An Evaluation of the System of Central Financial Control of Research in State Governments Bulletin of the National Research Council (1924) / Chapter Skim
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III. Central Financial Control in Ohio
III. Central Financial Control in Ohio
Pages 42-62
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From page 42... ...
The legal powers of the finance department in Ohio are extensive. - They naturally fall into the same divisions found in Illinois accounting control; budget control; current review of vouchers; centralized purchasing and control of printing.
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From page 43... ...
The appropriation to the Controlling Board and to the Emergency Board for 1923-25 reproduced on the following page will illustrate the character of its work. The language of the Ohio law omits that section of the Illinois Civil Code which vests in the director of finance power to question the fairness, justness, and reasonableness of expenditures.
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From page 44... ...
To supplement appropriations to state departments and divisions for print paper and printing, transfers to be made subject to approval of Controlling Board............................... To be allotted to the Department of Public Welfare for additions and betterments, including remodeling and extending existing buildings, and constructing; and equipping buildings at institutions under the control of the Department of Public Welfare, as determined by the Director of Public Welfare, subject to the approval of the Controlling Board .
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From page 45... ...
* It would be little short of absurdity to require this skilled knowledge, training, and experience in the highway depart meet, if the policy of the department were entirely subject to the control of the finance department.
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From page 46... ...
The case turns on the question, Did the State Examiner of the State Board of Accounts have power to inspect the highway and raise a question of the adequacy of the work, or as it was stated on the other side, was the responsibility for highway construction vested completely in officers other than those of the State Board of Accounts and the State Examiner? The powers of the State Board of Accounts, which was established by legislation of 1909, included authority to prescribe and install uniform systems of bookkeeping, accounting and reporting, to make statements and reports, and to employ the necessary assistants.
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From page 47... ...
It did not mean to say that in order to avail itself of the money appropriated, the State Board of Agriculture must turn over to the legislature management and control of the college, or of any of its activities.'' "It is not an easy matter to separate a supervisory control of the expenditure of money for extension work from a control of the work itself." "General supervisory control was not a meaningless term with the legislature. As Justice Wiest points out, it had been applied in other appropriation acts of the same session.
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From page 48... ...
The scientific divisions and institutions which have been particularly considered in this study are the Archaeological and Historical Society, the Geological Survey, the Agricultural Experiment Station, the Department of Health and the Bureau of Juvenile Research.22 The period of years for which information has been secured includes the fiscal years 1915-16 to 192~25. It may be noted further that the operation of the Civil Code since 1923 has been under conditions of divided political control.
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From page 49... ...
No provision of law authorizing any -- department to exercise fiscal management and control over any institution or function of the state bars the operation of the powers vested in the finance department. By virtue of this section entire control over the form and method of keeping accounts is vested in the Department of Finance.
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From page 50... ...
As the vouchers go through the office they are deducted from the cash balance, the records therefore showing at all times the cash balance and the unencumbered balance. The finance department, however, has not always been able to hold departments within their appropriations.
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From page 51... ...
In Ohio there is no regular and formal procedure for conference between the budget officials and various departments. Whether they are heard before the finance department's reductions are made depends to a substantial degree on whether they are invited to make a statement or whether they insist on being heard.
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From page 52... ...
In 1921-23, the total reduction amounted to $310,743, and in the current fiscal period, 1923-25 the reduction was $493,536. These recommended reductions must be read in connection with the constantly increasing demands of the scientific agencies with each succeeding budget, and must be understood not to include requests for capital outlay.
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From page 53... ...
41,840* 679 15,740 87,610 12,200 TOta1S 1,109 261 ~746 724 , , 302,356 o o o o o o o o 862,953 116,229 a These figures exclude additions and bettern~ents but include all other items given in the biennial budget and appropriation acts from which they are taken.
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From page 54... ...
Only one case has occurred since 1915 and in-this case the Assembly overruled the veto by the requisite majority and thus restored the appropriation. It will be observed that the net result of the Ohio appropriation process has been to hold stationary the amount of money granted for the scientific divisions under review.
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From page 55... ...
IN STATE GOVERNMENTS ¢ Cal em Cal A Cal o l oo G: .o l o ·~`, ~ Cal : ~ l O c~ ~ 00 ~ o0 di r~ c~ oo co C~ C~ C]
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From page 56... ...
These reductions in turn seem to prevent the mechanism for controlling expenditure within an appropriation from operating edectively because the various departments then feel entitled to make an appeal for help from the funds of the Emergency Board. The Ohio appropriation acts are highly itemized, especially in the case of personal service.
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From page 57... ...
Division of Public Utilities. Division of Public Utilities Physical Valuation....
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From page 58... ...
Ibe department is autborized to require orders, invoices, claims, voucbers, or p~yroUs to be submi~ed ~bere pre~cribed by law or by tbe goverDor, and to ~pprove or dis~pprove such orders or p~yroNa. ID pr~ctice, bowever, tbe Ohio Department of Finance teas never 1Dquired into the reasonableness or expediency of any expenditure incurred, but teas hmited itself to ~ p~rt1~1 sudit [ach division teas in f~ct ne~rly coInpleto freedom in spending ~s appropriatioD ~itbiD tbe terms of tbe appropriation act.
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From page 59... ...
So far as the writer could ascertain, the work of the scientific divisions was not affected unfavorably by the machinery for central purchasing. THE CONTROL 0F PRINTING The control of printing in Ohio has been removed by law from the hands of the individual departments; formerly vested in an ex-officao printing board consisting of the secretary of state, the auditor and the attorney general, and a supervisor of public printing, the Ohio Civil Code of 1921 placed the general supervision of state printing in the superintendent of purchases and printing in the Department of Finance.
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From page 60... ...
Exceptions to this rule include the State University and Normal Schools, the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, and The Military Department, each of which is responsible for handling its own printing. The University maintains its own press.
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From page 61... ...
If a majority of the members of the Emergency Board approve the application, such expense shall be paid from the emergency fund." SUMMARY lTrom the foregoing description of the Ohio system and its practical operation it appears that a far-reaching system of control has been established in law, but that the governors of Ohio have as yet not been prepared to give it full edect. In view of the fact that a plan of central budget-making, central purchasing and central control of printing had already been in existence, the enactment of the Ohio Code in 1921 may be properly understood as primarily a departmental reorganization, plus the grant of certain additional powers of financial control to the newly established Department of Finance.
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From page 62... ...
Their printing is governed by the same officer but it appears he does not often question either the size of the edition, or the quality of paper or binding, and never the subjectmatter of the report. Travel outside the state requires consent of the Emergency Board, but apparently is granted without detriment to the work of the scientific agencies.
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