Expense receipt question

[crislapi]

It was a new Stake Presidency and the Auditor (Head Auditor for the stake) was a stickler. Plus, I didn't think to pull the Expense report for the Audit.

The auditor should be looking at the expense report as part of the audit. Part of the problem, then, is that your auditor was not well trained, which can compound your problems if he was also a stickler. It would have been nice if you'd remembered to pull it for him, but he should have known to request it if he didn't see it with the items that were pulled.

[davesudweeks]

I'm the one that had the 6-hour Audit last time because our Auditor is a stickler. Nice guy, just a stickler. I always try to learn better ways to present the information to make the Audit go smoother next time. After our last Audit, I began 2 additional activities that were sore points last time. I present them here is possible ideas if anyone finds them helpful:

1. My Finance Clerk is extremely challenged by the Computer. Hence, if he makes a mistake he sometimes doesn't notice and he sometimes compounds it accidentally. Now, I audit each Deposit each week to make sure the right accounts are used, etc. This came from a couple of deposits were no tithing was paid but the FO deposit was booked in Tithing by mistake and then caught during the semi-annual Audit. I thought it would be time consuming but I usually have a few minutes before or after a meeting each week and it normally only takes about 5 minutes to scan through the Receipts and Donation record to spot errors. I hope to have 0 discrepancies for this issue this time around

2. I now staple all the reimbursement packages to their respective Expense Report when they are filed. Our Auditor demands them all anyway and this way we just pull off the staple, hand him the packet, and he has everything he needs. Also, it is a check for me to make sure everything is signed, present, and in order - I would rather catch and fix it before the Auditor makes me do so...

If these actions work this time around, my next step will be to train my Finance Clerk to take them on - I wanted to get the experience before I pitch this one to him.

[crislapi]

I think that is admiral that you double check each week. If these errors are common and the Finance clerk isn't catching it, you might want to ask the bishopric member helping him process the donations to pay particular attention to this when they are entering the donations.

2. I now staple all the reimbursement packages to their respective Expense Report when they are filed. Our Auditor demands them all anyway and this way we just pull off the staple, hand him the packet, and he has everything he needs.

Just to clarify, the audit demands that the auditor review the expense report. Specifically, for each expense, he should review 1) the expense in the UFS, 2) the Expense Report, 3) the Receipt/Invoice, 4) the Reimbursement request/expense authorization form, and 5) the check stub. So he may be a stickler, but in this regard, he is just following the correct procedure.

I will add that I find some ward's filing systems archaic and useless. I've audited wards where we've spent more time trying to locate the paperwork than it took to actually conduct the audit. Filing all the paperwork for the expense stapled together is a very good suggestion.

[nbflint]

So he may be a stickler, but in this regard, he is just following the correct procedure.

I feel to clarify that my use of the word stickler was not meant to be offensive and I apologize if it was (I actually meant it complimentarily). I appreciate very much the attention to detail that our auditors show. It helps me to be a better clerk and serve the Lord better. I have had some auditors that may have aloud the Bishop to fix it on the spot, but that isn't the purpose of an audit. Then we'd have to call it a cleanup.

[davesudweeks]

If these errors are common and the Finance clerk isn't catching it, you might want to ask the bishopric member helping him process the donations to pay particular attention to this when they are entering the donations.

Actually, in our ward, the normal Tithing process is BOTH bishopric members opening the deposits while the Finance Clerk enters the information into the computer. We only use 2 individuals when necessary and then follow the training that requires the deposits to be opened together (not one opening and one entering into MLS). For reasons I won't go into here, in my situation it is just better for me to audit the deposit later.

[davesudweeks]

I will add that I find some ward's filing systems archaic and useless. I've audited wards where we've spent more time trying to locate the paperwork than it took to actually conduct the audit. Filing all the paperwork for the expense stapled together is a very good suggestion.

In order to get everything going, our stake purchased all the supplies and instructed all the wards in how they wanted everything filed. This was to make the Audit easier. The system is not perfect and it was a bit confusing for us at first, but once we got used to it, it does make sense - especially during audit time.