OPW: Office of Public Works
Oifig na nOibreacha Poiblí
Accounts Branch
OPW TCC (PDF)
OPW's Accounts Branch is responsible for:
- making authorised payments, principally payroll and contractors claims,
- recording, managing and accounting for the Office's financial resources,
- putting forward, effectively and on time, the Office's Estimate requirements and managing expenditure within the voted allocation, and
- briefing the Minister and Management Advisory Committee on financial issues.
Generally Accounts Branch process
- 38,400 Instructions to Pay (ITPs),
- 8,400 receipts,
- 5,000 travel claims,
- 3,400 rents payments and
- pay the salaries and wages of 2,350 staff.
In addition, it managed voted and non-voted expenditure totalling €681m, receipts of €121m and €33.3m in Local Loans repayments.
Financial processes unique to the Office of Public Works:
Non-Voted Agency Accounts
* OPW acts as an agent for other Government Departments and Agencies in the provision of accommodation, maintenance and major construction projects. In these situations. OPW pays the service provider and is reimbursed by the principal Department either by means of advance imprests or by billing them after the event.
* Where OPW is paid after the event, there is a three stage "bill and collect" process involved: 1.OPW pays invoice/cert received from contractor for works/maintenance etc. 2. OPW issues bill to relevant principal Department. 3.OPW receives payment from principal Department.
* These accounts are known as Non-Voted Accounts and involve expenditure of approximately €132m per annum.
*Out of a total of some 50,000 accounts operated by OPW, about 20,000 are Non-Voted accounts.
Architects Certs
OPW also makes a large number of payments on foot of Architects Certificates in respect of construction projects. These have shorter prompt payment deadlines than invoices and can be for very large amounts - up to millions of euro.
Relevant Contracts Tax/ Professional Services Withholding Tax
Because of the high volume of construction type payments made by OPW, many of the payees require C47 Tax Clearance or are subject to RCT tax. Similarly there is a high volume of payments which are subject to professional fees tax.
Banking arrangements
Uniquely among Government Departments, OPW banks with the Central Bank of Ireland (rather than the Paymaster General's Office) issues cheques drawn on the Central Bank and carries out it's own cheque clearance and bank reconciliation.