Expense Report Signature

Our bishopric had a question regarding the expense report that prints from MLS with each reimbursement. In the past, we have allowed the 1st or 2nd Counselor to sign the expense report, as the BIshop's designee. Is this permissible, or is it required that the Bishop sign it?

dras24 wrote:Is this permissible, or is it required that the Bishop sign it?

It depends. The bishop has to approve the expense somewhere. If he has already signed or initialed the paperwork elsewhere, I suppose he could delegate to a counselor the signing of the expense report. But I always found it was easier for the bishop to sign the expense report if he has not signed the paperwork earlier, especially if there are a number of checks being printed.

lajackson wrote:The bishop has to approve the expense somewhere.

And show it to the auditor on demand.

As a result, it's probably best to have the bishop sign the paperwork at the same stage of the process each time. Otherwise, you'll either miss some or have difficulty showing the auditor that the bishop approves each expense.

I don't see any reason to have a counselor sign the expense form. If the bishop isn't available when the check is cut then he can sign it later. I don't know that there is much point to having anyone else sign it. It's not a required document for the audit and without the bishops signature it can't be used as proof of the bishop's approval.

If I print multiple checks, I do so in a single batch, and print one expense report, which lists all the checks in the batch, and only requires one signature. That was easier at the stake level, where I usually printed 5 or 10 checks at once. Now at the ward level, I find it hard to print more than one check at a time in my small ward.