e-RECON

NOTES ON E-RECON

ONLINE TRANSFER TRANSACTIONS THROUGH E-RECON APPLICATION

Introduction: 

E-Recon application is meant only for “Transfer Transactions” viz., outward debit / credit and inward debit / credit between Railways, Divisions and Unit Accounts Offices. “Other Than Transfer Transactions” viz., preparation of JVs on account of erroneous allocations, outturn JVs pertaining to Home Railways, JVs on RSP debits and credits, etc., shall continue to be dealt with only in AFRES.

Transfer transactions fall under two categories namely “Cash” and “Adjustment”. Cash transactions originate through CO7s wherein transfer divisional allocations were fed on account of expenditure incurred or recoveries effected on behalf of other Railways/Divisions /Unit Accounts Offices, which will subsequently be transferred to the respective units. Adjustment transactions originate through JVs whereby the debits / credits on account of works carried out in our workshops, material assistance rendered on requisition, CRRMs, etc., for other Railways/Divisions /Unit Accounts Offices raised against the respective units.

As for “Cash transactions”, Books section, at the beginning of every month, downloads both debits and credits pertaining to other Railways/Divisions /Unit Accounts Offices booked in the CO7s and uploads in the E-Recon application. The respective sections may therefore directly go to “Generate outward Transactions” appearing at the left pane under the “Outward TC” heading and generate the TDs / TCs accordingly. As for “Adjustment transactions”, the sections concerned have to enter the details of both debits and credits to be raised under the “Manual voucher entry heading” and then go to   “Generate outward Transactions heading” to generate necessary TDs / TCs.

The existing procedure as per the Code:

CHAPTER IV of the INDIAN RAILWAY ACCOUNTS CODE PART I deals with the transfer transactions as well as remittance transactions.

401. Transactions between the Railway Ministry and other ministries or States which are settled through the Central Accounts Section of the Reserve Bank are referred to in this Code as "Remittance Transactions".

The transactions between the Railway Ministry and the Pay and Accounts Officers which are settled through the issue of cheques or Government drafts are referred to as "Pay & Accounts" transactions.

All inter railway transactions are technically known as "Transfer Transactions" and are referred to as such in this code.

402. Settlement of transactions. -As a general rule all transactions between two different accounting units in the same railway or between two railways (excluding company worked railways) should be settled by book adjustment (i. e. not by actual payment or  recovery of cash).

403. In the case of transactions between two accounting units of the same railway or between two railways (excluding company worked railways) debits by unit "A" or railway "A" to unit "B" or railway "B" are set off against credits by "B" to "A" in the Central Books of the  Financial Adviser and Chief Accounts Officer or of the Railway Board. In the case of transactions enumerated as exceptions in para 402 between the Railway Ministry and other  Ministry or a State, the net  amounts due to or from the ministry or State are debited and credited to the "Railway Fund" (see para 417 in the central books of the Reserve Bank).

405. Transfers within the Railway-Transfers Divisional- The transactions arising in the accounts of one accounting unit which are adjustable in the accounts of another should be transferred to the latter by operating on the head "Transfers, Divisional". Separate  sub-heads should be allotted to each Accounting unit. A railway having divisions A. B, C, etc. besides Stores and Workshop Divisions, should operate on the following heads :-

           (a)  Transfers, Divisional A-for Division A

           (b)  Transfers, Divisional B-for Division B

(c)  Transfers, Divisional C-for Division C

(d)  Transfers, Divisional Stores for Stores Accounts, Office.

(e)  Transfers, Divisional Workshops-for workshops Accounts Office.

(f)  Transfers, Divisional Books-for the Central Accounts office.

(g)  Transfers construction-for Construction Accounts Office.

406. Transfer Certificates- Transfers between any two accounting units within the  same railway should be effected by means of Transfer Certificates (A. 406) The unit initiating transfer should prepare the Transfer Certificates (A.406) in duplicate, send one copy duly supported by the initial accounts records or vouchers in which the details of the transactions are set forth to the unit to which the transaction pertains and retain the other copy as the office copy.

 TRANSFER TRANSACTIONS-INTER-RAILWAY

412.  Inter-Railway Transfers .-All transfer transactions between Railways (excluding Railways worked by Company or District Boards ) will be adjusted by means of Transfer Certificates. In the books of the responding Railway, the adjustment in respect of a transfer transaction will always be by per contra credit or debit, as the case may be, and not by minus debit or minus credit. With this difference, and the procedure in regard to the acceptance of Transfer Certificates indicated in sub para below, the rules laid down in paragraphs 406-411 should be followed mutates mutandis in inter-railway transfers also. The same procedure will apply in the case of transfers between a Railway and the Railway Board or units such as the Chittaranjan Locomotive Works, Integral Coach Factory, Metropolitan Transport Projects etc. Transfer Certificates for inter railway transactions should be issued or accepted only by the Central Accounts Office of the railway, inter-railway transactions originating in a subordinate accounting unit of a railway being passed on in "transfers" to the Central Accounts Office for issuing Transfer Certificates against other railways. The detailed procedure to be followed in this respect will be laid down by the Financial Adviser and Chief Accounts Officer.

The e-Recon Procedure:

E-Recon is a web based program introduced w.e.f 01/04/2011 by Railway Board. This program has been exclusively formulated to process all the transfer transactions between Railways, Divisions and Unit Accounts Offices through on line duly dispensing with the exchange of TD/TCs by the respective Railways / Divisions at the meetings conducted for this purpose. Under this program, the TD/TCs raised by the source unit can be viewed, accepted and accounted for by the destination unit in a very short span of time.

Salient features:

1.      Generation of TD/TC on cash items is made simple by downloading the cash data from AFRES and uploading in this program.

2.      Generation of TD/TC on non-cash items is also made simple by just entering only the key information of the debit  / credit proposed to be raised.

3.      The vouchers required to be sent are scanned, converted as PDF files and attached with the respective TD/TCs.

4.      After the attachment process is over, the TD/TCs are approved by the Source Unit.

5.      Immediately after the approval, the destination units can view the TD/TC in the systems available in their unit.

6.      If the destination units confirm that the debit / credit pertains to their units, the TD/TC gets accepted and the subsequent JV prepared and approved for their accountal in General Books.

Advantages:

1.      Delay in accepting the TD/TCs by the destination unit is considerably avoided.

2.      Simultaneous accounting of debit and credit by both source and destination units by preparing JVs on both sides.

3.      Since reasons for rejection of an inward TD/TC are recorded and the rejection of outward TD/TC be immediately known to the Source unit, the source unit can take necessary rectification processing such as requisite information to be passed on the rejected unit or raising of TD/TC to some other correct unit.

Suggestions / Improvements:

1.      All the transfer divisional allocations used in the Indian Railways have to be made available in the system. Since the non-availability of some of the allocations viz., 00878225, 00878237, 00878251, 00878253, 00878257, 00878258, etc., leads to preparation of JVs on AFRES system.

2.      Some allocations such as 21219907, 05914 35, etc., are not accepted by this system. This also leads to preparing JVs on AFRES.

3.      Since the program follows the strict schedule dates i.e. TD cannot be prepared after the last date for generation of TD, necessary provisions may be made available to withdraw the rejected outward debit/credit and re-issue in the following month.

4.      The particulars of JV are not downloaded from the E-Recon program. As such, the details of E-Recon JVs cannot be known when the Extraction of allocation for a transfer divisional allocation is read with.

Conclusion:

Thus the e-Recon is a boon to maintain the transfer transactions efficiently, accurately, quickly and within target dates. Further, it has reduced the unavoidable travelling of staff/ documents from one accounting unit to another involving payment of DA/TA etc. It has eliminated the oft-met problem of “voucher missing hence TC/TD not accepted”. 

            Annexure                                                                                                            Form A. 406

……………….. Railway/Office

CASH/STORES/MISCELLANEOUS TRANSFER CERTIFICATE

No. ……………………..      Date…………………..

A sum of Rs………….. has *been  debited/credited to……………….. by credit/debit to …………. Division/Railway as per particulars detailed on reserve in the accounts for the months of …………… 19. The necessary vouchers, as detailed against each item in support of the *charge/credit are enclosed. Vouchers for item ………………………. cannot be sent as they contain other charges/credits and it is certified that these *charges/credits have been checked in accordance with the rules in force.

Forwarded with…………… vouchers/enclosures to…………Division/Railway for acceptance and advice.

……………………..

 For Accounts Officer  …………………    

Division/Railway

Cut here ____________________________________________________Cut here

ACCEPTANCE OF TRANSFER

Cash/Stores/Miscellaneous

Reference: ……………………………………………………. Division/Railway's T. C. 

No……………….. …………                      Dated………………….

Certified that a sum of Rs………. has been accepted as *debit/credit to the ………………………. Division/Railway and adjusted accordingly in the accounts for the month of………………………….. No………… ………………..     Date………………..

Forwarded to……………….. Division/Railway for information. …………………