Financial Regulations 1990

Financial Procedure Act 1966

(Section 24(1))

Financial Regulations 1990

2025 REVISED EDITION

(17 December 2025)

[20 April 1990]

PART 1

PRELIMINARY

Citation

1.  These Regulations are the Financial Regulations 1990.

Definitions

2.  In these Regulations —

“Accounting Officer” means —

(a) a Deputy Attorney‑General;

(b) the Solicitor‑General;

(c) the Auditor‑General;

(d) the Clerk of Parliament;

(e) the Permanent Secretary of a Ministry;

(f) the Principal Private Secretary to the President;

(g) the Chief Executive, Office of the Chief Justice;

(h) the Chief Executive, Attorney‑General’s Chambers;

(i) the Secretary to the Cabinet;

(j) the Secretary to the Presidential Council;

(k) the Secretary to the Prime Minister; or

(l) the Secretary to the Public Service Commission;

“annual estimates” means the annual estimates of revenue and expenditure of Singapore that are presented under Article 147(1) of the Constitution to Parliament and voted on;

“Establishment List” means the list laid before Parliament under section 17(2) of the Act;

“officer” means a public officer;

“supplementary estimates” means the supplementary estimates of expenditure or statements of excess presented under Article 148(2) of the Constitution to Parliament and voted on.

PART 2

ACCOUNTING OFFICERS

Duties of Accounting Officer

3.  Subject to these Regulations, an Accounting Officer must —

(a) ensure that proper books and systems of accounts are adopted and maintained in every department of which he or she is in charge;

(b) exercise supervision over the receipt of public moneys by the department and, as far as possible, ensure that those moneys are collected punctually;

(c) account, under the proper classes and items in the annual estimates of revenue or under any new item or in any account that may be appropriate, for all public moneys paid or entrusted to him or her;

(d) ensure that proper provision is made for the safe‑keeping of all public moneys, stores and stamps and valuable documents in the department;

(e) exercise supervision over the department and the officers attached to the department, and take precautions, by the maintenance of checks, including surprise inspections, against any fraud, embezzlement or negligence;

(f) exercise supervision over the expenditure of public moneys by the department by taking care that no payment of any public money is made without proper authority expressed or referred to in the voucher relating to such expenditure, and, where there is any apparent extravagance in the expenditure of any public money by the department or an apparent deficiency in the provision for a charge owing to the exhaustion or absence of the appropriate fund for the charge, report the extravagance or deficiency in writing to the Treasury; and

(g) promptly charge all payments of public moneys by the department to the appropriate heads and subheads or accounts.

Irregularity in accounts

4.  The Accountant‑General or an Accounting Officer must report to the Treasury any material irregularity in a public account of which he or she is aware.

Responsibilities of Accounting Officer

5.—(1)  An Accounting Officer is personally responsible for —

(a) the due performance of the financial duties of every department of which he or she is in charge and of the officers attached to the department;

(b) the proper collection and custody of all public moneys receivable by the department or by any officer attached to the department; and

(c) the accuracy of the accounts rendered by the department or under the authority of any officer attached to the department.

(2)  No officer may be relieved from a duty imposed on him or her by the Act or these Regulations by delegating the performance of that duty to a subordinate when the officer should have performed the duty himself or herself.

(3)  The responsibility of the Auditor‑General for the examination of public accounts and finances and of reporting any irregularity therein does not absolve an officer from the latter’s responsibility of complying or securing compliance with any instruction issued by the Treasury or an Accounting Officer of the department to which the officer is attached.

(4)  The Auditor‑General shall not be responsible for the accuracy of any account so as to relieve an Accounting Officer of any duty in respect of the account that may be imposed upon him or her by the Act or these Regulations.

PART 3

RECEIPTS

Entries of receipts

6.  All entries of receipts in a public account must be vouched for in the form determined by the Treasury.

Receipt of public money

7.  An Accounting Officer must pay the whole amount of any public money received by him or her daily or in accordance with any instructions that may be issued by the Minister into a public account in a bank specified by the Minister in writing or to the Accountant‑General.

Gross amount to be accounted for

8.—(1)  In all cases the gross amounts of the public money received must be accounted for by the Accounting Officer.

(2)  No charges upon the revenue received are to be made without proper authority and all such charges are to appear as expenditure and be supported by proper vouchers.

Restriction on use of public money

9.  No public money is to be made use of in any way between the time of its receipt and the time of its payment into a bank or to the Accountant‑General.

Reports of arrears of revenue

10.—(1)  An Accounting Officer must report promptly to the Treasury any failure on the part of a department of which he or she is in charge or an officer attached to a department of which he or she is in charge to collect and duly account for any sum due to the department or to be collected by the officer and must transmit a copy of the report to the Auditor‑General.

(2)  Where the Accounting Officer has reason to believe that any revenue is falling unduly into arrears, he or she must report the matter to the Treasury and transmit a copy of the report to the Auditor‑General.

PART 4

PAYMENTS

Authorisation for payments

11.—(1)  Every disbursement of public money must be made under the authority of the Minister by the Accountant‑General or an Accounting Officer.

(2)  The disbursement must be made by the Accountant‑General or Accounting Officer either personally or by an officer acting on his or her expressed or implied instructions.

(3)  A payment out of a deposit account established under section 8(1) of the Act may be made by any person controlling that deposit account as may be specified by the Minister under section 8(3) of the Act.

(4)  A payment out of a fund created by any written law may be made by any person that may be authorised to do so by that law.

Warrants for payments out of Consolidated Fund

12.—(1)  No payment is to be made out of the Consolidated Fund unless the payment is authorised by a General Warrant, Special Warrant, Establishment Warrant, Transfer Warrant or Loan Account Warrant signed by the Minister.

(2)  A General Warrant is required for any payment for services for which provision is made in any annual estimates.

(3)  A Special Warrant is required for any payment for services for which provision is made in any supplementary estimates.

(4)  An Establishment Warrant is required for any addition to or alteration of an Establishment List authorised by the Minister under section 17(3) of the Act.

(5)  A Transfer Warrant is required for —

(a) any alteration to the proportions assigned to the subheads under a head of expenditure shown in any annual estimates; or

(b) the creation of a new subhead under a head of expenditure shown in those estimates,

authorised by the Minister under section 17(4) of the Act.

(6)  A Loan Account Warrant is required for any issue from the Consolidated Loan Account of sums for payment into the Development Fund.

Warrants for payments out of Government funds

13.—(1)  Regulation 12 applies, mutatis mutandis, to a payment out of any Government fund, except as otherwise provided by any written law creating that fund.

(2)  An advance under section 11(2) of the Act from the Contingencies Fund created under section 11(1) of the Act must be authorised by a Contingencies Fund Warrant issued under the authority of the Minister.

14.  [Deleted by S 239/2019]

Vouchers for payments into account

15.  All entries of payments into an account of public moneys must be vouched for in the form determined by the Treasury.

Vouchers to have full details

16.—(1)  All vouchers must contain such particulars as are necessary to enable those vouchers to be checked.

(2)  When supplies are furnished or any work is carried out under an agreement or a contract, there must be attached to or shown on the voucher relating to the agreement or contract a certificate stating that the payments for those supplies or that work are made in accordance with the terms of the contract or agreement and, where supplies are furnished, that those supplies have been received or, where work is carried out, that the work has been properly done.

(3)  Where a payment for work is made on an account, no more is to be paid than the cost of the work certified to have been carried out.

(4)  If a deduction in respect of a penalty or damages is made from the amount payable under a contract, only the net sum is to be paid.

Responsibility of officer approving voucher for payment

17.—(1)  An officer who approves a voucher must certify that it is accurate in every detail.

(2)  The officer is responsible for ensuring that —

(a) any services specified in the voucher have been duly performed;

(b) any stores purchased have been duly received;

(c) the prices charged are as agreed to in writing or according to approved scales;

(d) authority has been obtained as quoted;

(e) the computations have been verified and are correct; and

(f) the payee named in the voucher is entitled to receive payment.