Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Finance Department Issues Fiscal Discipline Guidelines for 2024-25

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Finance Department has disseminated comprehensive circular instructions to all governmental bodies and regional banking institutions, with the goal of upholding fiscal responsibility and ensuring effective fund utilization for the fiscal year 2024-25.

To enhance public financial management and prevent end-of-year complications, every department is required to maintain consistent spending patterns throughout the year and settle all legitimate financial obligations well in advance of the fiscal year’s conclusion. Departments must also expedite all procedures related to bill processing and procurement.

The finance department’s circular specifies that allocated funds should be spent evenly throughout the fiscal year, and all valid liabilities should be addressed promptly instead of being deferred until the end of the year.

It emphasizes that relevant authorities must ensure timely issuance of sanctions, completion of essential procedures, and procurement of supplies, enabling the presentation of claims for pre-audit to the Accountant General or respective District Accounts Offices without delay.

All invoices pertaining to releases for the fiscal year 2024-25 must be submitted to the Accountant General of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or the District Accounts Officers by June 16, 2025.

The Accountant General and District Accounts Officers are required to issue all checks or pay orders by June 23, 2025, and the final schedule for June must reach the State Bank of Pakistan before check payments are processed.

The circular further directs that checks for lapsable PLAs, SDAs, Assan Assignment Accounts, Reserve Funds, SDFs, and Forest and Works Accounts should be issued and cleared through the Treasury Officer or relevant DA0 promptly. All checks against PLAs, SDAs, Assan Assignment Accounts, Forest & Works Accounts must be cashed by June 30, 2025.

The finance department clarified that all checks issued or to be issued for the fiscal year 2024-25 remain valid until June 30, 2025, except for salary checks issued to DDOs for June 2025, which are payable on or after July 10, 2025.

The circular stresses that any defects in checks, such as overwriting, deletions, address discrepancies, amount inconsistencies, or missing authorized signatures, should be avoided to prevent rejection. Issuing authorities are advised to stamp all checks and pay orders with “not payable after June 30, 2025,” excluding salary checks for DDOs.

The State Bank of Pakistan and National Banks of Pakistan are instructed to arrange for receipts and payments until late on June 30, 2025, to honor all issued checks. Banks are prohibited from processing any transactions from government accounts after June 30, 2025, for checks issued on or before June 23, 2025, with the exception of salary checks for DDOs.

The management of National Bank of Pakistan must instruct all relevant parties to clear claims under Assignment Accounts by June 30, 2025. Regional Chiefs of all Commercial Banks are required to direct their Branch Officers to present government checks deposited by account holders to respective State/National Banks for encashment by June 30, 2025.

The finance department emphasized that the validity period for checks, expiring on June 30, 2025, will not be extended into the next fiscal year, 2025-26.