That section 13.2.8 of Handbook 2 provides general guidance related to activities. The requirement to approve expenditures before they are incurred can be satisfied by the budgeting process and oversight of upcoming activities throughout the year.Gary_Miller wrote:Maybe this instruction is all do to the what handbook states Under Funding For Activities, "Expenditures must be approved by the stake presidency or bishopric before they are incurred." (Handbook 2, 13.2.8). The printout is done after the expense has incurred at the time the reimbursment check is being written.
The problem I see is the handbook does not state how this approval is to be done, and the approval can be done by any member of the bishopric. And I have yet to see any formal approval until the reimbursment form is turned in to the bishop. For our ward this approval happens when the bishop approve the Budget, at which time each organization president is responsible for thier budget.
One of the things our AAA stated in our training was that the reimbursment form must be handed to a member of the bishopric which cause quite a stir among the clerks as usually they are turned into us and then we send them to the bishop for approval before we cut the check. This was his personnal opion though.
But there is a separate requirement for formal approval, following the more explicit instruction in Section 14.7.1 of Handbook 1, which makes it clear that the presiding authority (stake president or bishop) must approve each expenditure. And if there is any doubt, the audit question on this topic is "Did the bishop (stake president) approve all payments?" That leaves no wiggle room for saying that a counselor can satisfy this particular requirement.
It is the formal approval that is the topic of this thread, not the more general budgetary approval.