What is a treasury single account?

How the IMF defines a TSA

The IMF technical note by Sailendra Pattanayak and Israel Fainboim defines a TSA as "a unified structure of government bank accounts enabling consolidation and optimum utilization of government cash resources" ¹. It separates control of single transactions from overall cash management ¹.

The earlier IMF working paper by the same authors says a TSA "gives a consolidated view of government cash resources" ². The note says coverage should take in budgetary and extrabudgetary entities. No other government agency should run bank accounts outside treasury oversight ¹. Public corporations are usually left out, except where they carry out a government function ¹.

A TSA is guidance-based in this sense: the IMF documents describe good practice, and each country writes its own rules into national law ¹.

Main account, sub-accounts and zero-balance accounts

The TSA main account is usually held at the central bank ¹. The 2010 paper says all government cash balances should be consolidated in one central account held by the treasury at the central bank ².

Ministries and agencies can keep ledger sub-accounts inside the main account. The paper says these "are not separate bank accounts per se" and that a cash ceiling can be enforced against each one ².

Where a transaction account at a commercial bank is needed, it is opened on a zero-balance basis. The end-of-day balance is swept back into the TSA main account, preferably every day ^1,2.

How collected revenue reaches the TSA

The IMF note says that "in most countries, commercial banks are used for revenue collection purposes on a remuneration basis" ¹. The 2010 paper calls same-day transfer of collections to the TSA main account international best practice ².

In the revenue circuit the paper describes, banks send daily statements to the tax authority and to the treasury. The tax authority checks them against taxpayer records. The treasury checks them against the TSA ².

A World Bank assessment toolkit asks whether agent banks transfer all revenues to the treasury's TSA account at the central bank on a daily basis, and whether the treasury reconciles bank statements ⁴.

Account models named by the IMF

The 2010 paper reported that Indonesia was integrating about 32,000 line ministry imprest accounts into its TSA at that time ².

What a TSA needs before it starts

• A full inventory, or census, of existing government bank accounts ¹.
• Political backing. The note says a TSA reform "must be explicitly and strongly supported by the highest levels of government" ¹.
• A banking network and technology, including an interbank settlement system and a real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system ¹.
• A legal framework that gives the finance ministry or treasury sole authority to open government accounts ¹.
• The World Bank toolkit adds that the account inventory should cover all accounts, even those that will be closed during the reform ⁴.

How a TSA is scored

PEFA dimension 21.1 scores consolidation of cash balances. Score A needs all bank and cash balances consolidated daily. Score B needs weekly consolidation. Score C needs most cash balances consolidated monthly ³.

PEFA dimension 20.2 gives score A where entities collecting most central government revenue pay collections straight into treasury-controlled accounts or transfer them daily ⁵. The IMF note lists lower debt service costs and better reconciliation of fiscal and banking data among the benefits of a TSA ¹.