10 When Imprest Holders complete their assignments or when an Imprest Holder is to be absent for more than one month, a formal handover process must be followed to transfer accountability to the newly/temporarily assigned Imprest Holder. In cases where a replacement Imprest Holder is not known, the handover should be done with the most senior WHO staff member in the respective office. This staff member will in turn complete a second handover with the incoming Imprest Holder upon his or her arrival. The following actions are to be taken to ensure an appropriate handover of responsibility:
- Cash on hand is counted and a certificate acknowledging receipt of the cash funds is completed in triplicate and signed by the person assuming responsibility for the account.
- A bank statement at the date of the handover or the bank's confirmation of the balance at that date, and a bank reconciliation statement is included with the certificate mentioned above. The incoming Imprest Holder must satisfy his or herself that the Imprest account can be reconciled.
20 When an Imprest Holder is to be absent for less than one month and must hand over the Imprest account responsibilities temporarily to another Imprest Holder, the temporary Imprest Holder should acknowledge receipt of the funds he or she is taking over, the cheque book (quoting the serial number of cheques received) and the travellers' cheques if applicable. Upon return, the Imprest Holder in turn acknowledges receipt of the funds, cheque book and travellers' cheques returned by the temporary Imprest Holder.
30 All supporting documentation for handovers is issued in triplicate. The certificate of acknowledgement for the receipt of funds is retained by the former Imprest Holder, while one copy is sent to the controlling office along with the monthly Imprest return submission and one copy is retained by the incoming Imprest Holder.
