6217-P – Electronic Funds Transfer Procedure
The NWESD 189 will implement the following procedures to ensure electronic funds transfers (EFTs) are initiated, executed, and approved in a secure manner.
- The procedure to initiate, approve, and record an EFT transaction is subject to the same policies, procedures, and controls that govern disbursements made by any other payment mechanism.
- EFT transactions will not be made without proper authorization of affected parties in accordance with federal and state statutes and accepted business practices. To enroll in EFT for invoice payments, or to change any account information, vendors will submit a completed Authorization for Automatic Deposit of Vendor Payments form and attach either a voided check or other confirmation of the account information.
Validation of new EFT requests, or changes to existing EFT records, require the following steps to be taken.
1. Validation of all new EFT requests received.
a. The NWESD 189 will confirm all change requests by directly contacting the requester by using known, genuine information.
b. When confirming change requests, the NWESD 189 will confirm the existing practice.
c. Information on the form with the known contact.
2. Once the request has been confirmed, the NWESD 189 will set the vendor up for EFT payments in the accounting system.
3. Documentation of all new or revised EFT records shall be maintained for review by the NWESD 189’s accounting staff and the auditors and kept in accordance with records retention rules.
The NWESD 189 will complete a pre-notification action prior to making any payments to vendors. This action shall be used as the final verification of bank account information.
Once a vendor is enrolled, the NWESD 189 will continue to pay the vendor through electronic transactions until rescinded in writing by the vendor, or the depository account is no longer active.
The NWESD 189 will ensure there are adequate controls and segregation of duties:
- Ensuring that any transactions are reviewed and approved by a staff member other than the one who entered the transaction prior to it being released.
- Staff members who handle ACH transactions and releases should not be the same staff members who reconcile financial accounts that contain electronic transactions.
Presented to the Board: 08/26/2024
Reviewed: 09/23/2024
Date Revised: 09/23/2024