balance of the bank account in the financial ledger.  Discrepancies identified between the bank statement and the general ledger account for any imbalance.

Manual cheques plus supporting invoice details are input direct to the Accounts Payable Sub-system by accounts payable staff.

Mismatches are cleared on-line by the Ledgers Section.  Following the successful completion the production of the Bank Reconciliation Summary is initiated.