Office of the State Comptroller

At a Glance

NANCY WYMAN, State Comptroller

Mark E. Ojakian, Deputy Comptroller

Established - 1786

Statutory authority - State Constitution

Central office - 55 Elm Street,

Hartford, CT 06106-1775

Average number of full-time employees - 228

Recurring operating expenses - $18.8 million

Systems development expenses - $4,000

Capital outlay - $0

Organizational structure – Seven Divisions: Accounts Payable, Budget and Financial Analysis, Information Technology, Management Services, Payroll Services, Policy Services, Retirement and Benefit Services.

Mission

To provide accounting and financial services, to administer employee benefits, to develop accounting policy and exercise accounting oversight, and to prepare financial reports for state, federal and municipal governments and the public.

Statutory Responsibility

The responsibilities of the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) were first laid down in the State Constitution in 1786, and have been amplified over the years in the Connecticut General Statutes. According to Article Fourth, Section 24 of the State Constitution, the State Comptroller "shall adjust and settle all public accounts and demands, except grants and orders of the general assembly. He shall prescribe the mode of keeping and rendering all public accounts." In addition, state law charges the office to adjust and/or settle all demands against the state not first adjusted and settled by the General Assembly; to prepare all accounting statements relating to the financial condition of the state; to pay all wages and salaries of state employees; to develop and implement new computerized payroll, personnel, accounting and budgeting systems; and to administer miscellaneous appropriations for employee taxes, health services and insurance, as well as grants to police, firefighters and municipalities.

The bulk of the Comptroller's statutory requirements are detailed in CGS Secs. 3-111 through 3-123.

The office is organized by seven divisions:

Accounts Payable Division

The Accounts Payable Division (APD) controls the State’s central accounts payable process, audits encumbrances and payment claims for legal conformance and coordinates a range of processing activities. The division processes statewide accounts payables, special payments such as tax-exempt bond funds, electronic fund transfers (EFT), and land condemnations. The Division coordinates all other special processing requests based on state, local, and federal law and Comptroller's regulations, and processes payments to more than 60,000 vendors that provide goods and services to the State.

APD approves the State’s obligations and reserves funding to charge an agency’s appropriation. The division approves disbursements for claims against the State’s obligations and charges such payments to the state agency’s appropriations; manages the State’s encumbrance and expenditure records in accordance with procedures developed by the Administrator of Public Records; enforces the statutory, regulatory and accounting requirements prescribed by state law, federal law, and the Comptroller; facilitates the execution of a statutory grant program for payments to municipalities; produces town payment reports and assists in the reconciliation of the municipal payments with the town’s independent auditors; maintains financial records, including vendor garnishments, through the vendor file database in the Central Accounting System (CAS); provides the statewide 1099 Miscellaneous Income and 1099-S reporting to the Internal Revenue Service.

Budget and Financial Analysis Division

The Budget and Financial Analysis Division performs the state’s accounting, cost accounting and financial reporting functions. The division posts, analyzes and reports state expenditures and receipts by fund and account category inclusive of federal and other funding sources. The division computes and reports direct and indirect costs associated with major state programs. This cost data is recorded and maintained in accordance with federal law and is used to secure reimbursements from federal and other funding sources.

At the Comptroller’s direction, the division prepares a monthly analysis of the state’s budget condition that contains the financial statements for the latest month and projects the budget position to year’s end. The division publishes three of the Comptroller’s annual financial reports: 1) a budgetary base (modified cash basis of accounting) report that details and analyzes state expenditures, receipts, and capital budget activities for the fiscal year; 2) a Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) prepared in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles that analyzes the state’s overall fiscal position and provides audited financial statements for state and state supported fiscal activities; and 3) a Comptroller’s “popular” report that explains in common language the state’s overall fiscal position in the context of state economic and demographic trends.

Information Technology Division

The Information Technology Division (ITD) has primary responsibility for developing and maintaining the OSC’s technical infrastructure. Technical services provided include: local area network (LAN) planning, administration, and support; personal computer (PC) installation and troubleshooting, training in desktop software applications, help desk support for all PC users, and development of custom PC/LAN applications. The ITD also operates OSC’s data center, providing Unisys mainframe processing services and support, including production control, input/output control, data and system security, and the laser printing of reports and negotiable documents.

The Director of the Division assists the Comptroller in strategic IT planning, represents the agency on a major statewide system initiative involving the state’s core financial computer systems, and coordinates OSC’s procurement of IT hardware, software and services.

Fiscal Policy Division

FPD consists of the Business Services, Technology Management and Statewide Programs Units. Business Services prepares, analyzes and monitors the agency’s budget and miscellaneous appropriations; prepares and monitors budgets for the Office of the Claims Commissioner and the Judicial Review Council; and makes all purchases and vendor payments for the above-mentioned operating budgets. It pays refunds of disability and death benefits to state firemen and policemen; death benefits to state employees; it coordinates fringe benefit recoveries and maintains the security retainer program associated with state construction projects.

The Technology Management Unit is responsible for the web development, design and maintenance of the Comptroller’s Intranet and Internet websites. In addition, it administers the statewide purchasing program, which includes auditing the daily transactions of each of the 1,300 cardholders and monitors the activities of the Trustee accounts.

Within the Statewide Programs Unit there are two sub-units, State Services and Support Services. State Services provides overall policy and program direction to the Office of the State Comptroller and its subsidiary programs. The unit develops and promulgates complex accounting systems and procedures for use by state agencies to maximize accountability, standardization and cost effectiveness; monitors agency compliance with these systems and procedures; reviews reports of the Auditors’ of Public Accounts to ensure agency compliance with their recommendations; performs analysis/interpretation and statewide dissemination of changes occurring as a result of collective bargaining contracts and negotiations. In addition, the unit administers the statewide tuition reimbursement, travel and training programs by reviewing the programs to ensure conformance to contractual, regulatory and statutory obligations. Grant payments to towns are also processed through this unit. It is responsible for maintaining the inventory of the state’s real and personal property for insurance and accounting purposes, as well as handling the state’s casualty loss record system.

Staff members are available to provide assistance to state agencies in the implementation and interpretation of procedures. The unit conducts independent audits each year to supplement the work of the Auditors of Public Accounts and the unit performs agency internal control information system reviews and conducts fact-finding activities at the request of the Comptroller to support decisions impacting revisions to the agency’s accounting and financial reporting systems.

The Support Services Unit provides support for the Core-CT Payment Systems, manages the laser printing of all negotiable documents and reports, provides processing services and support, including production control, input/output control, data and system security for legacy OSC systems. The unit also provides support services including courier services, the final processing of the negotiable documents and laser report distribution.

Payroll Services Division

The Payroll Services Division pays all state employees, handles all payroll deductions, and maintains records on payroll taxes and deposits federal and state income tax withholding and social security contributions. It pre-audits and issues state employee and deduction checks on a bi-weekly basis; submits deduction reports; maintains wage execution records, and administers savings bonds and direct deposit programs.

The payroll system accommodates unique state payroll requirements including interfaces with central agencies, mass salary changes, collective bargaining information, complex accounting transactions and extensive management reporting.

Retirement & Benefit Services Division

As agent of the State Employees Retirement Commission, the Division administers all state pension plans except the Teachers Retirement System, providing a comprehensive package of services ranging from pre-retirement counseling to post-mortem accounting.

The Division provides counseling services to members of the pension plans it administers; manages computer, accounting, investigatory, payroll, training, record-keeping, and compliance activities attendant to the state’s complex retirement programs; analyzes and implements statutory, collectively bargained, and federally mandated revisions to the pension plans within its jurisdiction; and plans and develops new products and services on the basis of research and analysis of retirement conditions and trends.

The Division also administers state employee benefits, and manages the state deferred compensation plan. More specifically, it provides direction for plan design, benefit administration and interpretation and policy for all state insurance benefits including medical, surgical, hospital, and life insurance.