After the Comptroller implements automatic calculation of interest, the agency must never automatically include interest transactions in transactions submitted to USAS unless instructed to do so by the Comptroller's office. Yes for both questions. Aside from discounts and special circumstances, a payment should be made as late as possible but not later than the due date. In fact, the Comptroller has the authority to mandate scheduled payments and is currently working on an ACR to require state agencies to schedule all of their payments Scheduling payments is encouraged because this practice helps maximize fiscal benefits to the state. The Comptroller views both payment scheduling and prompt-payment as integrated issues because both rely on agency planning and execution to minimize negative fiscal impacts to the state relating to interest that is both earned and paid.
Interest paid is to be charged to the appropriation year in which the interest accrued.
If a payment had interest that accrued during more than one appropriation year, then the interest should be prorated over the appropriation years the interest liability accrued. The prompt-payment law does not exclude any special funds from requiring interest to be paid. A final resolution regarding payment of interest from restricted funds has not been reached at this point in time. Because state law requires that we include interest that is due to the vendor with the principal payment, we may not make the payment without the interest if the interest is rightfully due. This is because the payment would not be legal without the interest included.