Study guide
9.3 Procedures for Lost, Stolen, or Damaged Accountable Forms and Cash
Basic Competency on Local Treasury Examination BCLTE
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1 Chapter 1: Introduction to BCLTE & Philippine Local Treasury Service
1.1 Examination Scope, Format, Scoring, and the SEAL Program 1.2 Structure of Philippine Local Government and Treasury Hierarchy 1.3 Navigating the BCLTE Curriculum and Study Strategy
2 Chapter 2: Principles of Local Taxation & LGU Taxing Powers
2.1 Fundamental Principles of Local Taxation under RA 7160 2.2 Common Limitations on Local Government Taxing Powers 2.3 Enactment, Public Hearings, and Effectivity of Local Tax Ordinances
3 Chapter 3: Real Property Taxation — Appraisal & Assessment
3.1 Real Property Appraisal Principles, Valuation, and Classification 3.2 Schedule of Market Values and Statutory Assessment Levels 3.3 Exemptions from Real Property Taxation under the Local Government Code
4 Chapter 4: Real Property Taxation — Levies, Collections & Remedies
4.1 Basic RPT Rates, Special Education Fund (SEF), and Idle Land Tax 4.2 Tax Billing, Installments, Prompt-Payment Discounts, and Delinquency Penalties 4.3 Administrative/Judicial Remedies and Statutory Distribution of Proceeds
5 Chapter 5: Local Business Taxes (LBT) & Other Local Taxes
5.1 Business Tax Bases, Graduated Rates, and Taxable Gross Receipts 5.2 Situs of Local Business Taxation and Multi-Branch Allocations 5.3 Specific Provincial and City Levies (Transfer, Professional, Amusement, Franchise)
6 Chapter 6: Fees, Charges, Economic Enterprises & Credit Financing
6.1 Regulatory Fees, Service Charges, and Barangay Clearance Rules 6.2 Operations and Revenue Mobilization of Local Economic Enterprises (LEEs) 6.3 LGU Credit Financing, Municipal Borrowing, and Debt Service Ceilings
7 Chapter 7: Management of Local Treasury Operations
7.1 Organization, Qualifications, Appointment, and Duties of Local Treasurers 7.2 Cash Management, Liquidity Planning, and Cash Flow Forecasting 7.3 Revenue Collection Protocols and Authorized Government Depository Banks (AGDBs)
8 Chapter 8: Disbursements, Fund Controls & Cash Advances
8.1 Disbursement Processing, Vouchers (DV), Checks, and ACIC Advice 8.2 Petty Cash Fund (PCF) Operations, Advances, and Liquidation Rules 8.3 Fund Accounting: General Fund, SEF, Trust Funds, and 20% Development Fund
9 Chapter 9: Safekeeping of Funds, Physical Security & Accountable Forms
9.1 Physical Custody, Vault Management, and Security Safeguards 9.2 Custody, Requisition, and Inventory of Accountable Forms (Form 51, Form 56) 9.3 Procedures for Lost, Stolen, or Damaged Accountable Forms and Cash
10 Chapter 10: Fidelity Bonding & Commission on Audit (COA) Oversight
10.1 Public Bonding Law, Fidelity Schedules, and Accountable Officer Coverage 10.2 COA Cash Audits, Cash Count Procedures, and Reconciliations 10.3 Handling Cash Shortages, Overages, and Relief from Accountability
11 Chapter 11: Statement of Receipts and Expenditures (SRE) & eSRE Portal
11.1 Statement of Receipts and Expenditures (SRE) Structure and Components 11.2 LIFT System Reporting, BLGF Guidelines, and Filing Timelines 11.3 Treasury Financial Indicators: Collection Efficiency, Operating Surplus, and Solvency
12 Chapter 12: Inter-Government Transfers & Public Financial Management
12.1 National Tax Allotment (NTA, Mandanas-Garcia Ruling) and Allocation Formulas 12.2 Shares in National Wealth, Tobacco Taxes, and Special Purpose Grants 12.3 Local Disaster Risk Reduction Management Fund (LDRRMF) and PFM Oversight
13 Chapter 13: Local Finance Committee & Stakeholder Coordination
13.1 Composition, Mandates, and Budget Recommendations of the LFC 13.2 Coordinating with the Local Chief Executive, Sanggunian, and Barangays 13.3 Technical Interfacing with BLGF, DOF, COA, DBM, and DILG
14 Chapter 14: Republic Act No. 6713 — Ethical Standards & Conduct
14.1 The Eight Norms of Conduct for Public Officials and Employees 14.2 Prohibited Acts, Financial Conflicts, Outside Employment, and Divestment 14.3 Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) and Transparency Rules
15 Chapter 15: Public Accountability, Transparency & Responsive Service
15.1 15-Day Response Timelines, Public Assistance, and Ease of Doing Business 15.2 Administrative Penalties, Sanctions, and Disciplinary Procedures 15.3 Internal Controls, Ethical Safeguards, and Fraud Prevention in Local Treasury
16 Chapter 16: General Ability — Verbal, Analytical & Management Skills
16.1 Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension in Administrative Contexts 16.2 Analytical Reasoning, Data Interpretation, and Treasury Calculations 16.3 Basic Leadership, Delegation, and Supervisory Principles in LGUs
9.3 Procedures for Lost, Stolen, or Damaged Accountable Forms and Cash
Key Takeaways Explain This Topic AI
Spoiled or damaged accountable forms must never be torn, destroyed, erased, or discarded; the word 'CANCELLED' must be written or stamped diagonally across all copies, which must remain permanently affixed in the booklet for submission with the monthly RAAF.
Upon discovering the loss or theft of accountable forms, the accountable officer must immediately report the incident in writing to the Local Treasurer and the Commission on Audit (COA) Auditor pursuant to COA Circular No. 84-233.
A notice of loss identifies the covered form and exact serials and follows the transmittal and publication steps required by COA Circular No. 84-233 and any current implementing procedure.
PD 1445 Section 73 ordinarily requires a relief application within thirty days from loss but expressly permits a longer period when COA allows it after evaluation.
Relief requires event-specific evidence of the loss, custody, prompt reporting, security measures, and absence of fault or negligence; no single police or witness document decides the case.
Last updated: September 2026
- Missing, Damaged, and Spoiled Accountable Forms
- Spoiled or cancelled forms
A clerical error does not authorize erasure, destruction, or removal of an accountable form. Follow the cancellation method prescribed for the form and system: mark the original and required copies cancelled or spoiled, record the reason and replacement serial where applicable, retain the copies in the controlled sequence, and include the item in the accountability report. Preserve the payer's correct receipt and the collector's trail without reusing the cancelled serial.
Reconcile every serial as issued, unused, cancelled, spoiled, returned, or missing. A cancellation rate outside the normal pattern, repeated cancellation by one collector, or a cancellation just below a turnover cutoff is an exception to investigate. It is not automatically fraud, but it requires source documents, supervisory review, and comparison with collections and deposits.
First response to loss, theft, or destruction
When forms cannot be located, stop further issue from the affected range, secure remaining stock, and perform an immediate count. Record the form name and version, quantity, denomination if any, exact inclusive serials, assigned custodian, last known use, date and place discovered, and surrounding access. Notify the local treasurer, management, COA auditor, BLGF, law enforcement, depository, or other offices to the extent required by the controlling issuance and the event.
For theft, fire, disaster, or forced entry, preserve the scene, access logs, video, inventory records, police or fire reports, witness accounts, and system data. Do not print a duplicate range, backdate a cancellation, or enter a false zero-value transaction to make the stock card balance. Replacement stock receives its own authorized serial identity.
COA Circular No. 84-233 provides notice procedures for lost accountable forms. Apply the circular to the covered form and follow its required content, transmittal, and publication process, including identification of the affected serials. Use the exact current procedure rather than expanding it from memory to an unsupported universal recipient list. The purpose is to prevent fraudulent use and alert offices and the public that the missing instruments are not valid evidence of payment.
Measuring the accountability
A prevalued ticket has an identifiable face-value exposure. A blank amount-completed receipt creates a different risk and does not prove a specific sum was collected merely because the leaf is missing. Reconcile collection reports, taxpayer accounts, deposits, adjacent serials, duplicate copies, and electronic logs to determine whether money was received or diverted.
A shortage, missing form, or broken control is an audit fact to investigate. It does not by itself conclusively prove malversation, graft, or dishonesty. Identify custody, access, duty, action, fault, and evidence for each person. Preserve the difference between restoring funds, settling an audit accountability, imposing an administrative penalty, making a bond claim, and proving a criminal offense.
Relief from accountability under Section 73
Section 73 of Presidential Decree No. 1445 covers government funds or property lost in transit or through fire, theft, other casualty, or force majeure. The accountable officer must immediately notify COA or the auditor concerned and ordinarily submit the application for relief within thirty days from the occurrence. The same sentence allows a longer period that COA, after due evaluation, may permit in a particular case . The thirty-day period therefore should not be called unextendible or an automatic jurisdictional dismissal rule.
The application should establish the occurrence, amount or items lost, custody, prompt notice, security measures, absence of fault or negligence, and steps taken after discovery. Evidence depends on the event and current COA requirements; it may include the sworn account, police or fire reports, witness statements, inventory and serial records, cash examination, bank evidence, bond data, photographs, access logs, and proof of required notice. Avoid inventing a fixed number of witnesses, a universal monetary delegation threshold, or an automatic result not found in the current rule.
COA evaluates the application and supporting evidence. Relief is not earned merely because a police report describes a robbery, and it is not necessarily defeated by a filing after thirty days if COA has allowed a longer period. A finding of fault, negligence, or connivance weighs against relief. The officer must use the authorized review or appeal route for an adverse decision.
Accounting and control remediation
Do not write off an accountability before lawful authority exists. Record the loss, claim, restitution, bond recovery, or relief decision under the applicable accounting rules and retain the link to the original serials and incident. Any recovery from the officer, insurer, printer, bank, or third party must be separately receipted and reconciled.
Repair the control whether relief is granted or denied. Reassess stock levels and access, reset compromised credentials, strengthen turnover, reconcile more frequently, train collectors, and verify that lost serials cannot be accepted in the tax or collection system. A completed case file should show the incident, reporting, investigation, decision, accounting treatment, and verified corrective action.