FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION MEMORANDUM NO
FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION
MEMORANDUM NO. 2007-007
To: Bureau
Assistant Directors, Administration
Chief
Executive Officer, NBC
Bureau
Financial Officers
From: Michael Powers
/s/
Associate
Director
Office of
Financial Management
Subject: Recovering
Unclaimed Federal Financial Assets
In accordance with Part 6
– Chapter 5100 of the Treasury Financial Manual, Federal agencies are required
to identify and recover unclaimed assets held by financial institutions, State
or local governments, corporations, and other entities. The Treasury Financial
Manual provides guidance to Federal agencies on implementing procedures to
identify, recover and account for unclaimed assets, using internal resources to
locate and recover unclaimed assets, and using private sector professionals and
paying finders’ fees to locate and recover unclaimed assets.
Title 31, U.S.C.
sections 3718(a) and 3719(d) requires an agency to have Treasury approved
procedures for recovering assets before entering into contracts with private
sector professionals (finders). Bureaus should contact the Office of Financial
Management (PFM) to request approval of their procedures prior to entering into
contracts with finders. When requesting approval to contract with finders,
bureaus must be able to demonstrate adherence to clearly documented bureau
procedures. The Office of Financial Management will then submit the bureau
procedures to the Treasury for approval.
Although the review is
required to be completed annually, our records indicate that the last review of
unclaimed assets completed by the Department of Interior was in Fiscal Year
2003.
In October 2006, the
Office of Financial Management contacted each State and requested assistance in
locating any unclaimed assets belonging to the Department of the Interior and
the Department’s bureaus and offices. Unclaimed assets identified by the States
were provided to the bureaus in October and November. Each bureau, working with
the States, should complete the required claim forms to recover existing
unclaimed assets no later then July 31, 2007.
Beginning in Fiscal Year
2008, bureaus will be required to complete an annual search of State unclaimed
asset databases, complete the required claim forms and account for any unclaimed
assets identified. Part 6, Chapter 5100 of the Treasury Financial Manual is
attached and provides the basis for the Departmental policy for recovery and
accounting of unclaimed assets. Also attached is an updated listing of mailing
addresses and internet addresses for each State’s unclaimed property database as
well as internet addresses for national unclaimed property database searches.
The Treasury Department
also requires each agency to provide the name, mailing address, e-mail address,
telephone number and facsimile number of contact person(s) for unclaimed
assets. Please provide this information for your office/bureau by July 31,
2007.
Attachments
