Do receipts for reimbursement have to contain only the reimburseable items ?

During audit training from our regional audit director, he informed us that if we have receipts with items other than those being requested for reimbursement that have been submitted and paid, we would be dinged with an exception on the audits from now on (2017 and forward) ? Is there a policy that explicitly states this ? The handbook just talks about receipts being required for reimbursement. We OFTEN have members who are buying items for an activity as part of their normal shopping run. Then then circle the items being requested for reimbursement and total that up on the form provided. It works perfectly for our unit. We also have a situation where food items are bought for an activity and we end up with too much food that won't keep. Many will just deduct that off the receipt and keep it for their own consumption. Again, it works great. The auditor said we cannot do that any more and all food items that are a surplus from an even should be kept for the next event. WHAT ?? Milk has a shelf life of a week or two at max. Surely this information from the auditor is going to the extreme. Hopefully someone in the central audit team can provide some clarity. i realize that somewhere in the church there may be some abuses, but this is a bit heavy. We can certainly provide training and guidance to separate receipts, but if they are mixed, we still need to reimburse our members. He suggested that we have the member go back to the store and have they reissue the receipt with the items separated !! Seriously ? Been to a Wal-mart lately ? With little ones in tow ??

Hoping for some clarity.

We haven't been given any such instructions in my area (at least not yet). We have always handled receipts with non-reimbursed expenses the same as you describe and our auditors have never made any issue of it.

I don't see any changes to the audit forms. I would have to assume that they are taking a very strict interpretation of the phrase "Details shown on the invoice, receipt, and check stub—such as date, amount, purpose, and person or entity to whom payment was made—should match the Expense Detail Report" But as long as the specific items being reimbursed are marked and those which are not being reimbursed are clear, I certainly would think that would meet this criteria.

And the idea that food should be retained for the next event is nonsense except in very limited cases (canned food perhaps). If that policy is enforced I would expect that the bishop would say to just reimburse the member for the entire purchase and was for (since it was a necessary and appropriate purchase) and let them (or perhaps needy in the ward) take and use the excess rather than throw it out. That would make the records look nice and neat but it doesn't seem like it's using budget funds wisely.

However, I wouldn't expect to see any answer from CHQ regarding the policy on the forums here. I've never seen anyone official involved with auditing policy ever post here.

They did just change several financial auditing policies, starting this quarter – we had a stake training about it and I seem to remember this being addressed. However, I don't have access to LUFAS to verify the requirements.

sbradshaw wrote: However, I don't have access to LUFAS to verify the requirements.

I don't have access to the full LUFAS but I can see the audit form itself (which has a copyright of 2017 so I assume it is the current form) and it didn't address this issue except for the line I quoted.

However, I'm at the ward level so the stake may have received information that hasn't filtered down to me yet.

mtolman5989 wrote:He suggested that we have the member go back to the store and have them reissue the receipt with the items separated !! Seriously ?

Perhaps they do this on another planet with which I am not familiar. I do not know a single store here that will do this after the fact. Most will take a divided basket of items and ring up two receipts, but that is as good as it gets in the real world in which I live.

Perhaps the instruction is that reimbursable and not reimbursable items need to be marked clearly on the receipt. One benefit of doing it the current way is that the member will not usually request a refund of the tax. It we go to individual receipts, that will change.

lajackson wrote:Most will take a divided basket of items and ring up two receipts

This is what I usually do and we ask other members to do the same – separate the things you're buying and tell the cashier you're putting your purchase on two separate receipts. Whether or not it's required, it does make it much easier for the clerks and the auditors – especially when it comes to calculating taxes.

We usually divide out perishable leftovers to go home with members after the event.