RD234 - Agencies with the Largest Volume of Past Due Receivables as of March 31, 2015


Executive Summary:
The Code of Virginia § 2.2-4800 et seq. requires the Department of Accounts, along with the Office of the Attorney General, to oversee, report on, and monitor the Commonwealth's accounts receivable program. In order to carry out this responsibility, DOA has issued policies and procedures on accounting, collecting, reporting, and writing off accounts receivable. In addition, DOA provides technical assistance to agencies and institutions and uses statistical analyses and audit reports to monitor the on-going effectiveness of agencies in managing their accounts receivable.

In an effort to present more meaningful information, DOA continues to exclude data from the tables (except for the final table on past due receivables) from the Department of Taxation, consisting largely of statutory assessments and non-filers assessments, and the circuit and district courts, which report judgments and fines with extremely low collection statistics.

Commonwealth agencies and institutions reported adjusted gross receivables of $2.73 billion at March 31, 2015, with $2.18 billion considered collectible. Receivables over 60 days past due as of March 31, 2015, totaled $561.2 million. Of that amount, $24.2 million was placed with private collection agencies, $34.1 million was placed with the Division of Debt Collection and $502.9 million was retained in-house for additional collection efforts.

It is important to note that the adjusted state receivables largely consist of unemployment taxes, tuition and fees, and billings for several indigent care programs, which present numerous special challenges in collection. “Trade receivables” typical of the private sector, which are generated by billings for the provision of goods and/or services, make up only a small portion of the state’s receivables.

Further, the majority of the significant outstanding receivable balances have statutory or other restrictions specifying the distribution of any collections. The collection of the outstanding receivable balances would not provide additional resources to fund the Commonwealth’s operations.

As of March 31, 2015, agencies expected to collect $2.18 billion (80 percent) of the $2.73 billion adjusted gross receivables. About 1 percent is due to the General Fund, primarily for benefit recoveries and sales of permits.

The balance, which contains Medicaid penalties that are no longer revertible, is due to several nongeneral funds.