Office of the State Comptroller
NANCY WYMAN, State
Comptroller
Mark E. Ojakian, Deputy
Comptroller
Established - 1786
Statutory authority - State Constitution
Central office -
Hartford , CT 06106-1775
Average number of full-time
employees – 235
Recurring operating expenses - $22.2 million
Systems development expenses (CORE) - $9.4 million
Capital outlay - $45,413
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 six divisions:
Accounts Payable
Division
The
Accounts Payable Division within the Office of the State Comptroller manages
the centralized accounts payable function for the state, maintains the 65,000
record vendor profile database that properly identifies the vendors that
provide goods and services to the state and is used by expending state
agencies, initiates and monitors the pay cycle process for the generation of
payments in settlement of the state’s obligations, conducts post transactional
examinations of encumbrances and expenditures for compliance, and performs a
variety of necessary processing activities to satisfy federal or state
requirements or in response to requests under Freedom of Information, and others.
The Division also processes special payments such as tax-exempt bond funds, debt service, legal settlements (involving the state), land condemnations, federal pass-through and state grants, etc., through various methods such as checks, Automated Clearing House (ACH, also known as electronic funds transfer or EFT), wire transfers, and interagency transfers.
The
Division enforces the statutory, regulatory and accounting provisions mandated
by state and federal law and by the Comptroller’s policies; facilitates the
execution of statutory grant programs for payment to municipalities and/or not
for profit organizations; generates summary and detailed reports of payments to
municipalities and provides assistance to the municipalities’ independent
auditors in the reconciliation of such payments; maintains financial records,
including garnishments/offsets through the vendor file database within the
state’s Core-CT administrative and financial system; assists agencies in
processing transactions and troubleshooting problems with such transactions in
Core-CT; develops manuals and provides training to the agencies’ business
office staff; develops test scripts for system functional testing; processes
and distributes Forms 1099MISC and 1099-S to vendors and 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 two 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.
Information Technology Division
The Information Technology Division (ITD)
has primary responsibility for developing and maintaining 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 Director of the Division represents
the agency on the management team responsible for overseeing the operation of
the State’s financial and administrative system. This system performs the
State’s accounting, accounts payable, accounts receivable, purchasing, human
resources, time and attendance, payroll, and benefits administration functions.
In total there are approximately 50 OSC employees who work full-time on
supporting the operation of the system. The Director of the Division also
assists the Comptroller in strategic IT planning and coordinates OSC’s
procurement of IT hardware, software and services.
Fiscal Policy Division
The Fiscal Policy Division consists of the
Statewide Programs, Business Services, and Technology Management Units. Our
Statewide Programs Unit 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; performs analysis/interpretation
and statewide dissemination of changes occurring as a result of collective
bargaining contracts and negotiations; monitors the activity on Trustee
Accounts within State agencies.
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. It is responsible for the management of the state’s real and personal property for insurance and accounting purposes, as well as maintaining the state’s casualty loss records. The statewide purchasing card program is administered in this unit which includes auditing the daily transactions of each of the 1,900 cardholders and conducting compliance reviews with current policies and procedures.
Staff members are available to provide
assistance to state agencies in the implementation and interpretation of
accounting procedures. Independent
audits are conducted each year to supplement the work of the Auditors of Public
Accounts and the unit performs agency internal control reviews and conducts
fact-finding activities at the request of the Comptroller to support decisions
impacting accounting and financial reporting systems.
The Business Services Unit 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. Grant payments to towns are also processed
through this unit. 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 and provides support services for the Core-CT Financial and HRMS 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.