Fast Offering Distribution Documentation

When a member asks the bishop to pay their rent does that member need to give the bishop documentation in the form of a bill, letter, or invoice?

If the member doesn't have any documentation for their needed rent (which they most often don't) what documentation is needed or created?

Brewhaha wrote:When a member asks the bishop to pay their rent does that member need to give the bishop documentation in the form of a bill, letter, or invoice?

Yes if they have one.

Brewhaha wrote:If the member doesn't have any documentation for their needed rent (which they most often don't) what documentation is needed or created?

Most people can get something from their landlord if they ask. If not use a copy of their rental contract that shows the amount they are suppose to pay each month. If nether one of these are available then the bishop can just attach a note stating why there was no bill. And the check should be sent directly to the landlord.

Gary_Miller wrote:If nether one of these are available then the bishop can just attach a note stating why there was no bill.

This is covered under question 17 of the financial audit checklist and in the training found on the Finance section of RKATS. Question 17 states:

If the original receipt or invoice is lost, the substitute documentation should include a written explanation with the payment purpose, a description of what was bought or paid for, the date the payment was made, the name of the person assisted (for payments from fast offerings), and proper approval. Such documentation should be a rare exception. If several transactions are documented this way, mark this checklist item No.

Fast offering assistance documentation should be provided by the fast offering assistance beneficiary if possible. This would include the suitable substitute needed for the situation described by the OP. As noted in question 17, such documentation should be a rare exception. In other words, if the fast offering assistance beneficiary is going to receive assistance for more than one payment then he/she should obtain some documentation from the landlord. This may be a problem when there is a verbal arrangement and there is no written lease agreement. For such situations I have had bishops ask the fast offering assistance recipient to write out the receipt and have the landlord sign it.

Brewhaha wrote:If the member doesn't have any documentation for their needed rent (which they most often don't) what documentation is needed or created?

A couple of months ago, our assistant area auditor gave us documents that very specifically address this issue. The Church's finance and auditing departments fully understand that this can be a challenging issue. So they provided counsel and suggestions for how to handle it. I'm pretty sure that the documents we were given came from the headquarters level, and so should be available to any stake through their assistant area auditor.

I think the subject of this thread would be better if you used the word "disbursement" or "expense" instead of distribution.