Farm Financial Assessment (FFA) supplement and voucher 002-02070020

If the customer, financial assessor or prescribed adviser has contacted about:

• delay in the processing or non-payment of a voucher, go to Step 2
• reassessment of a voucher which was rejected due to insufficient supporting documentation, go to Step 3
• a request for explanation or an application for a formal review of the decision to reject a voucher, go to Step 4

Contact may be received from a:

• customer for an urgent assessment of a supplied voucher, due to:
• waiting for reimbursement, which is causing hardship, or
• receiving repeat requests from the financial assessor or prescribed adviser for payment
• financial assessor or prescribed adviser seeking information on the status of an invoice and voucher made out to Services Australia

Use the information on the customer's record to advise on the status of the payment. Note: if the financial assessor or prescribed adviser does not have a Person Permitted to Enquire authority recorded, any information provided must be in line with Disclosing information to third parties.

Do not advise the provider to contact the Accounting Operations Accounts Payable team if there is:

• a Voucher Accepted DOC recorded, and
• the financial assessor/prescribed adviser have not received payment

To assess the voucher or status of the payment:

• Use Fast Note - select Auto text, use Rural > Voucher > FFA Follow up - assess or payment status. Include:
• financial assessors/prescribed advisers’ name
• business and contact number
• the additional keyword A2554 will be automatically added and transferred to region code FHH

For urgent assessment of an outstanding voucher, see Table 3.

If there is a Voucher Accepted DOC on record and the financial assessor/prescribed adviser advises payment has not been received:

• email the Financial Shared Services Accounts Payable Team to determine if the request to pay spreadsheet has been received, include:
• the invoice number
• Service Provider name and ABN
• Customer name and CRN
• the date the record states the voucher was accepted
• the name of the person who completed the processing
• complete the required action based on the response from Accounts Payable Team

Procedure ends here.

Where a voucher was previously rejected 'insufficient supporting documentation' because the customer did not respond to a request for information and all requested information has since been supplied:

• Use Fast Note - select Auto text, use Rural > Voucher > FFA voucher reassessment from rejection
• the additional keyword A2554 will be automatically added and transferred to region code FHH

Procedure ends here.

If the customer requests an explanation or applies for a formal review of the decision to reject a voucher, see Request for an explanation, quality check or review.

• if the customer is applying for a formal review, the application for formal review is referred directly to an ARO
• if the customer is requesting an explanation:
• add the additional keyword of A2554 to the appeal DOC
• transfer the open DOC on record to region code FHH

Procedure ends here.

After the FHA claim has been granted and the customer is assigned to an FHCO, the FHCO must contact the customer before a request for an FFA is generated. The farm financial assessment supplement voucher (A2554m) is sent with the FFA request letter. The voucher should be completed during the appointment with the financial assessor:

• the customer completes Part A
• the financial assessor completes Part B to D

The financial assessor will provide an invoice to the customer for the cost of preparing the FFA.

The voucher, invoice and evidence can be submitted:

• using the Upload documents online
• by post to the address given on the voucher
• in person

Time limit

For the supplement to be paid, the voucher must be submitted within 2 months beginning on the day the invoice is received by the customer.

Where the date on the invoice is outside 2 months from the voucher lodgement date, but inside of 3 months, processing staff are to make 2 genuine attempts to contact the customer and verbally confirm the date the invoice was received.

Where the received date is different to the invoice date, it must be included on the DOC to support any approval or rejection decision.

If submitted in person, check the voucher has been completed correctly and all associated documentation, as listed above has been provided.

Scan the voucher, invoice and supporting documents to the customer's record under Document Tools.

A follow-up work item is automatically generated.

If the customer provides additional documentation for a voucher which was previously rejected due to supporting documents, the voucher and invoice can be reassessed.

The voucher and evidence must meet the criteria as listed in Step 2 of Table 2.

Go to Table 3 to accept or reject the voucher with additional documents.

Note: vouchers rejected for any other reason are unable to be reassessed unless an error was made in the initial decision.

In the customer's record, go to Document tools and locate the scanned images of:

• the voucher (A2554m)
• invoice from the financial assessor the invoice must:
• be addressed to the person who the Service Provider is claiming payment from (such as the customer or Services Australia) and one invoice must be supplied per customer
• include the customer's name only in the description of services provided
• be itemised detailing what has been completed for the customer
• be received by the customer less than 2 months before the date the customer submitted the voucher. If the voucher was not submitted within 2 months from the date the invoice was received by the customer, the claim must be rejected. If the voucher is to be rejected, go to Step 3
• evidence the customer has paid the financial assessor/prescribed adviser if the customer is seeking to be reimbursed

Note: if the customer is partnered, check Document Tools in the partner's record, as the documents may have been scanned/uploaded to the incorrect record.

Have all the required documents to assess the voucher been provided?

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, go to Step 3

To view the status of the Farm Financial Assessment (FFA), in Process Direct:

• go to the Farm Financial Assessment (FFA) screen
• Select the ‘twisty’ to view FFA activities
• check the status of the FFA activity

Is the status of the FFA activity Accepted (Closed)?
Accepted (Closed) means all parts of the FFA have been submitted and accepted by the FHCO.

• Yes, go to Step 4
• No, attempt to contact the customer's regular FHCO to accept the FFA. If the FHCO is unable to be contacted request an alternate FHCO accept the FFA. See Farm Household Case Officer (FHCO) cases to request this action. Procedure ends here

The outstanding documentation must be requested from the customer:

• if the customer is subscribed to Electronic messaging, send a pre-call notification (SMS only) using Electronic Message
• make genuine attempts to contact the customer to advise of missing documentation. See also - Privacy concerns when calling customers, returning calls or leaving messages on answering machines
• send Q062 to customer requesting invoice or other required information within 14 days. See Q062 FHA Voucher RFI
• record the details using Fast Note > select Auto text, use > Rural > Vouchers > FFA Voucher Progress
• place the DOC on hold awaiting return of the letter, allow extra time for mail delivery
• complete the scanned image activity

Note: once the activity falls due, it is allocated via Workload Manager for assessment

Once the work item has come off hold and been allocated, to continue with processing go to Step 2.

Before commencing the voucher processing, check FHA Invoice Activity Payment Summary (FINV) screen to ensure a payment has not already been made.

Expand the FFA to view FFA activities.

Is there an invoice activity on the record?

• Yes, check status: select edit
• Awaiting invoice, select Edit on Invoice Activity and go to Step 6
• Accepted (closed), the voucher has been processed. Procedure ends here
• Rejected (closed), the voucher has been rejected and there is no other outstanding voucher to be assessed. Procedure ends here
• Rejected (closed), and another voucher to be assessed, either as a new claim or a re-assessment, go to Step 5
• No, go to Step 5

Under FFA Activities tab, select:

• Add
• Invoice activity from Type
• Go to Step 6

On Add FFA Activities screen:

• complete all mandatory fields to prevent an error message displaying:
• Activity Reason is Farm Financial Assessment Supplement
• Invoice or Receipt Number. Note: if an invoice number is not listed on the invoice, enter the date of issue in the invoice number field in the format DDMMYY
• Invoice Date (if the customer advises different received date, record on a DOC)
• Date of Service
• Who is being reimbursed?
• Service Provider
• ABN
• Service Provided
• Total Amount Charged
• Total Amount to be Paid. Note: no more than $1500 may be paid for a FFA
• Invoice Status - Awaiting Invoice
• select Save

The voucher and invoice can be accepted where:

• the FFA has been accepted by the FHCO
• on or after 11 June 2020 the assessment was completed by a financial assessor
• all required documentation has been supplied as indicated in Step 2, either initially or following a request for information which is not due
• the customer is seeking reimbursement and there is evidence they have already paid the invoice

Can the voucher and invoice be accepted?

• Yes, go to Step 8
• No, go to Step 9

Voucher checking is currently a manual process. Where directed to submit a voucher for checking, Service Officers must do so by emailing the request to pay spreadsheet, to FHCO National.

Before submitting the voucher, review the details coded. Make sure the invoice data, such as amount to be paid and invoice number, has been entered correctly.

Are the details entered correctly?

• Yes, update the invoice activity to Submitted for Approval
• No, correct the details before updating the invoice activity to Submitted for Approval

From FFA Activities, select:

• Edit on Invoice Activity
• update Invoice Status to Submitted for Approval
• Save

Record details on a DOC. Use Fast Note - select Auto text, use Rural > Vouchers > FFA Voucher Accepted.

Once a voucher has been passed as compliant, staff will receive an email. Once this email has been received, staff are to update the Invoice Status to Accepted (Closed).

From FFA Activities select:

• Edit on Invoice Activity
• update Invoice Status to Accepted (Closed)
• Save

If a voucher is deemed compliant with a process error, this must have the feedback actioned before sending to financial services for payment.

Note: where an error in the invoice activity has been identified after it has been accepted, escalate the record to ICT via Digital Assistant Roxy. The referral must include detailed information about what must be corrected.

Manually complete a Request to Pay, see Step 1 in Table 4.

From FFA Activities, select:

• Edit on Invoice Activity
• update Invoice Status to Rejected (Closed)
• Rejection Reason
• Save

Record details on a DOC. Use Fast Note - select Auto text, use Rural > Vouchers > FFA Voucher Rejected.

An FFA supplement voucher rejection letter is sent to the customer.

The customer has 13 weeks to apply for a formal review of the decision.

Procedure ends here.

Ensure the voucher, invoice and any supporting documents used in the decision to release payment is scanned to the customer's record.

Any hard copies of the documents are to be placed into the secure bins for destruction.

To Complete the Request to Pay, go to Step 2.

Before completing the request to pay a thorough check must be undertaken to avoid duplicate request to pay referrals being made.

Complete the request to pay spreadsheet to ensure payment is made to a customer or Service Provider. A new copy of the spreadsheet must be accessed from the Resources page each time. This prevents previous customer data being included and duplicate activity supplement payments.

Add details of the invoice to the 'FHA Upload Template' spreadsheet. Note: this file must remain as an Excel workbook (xlsx file) and the Example line must be deleted before saving.

When completing the columns, ensure there are no spaces between rows of data supplied. All information needed for one payment should be on one data line. The Line Item text field cannot exceed 50 characters (including spaces). Do not use colons, commas. Key the following mandatory columns:

• Vendor: Leave this field blank
• INV Date: Invoice date - format must be DD.MM.YYYY
• Reference: Invoice number (If no invoice number use invoice date)
• GL Account: GL Account Code for Farm Financial Assessment Supplement is 74565
• Cost Centre: 1000301
• Tax Code:
• for payment to service providers where the invoice includes GST: P1
• for payment to service providers where the invoice does not include GST: P5
• for payment to customers (for example, reimbursements): P5
• Amount: Amount to be paid, do not use $ sign. Only numerical dollars and cents. For example, 123.45
• Bline Date: Date original invoice received by the agency - use DD.MM.YYYY format
• Line Item Text:
• for a customer to be reimbursed, include:
  FHA
  Name of customer (first and last names only)
  Customer Reference Number (CRN) (do not include spaces)
• for a Service Provider to be reimbursed, include:
  FHA
  Name of customer (first and last names only)
  CRN (do not include spaces)
  Unique invoice identifier. For example, client number, client codes, reference number (even if it replicates the invoice number)
• Vendor Name: Who is seeking payment of the invoice for example Customer or Service Provider
• ABN Number: As presented on invoice. Leave the field blank for customer reimbursement
• BSB Number for EFT Payment. Do not enter any dashes in the number
• Account Number for EFT Payment. Do not enter any dashes in the number

For Customer Reimbursements only:

• Column T - Street Address of Customer
• Column U - Suburb of Customer
• Column V - Post Code of Customer

See the Guide to completing the FHA Upload Template.

Go to Step 3.

Service Officers must forward the request to pay spreadsheet and Authorising Officer Approval template to Financial Shared Services Accounts Payable Team for payment to be released.

The email classification will need to be set (Official).

Once the Accounting Operations Accounts Payable Team receive the form, payment is made for a:

• customer, within one day
• Service Provider, within 30 days of Services Australia receiving the invoice

Confirm that the voucher status has been updated to Accepted.