Expenses from store.lds.org and Staples

If I order items from either store.lds.org or Staples (Corporate Express), it looks like they are charged against the "Distribution Center Charges" budget code. After they appear on my financial statement, should I (can I) move those items to a more appropriate budget category?

For example, if the Young Men's president asks me to order something from those web sites using the Church account, how do I charge those expenses to the Young Men's budget?

Sorry if this is a rookie question. I am reviewing all financial statements for the past year, and they are raising many questions in my mind.

You don't have to wait for the expense to show up on a statement (you can if you want). What I always did is as soon as the expense showed up in MLS under "Distribution Center" I went into "view/edit expenses" and changed it from "Distribution Center" to the appropriate budget category. I found that if several expenses build up in the Distribution Center category it quickly became confusing to sort out. I always attempted to get expenses out of that category as soon as they came in so normally it would be 0

I just read this in a training article (File and Retain Expense Records):
"Non-check expense documentation such as Distribution Center invoices filed by date. Note: Some non-check expenses now come automatically through MLS (referred to as IROPS). Include an expense authorization for each expense."

I probably have receipts for Distribution Center and Staples purchases, but I guarantee I don't have signed expense authorization forms on file for them. Is that really necessary?

drepouille wrote:Is that really necessary?

Yes. Every expense must be approved by the bishop. The online training explains the bishop can sign the printed hardcopy IROP. Our ward fills out an expense authorization form so that there is information indicating what organization and budget category the expense belongs.

Or the bishop could simply review and sign the monthly unit financial statement, and determine that all IROPs for the month are reasonable.
https://www.lds.org/callings/melchizede ... p?lang=eng

Sometimes it is difficult to determine exact procedures from different training articles that present different facets of the same process. I suppose it is best to read ALL the training so you see all sides of the issues. I am still learning, and trying to find the best practices in all the documents available.

drepouille wrote:Or the bishop could simply review and sign the monthly unit financial statement, and determine that all IROPs for the month are reasonable.
https://www.lds.org/callings/melchizede ... p?lang=eng

I read that linked article, and although it says the bishop should review the appropriateness of the internal purchases and sign the financial statement, I didn't see anything in that article that leads me to believe that signing the financial statement is sufficient.

The audit instructions are very clear that the bishop is to "approve all payments." It goes on to say "Look at the payment records. Make sure the bishop has approved the payments by signing at least one of the following: original invoice, original bill, original receipt, or payment request. The bishop's signature on the MLS Expense Report is acceptable proof of his approval."

But it certainly does not say that the bishop's signature on the financial statement is acceptable proof of his approval. And the audit instructions refer only to payments -- they never say "expenditures by check" -- so clearly those instructions encompass internal purchases.

We just completed our ward finance audit and the question of Distribution Center Charges was not asked. If I had not read this forum, I would not have known about the issue. I don't know if I agree that the Bishop is required to sign something specific for each IROP. Is there an authoritative policy that says he must approve the purchase in this way?

On the other hand, we have always struggled to approve purchases from the Distribution Center. Ward members have been told they can just charge it to the ward account when buying something in person. The money is gone before we even know about the purchase. We have tried to train people to get approval first, but I find it strange there is no protection from abuse.

scottarlo wrote:We just completed our ward finance audit and the question of Distribution Center Charges was not asked.

Every expense is not audited. Rather a minimum of two expenses are spot checked for each month. If an auditor does not choose an expense associated with an IROP for spot check then the issue will not be raised. I have found that many auditors are not familiar with IROPs and will avoid choosing an expense associated with an IROP for spot check.

scottarlo wrote:I don't know if I agree that the Bishop is required to sign something specific for each IROP. Is there an authoritative policy that says he must approve the purchase in this way?

The Ward or Branch Financial Audit— United States and Canada item 16 states "Did the bishop approve all payments? ... Make sure the bishop has approved the payments by signing at least one of the following: original invoice, original bill, original receipt, or payment request. The bishop’s signature on the MLS Expense Report is acceptable proof of his approval." It is clear that all payments must be approved. The accepted proof of approval is a signature. MLS Expense Reports do not include IROPs, so that leaves signing the IROP (which serves as the receipt) or a payment request.

Additionally in the RKATS File and Retain Expense Records article in the Procedures section is this. "After recording the expenses and reimbursements, file all expense documents. This includes: ... Non-check expense documentation such as Distribution Center invoices filed by date. Note: Some non-check expenses now come automatically through MLS (referred to as IROPS). Include an expense authorization for each expense." This last sentence strongly suggests even an IROP should include and expense authorization - the form the bishop signs to show his approval of the expense.

jdlessley wrote:If an auditor does not choose an expense associated with an IROP for spot check then the issue will not be raised. I have found that many auditors are not familiar with IROPs and will avoid choosing an expense associated with an IROP for spot check.

scottarlo wrote:I don't know if I agree that the Bishop is required to sign something specific for each IROP. Is there an authoritative policy that says he must approve the purchase in this way?

There is now. Watch for the W7 and S7 audit forms and instructions for the upcoming mid-year 2013 audits.

The auditor will be specifically asked to review expenses associated with an IROP and determine that the bishop or stake president has approved the expense.

There are two ways the presiding officer may approve the expense that will be acceptable to the auditor (if the auditor follows his instructions).

The presiding officer may sign the IROP to indicate his approval. Or the presiding officer may sign the monthly financial statement AND give his verbal assurance to the auditor that he has reviewed and approved the expense.

If the expense is documented in either of these ways, the audit item will be marked Yes and everything will be fine.

jdlessley wrote:Yes. Every expense must be approved by the bishop. The online training explains the bishop can sign the printed hardcopy IROP.

I can understand the requirement for the bishop/branch president/stake president signing IROPs authorizing expenses. However, phone charges show in the expenses section of the stake's UFS and are also reimbursed in the same statement, thus in reality aren't expenses to the stake. There are also times where an IROP has a $0.0 balance when one or more No Charge items are ordered from the Distribution Center. Does the unit leader need to sign showing he authorized these non-expenses?
Not trying to split hairs, just wondering what the group's opinions are in these two specific cases.

It looks like our paper consumption will increase, and we will have to buy more ink pens.

jeromer7 wrote:I can understand the requirement for the bishop/branch president/stake president signing IROPs authorizing expenses. However, phone charges show in the expenses section of the stake's UFS and are also reimbursed in the same statement, thus in reality aren't expenses to the stake.

I agree with that thought. An auditor should be familiar with the Church's handling of phone expenses. Of course the stake president's signature on the financial statement fulfills the approval process anyway.

jeromer7 wrote:The There are also times where an IROP has a $0.0 balance when one or more No Charge items are ordered from the Distribution Center. Does the unit leader need to sign showing he authorized these non-expenses?

No. A zero balance on a statement is not an expense. No funds have been expended.

jdlessley wrote:

jeromer7 wrote:The There are also times where an IROP has a $0.0 balance when one or more No Charge items are ordered from the Distribution Center. Does the unit leader need to sign showing he authorized these non-expenses?

No. A zero balance on a statement is not an expense. No funds have been expended.

I don't do finance side, so I'm not up on what the $0 IROPs are. Aren't they for no-charge items from the store?

While at $0 it's not an expense to the local unit, it is an expense to the church. It's not unreasonable to think that the church still wants the unit leader to keep an eye on things that are ordered even if it doesn't affect the local unit funds.

drepouille wrote:It looks like our paper consumption will increase, and we will have to buy more ink pens.

I think we are going to opt for the stake president to sign the monthly financial report, which he already does.

russellhltn wrote:I don't do finance side, so I'm not up on what the $0 IROPs are. Aren't they for no-charge items from the store?

More broadly, from Distribution Services and possibly from other sources. A variety of items arrive this way; some are a result of a request from the ward/stake, but many come unsolicited. The Church wants each ward or stake to have something, so it sends them out and charges the units $0.

russellhltn wrote:While at $0 it's not an expense to the local unit, it is an expense to the church. It's not unreasonable to think that the church still wants the unit leader to keep an eye on things that are ordered even if it doesn't affect the local unit funds.

I think it is unreasonable to require a signature, and as I read the audit instructions, and auditor has no business asking about them, since they are not counted as expenses.

These $0 IROPs don't show up at all in the transactional part of MLS -- they are only in the Financial Statements area. Furthermore, since there are no transactions involved, nothing shows up in the Unit Financial Statement. Thus, there is no way for a financial clerk or an auditor to track these items and cross-check them as is normally done for transactions.

But there's a big difference between a $0 IROP and an IROP that happens to be in a category that is automatically reimbursed. I see no need to worry about the $0 IROPs, but a reimbursed IROP is still an expenditure of money and has associated transactions. Thus it must be approved by the unit leader. As has been noted earlier, the unit leader's signature on the financial statement (with a verbal affirmation to the auditor) is sufficient approval for IROPs.

lajackson wrote:There are two ways the presiding officer may approve the expense that will be acceptable to the auditor (if the auditor follows his instructions).

The presiding officer may sign the IROP to indicate his approval. Or the presiding officer may sign the monthly financial statement AND give his verbal assurance to the auditor that he has reviewed and approved the expense.

If the expense is documented in either of these ways, the audit item will be marked Yes and everything will be fine.

Correct. What we have done in our ward is to print and attach all IROPs for each month to the monthly financial statement and have asked to Bishop to review them as part of his review of the financial statements. This way he has the detail he needs for each IROP, he can easily attest to his review satisfying the audit, and is still only one signature.

Great topic. My Bishop has recently asked if there is any way to approve these orders BEFORE they are placed. Have any wards attempted this and have had success? I did see on the Staples site an option for requiring an approval before ordering; can this be used? I doubt there is a similar option for ordering church supplies through lds.org.

milleju wrote:Great topic. My Bishop has recently asked if there is any way to approve these orders BEFORE they are placed. Have any wards attempted this and have had success? I did see on the Staples site an option for requiring an approval before ordering; can this be used? I doubt there is a similar option for ordering church supplies through lds.org.

The best way is to only have one person in the ward allowed to make orders, in my ward it was the finance clerk. That person can run the order past the Bishop before placing an order.

However, I see no need for this type of approval, unless the Bishop is approving all expenses before the organizational president spends the funds on any activity. Since most of the orders come from the various ward organization.

True confessions time. Last year, one of the wards in my stake ran out of toner. Their ward clerk was not available at the time, so I gave them the spare toner from the stake clerk's office, then I logged in to the Staples EWay site using that ward's unit number, and ordered new toner. I asked them to give that new toner to the stake when it was delivered.
I was surprised that I was able to login to their Staples account.

drepouille wrote:... I logged in to the Staples EWay site using that ward's unit number, and ordered new toner.

Ordering from Staples Eway was changed in October. I don't know if it is any more secure than it was previously but Staples claims it is. Now you must put in a customer ID (sent by e-mail to the ward clerk), user ID (same as it was previously), and a password. The password can be changed at any time after the first log on. The Church provided the initial password. So if you know the customer ID and the unit has not changed the password then you can log on to their account. But the ability to change the password does make it more difficult to use another unit's account.

Yes, I like the way Clerk Resources displays my Customer ID, user ID, and default password each time I click on the Order Office Supplies link.
"It is highly recommended that you do not change the default password, since other approved users in your unit will also sign in with it."
Also, I would prefer to ship office supplies to my (clerk) home address, but I understand why the Church and Staples prefer to ship to the unit leader's home address.

Gary_Miller wrote:However, I see no need for this type of approval, unless the Bishop is approving all expenses before the organizational president spends the funds on any activity. Since most of the orders come from the various ward organization.

However, the bishop DOES approve reimbursement of those activity expenses before it is paid.
Also, since "most" of those orders come from auxiliary leaders, there is at least the possibility that some aren't, or could be unauthorized (else, why bother with approval at all?).

D.G.