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Nov 19, 2020
The Core Contributions policy and procedures have been updated based on the previously announced accounting policy changes for contributions.
The summary of the changes and their implication on UNDP Offices are:
• With a few exceptions, the announced accounting policy changes for contributions, require the full revenue, including for future periods, to be recorded in the year an agreement/or other binding document is signed and not upon the receipt of cash.
• The recording of the revenue in Atlas remains with the GSSU Revenue team. UNDP Offices are required to submit the signed agreements to the GSSU within 1 week after an agreement is signed via the Service Request Portal : https://undp.custhelp.com/app/main.
• The policy revision did not change the ability for UNDP Offices to spend or enter into commitments in Atlas which is still dependent on funds being received (except for USAID Letters of Credit where the current process of enabling the spending ability in Atlas remains unchanged). As is currently the case, UNDP Offices can only incur expenditures or enter into commitments upon receipt of funds or by following budget override procedures outlined in the UNDP’s Risk Management Guidelines.
• For UNDP Offices receiving funding from MPTF, in the past UNDP Offices have been submitting the signed disbursement notifications to GSSU but going forward, the full approved amount committed to UNDP should be provided. Therefore, UNDP Offices should provide the signed Project Document (ProDoc) and the Steering Committee minutes that reflects fully the approved amount for UNDP and not just what is being disbursed in the next tranche.
• Country Offices are required to submit signed amendment agreements/ letters/amendments within 1 week of signing the agreements/amendment to GSSU so that the revenue can be recorded or adjusted accordingly.
• At the end of every year, the Head of Office will be required to certify in the annual assertion that all signed agreements/amendments to agreements have been submitted to GSSU on a timely basis prior to the closure of the financial ledgers. This will help ensure that UNDP revenue is captured in a timely manner as any late submission of these documents poses a significant management reporting risk and audit risk as revenue will not be reported accurately in the UNDP financial statements, including quarterly financial statements.
• For the POPP on Government Contributions to Local Office Costs (GLOC) from Low and Middle Income Countries (LIC and MIC), a new GL account (i.e. GLOC – Gov contr Locl Cost Future – 51017) was created to track cases, if and when host governments settle their cash targets in advance, especially when a multi-year target is successfully negotiated.