Why are agencies being required to eliminate imprest fund accounts?
A3. The Department of the Treasury (Treasury) requires agencies to eliminate imprest fund accounts as part of an overall plan to implement the requirements of the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 (DCIA) of 1996 (DCIA) and the recommendations of the National Performance Review Report, Report on the Elimination of Imprest Funds in the federal government Through the Use of Electronic Commerce (NPR Report), issued January 1996. The DCIA requires federal agencies to make all payments electronically (other than payments under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986), except where a waiver is granted by the Secretary of the Treasury. The NPR Report recommended that agency imprest funds be eliminated because most federal payments could be made electronically and by other noncash alternatives. In addition, Treasury requires agencies to eliminate imprest funds because they are labor intensive and require relatively more internal controls than noncash payment mechanisms, and because the governme
