Desktop Guide for Authorizing Officials and Certifying Officers - DTMO

Desktop Guide for Authorizing Officials and Certifying Officers
CHAPTER 6: SUMMARY
As an Authorizing Official or Certifying Officer (AO or CO), you are a steward of tax-payer money and are
responsible for exercising great care when approving reimbursement to travelers. You have pecuniary
liability for any errors that you make, whether you committed them intentionally or not. The best way to
protect yourself from being held liable is to be thorough, diligent, proactive, and honest when approving
funds for travel and certifying vouchers for payment.
Taking the appropriate training courses will help you to understand the approval process, pecuniary
liability, and your rights as an AO or CO. In addition, you should become familiar with other documents that
establish the policies that affect you in this role and the resources that provide guidance and help you to
protect yourself from pecuniary liability. See Appendix D. Finally, we recommend that you read the U.S.
Treasury pamphlet titled Now That You're a Certifying Officer. This document is available on the U.S.
Treasury website.
Page 26 Desktop Guide for Authorizing Officials and Certifying Officers, Version 4.1 Updated 7/31/13
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