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Royal Mail Group
Witness Statement
(Cl Act 1967, s9; MC Act 1980, ss SA(3Xa)
and 5B, MC Rules 1981, r 70)
Statement of Carole CROSS
Ageifunder18 Over 18 (If over 18 insert ‘over 18’)
This statement (consisting of four (4) pages each signed by me) is true to the best of my
knowledge and belief and I make it knowing that, if it is tendered in evidence, I shall be liable to
prosecution if I have wilfully stated in it anything which I know to be false or do not believe
true.
Dated 22™ dayof February 2010
the
Signature
I am employed as a Financial Services and Bill Payments Manager for Post Office Ltd and
have been so employed since June 2009. I have worked in the Finance Division at
Chesterfield since 1995.
I have been asked by Jon Longman of the Post Office® Security Department to provide an
overview of how transaction corrections are processed.
it should be noted that Product & Branch Accounting work with electronic data streams and
that paper documentation is not available
TRANSACTION CORRECTIONS
Post Office Ltd branches are required to record transactional and remittance activity on the
Horizon system. The Horizon system can only record what the operator has told it has
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Royal Matsa trading name of Royal Mail Group pe. Registered number 138202, Registered in Encland and Wales. Regstered ofc: 148 Old Street, LONDON, ECIV 9-0
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Witness Statement
(CJ Act 1967, s9; MC Act 1980, ss 5A(3)(a) and 5B, MC Rules 1981, r 70)
Continuation of statement of Carole CROSS
happened.
This data is then transmitted to the Post Office Finance System (POLFS) at circa 19.00 each
day.
Transactional and remittance data is also sent, electronically and/or by hard copy to Post
Office Ltd clients and in some instances data feeds back from clients into POLFS.
These streams of data should subsequently “match” against one another and are then
“cleared” from POLFS. Where a discrepancy appears an investigation is initiated in Post Office
Ltd's Product & Branch Accounting team (P&BA). SS Qa,
If this investigation does not enable Horizon data to be matched a transaction ca es
issued to correct the branch’s accounting position. Evidence is provided (elect pow
copy) to the branch to support the transaction correction. »>
Branches are entitled to challenge any transaction correction by providing sur if 6A .
information to P&BA. (Simply claiming a transaction correction is not proper
constitute a valid dispute).
If a dispute is accepted, or P&BA receive further information from other sources e.g. client,
further Horizon entries, to indicate the initial transaction correction is no longer valid, a
compensating transaction correction is issued.
Branches have 3 options when accepting transaction corrections:
Make good cash - either taking cash out (credits) or putting cash into the till (debits).
Make good cheque - putting a cheque into the till to make up a cash shortfall.
Settle centrally (over £150 only) - this does not impact the Horizon cash position and
transfers the debt or credit onto a Customer Account. This is then recovered via the debt
recovery process within P&BA. This option does allow branches additional time to find
Signature
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POL00054174
POL00054174
Witness Statement
(CJ Act 1967, s9; MC Act 1980, ss 5A(3)(a) and 5B, MC Rules 1981, r 70)
Continuation of statement of Carole CROSS
happened.
This data is then transmitted to the Post Office Finance System (POLFS) at circa 19.00 each
day.
Transactional and remittance data is also sent, electronically and/or by hard copy to Post
Office Ltd clients and in some instances data feeds back from clients into POLFS.
These streams of data should subsequently “match” against one another and are then
“cleared” from POLFS. Where a discrepancy appears an investigation is initiated in Post Office
Ltd's Product & Branch Accounting team (P&BA).
If this investigation does not enable Horizon data to be matched a transaction correction is
issued to correct the branch’s accounting position. Evidence is provided (electronically or hard
copy) to the branch to support the transaction correction.
Branches are entitled to challenge any transaction correction by providing supporting
information to P&BA. (Simply claiming a transaction correction is not proper does not
constitute a valid dispute).
If a dispute is accepted, or P&BA receive further information from other sources e.g. client,
further Horizon entries, to indicate the initial transaction correction is no longer valid, a
compensating transaction correction is issued.
Branches have 3 options when accepting transaction corrections:-
Make good cash - either taking cash out (credits) or putting cash into the till (debits).
Make good cheque - putting a cheque into the till to make up a cash shortfall.
Settle centrally (over £150 only) - this does not impact the Horizon cash position and
transfers the debt or credit onto a Customer Account. This is then recovered via the debt
recovery process within P&BA. This option does allow branches additional time to find
Signature Signature witnessed by
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Witness Statement
{CJ Act 1967, s9; MC Act 1980, ss 5A(3)(a) and 5B, MC Rules 1981, r 70)
Continuation of statement of Carole CROSS
information to support the issue of a compensating transaction.
All transaction corrections need to be accepted prior to monthly branch trading rollovers.
I have explained three transaction corrections below for West Byfleet Post Office® between
2005 to January 2008. To explain in detail every transaction correction for West Byfleet Post
Office® would be a major resourcing issue. However, if specific transaction corrections can
be identified that require explanations then this could be addressed.
Example 1
The third example on the branch transaction record dated 19.12.2005 related to a £397.08
transaction correction relating to a pre order of US dollars. Here the dollars would have been
delivered to the branch and collected and paid for by the customer. However the sale has not
been identified as being recorded on Horizon and therefore the branch will be in an apparent
surplus position which will be corrected by the transaction correction.
However on 9.1.2006 an equal an opposite transaction correction was issued. This indicates
that the sale has retrospectively been entered in to Horizon or the branch has contacted the
issuing team to explain why the transaction correction would not be proper to the branch.
The most likely reason for this would be that the customer had not in fact collected and paid
for the dollars. The branch would then be instructed to return the currency to First Rate
(Post Office Ltd foreign currency supplier) and, on receipt, the compensating transaction
correction issued.
Example 2
Signature witnessed by P GRO i
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Signature
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Witness Statement
(CJ Act 1967, s9; MC Act 1980, ss 5A(3)(a) and 5B, MC Rules 1981, r 70)
Continuation of statement of Carole CROSS.
Not all transaction corrections are caused by the branch.
Transaction correction issued 31/8/07 was generated by a failure of a cash remittance scan
on despatch to Cash Centre. The cash was delivered to the cash centre but the value
remained in the branch accounts as “Cash in Pouches”. The transaction correction clears
(debits) the “Cash in Pouches” in the branch and credits the Cash Centre cash balances to
reflect what actually happened.
Example 3
Not all transaction corrections directly impact cash.
Transaction correction issued corrected the volume of scratchcards remitted into the branch
following activation on the Camelot terminal. If the branch has already “corrected” the
volume of scratchcards in the branch by “adjusting stock” then an equal and opposite
adjustment will be needed to correct the scratchcard position.
Adjusting stock upwards acts as negative sales and would create a gain in a branch.
Conversely adjusting stock downwards creates a loss.
There is no overall financial impact on the branch but if the adjustments take place at
different times then gains and losses will appear.
Signature
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