Tech Forum

There isn’t a way to go back and edit a mistake in an expense that is waiting in the Approve Expense tab. You effectively have to reject the expense and start again.

I agree it would be nice to edit the expense at the Approve Expenses stage, but at the moment we have to go with what we are given.

Playing Devil's Advocate here: If you absolutely had to pay an expense today, but you know you would not receive a receipt until later, you could upload and attach any file, perhaps just a note that the actual receipt is not yet available. If a member of the bishopric approves it, the expense is immediately paid, and the clerk can attach the actual receipt when it becomes available. In this manner, you could pay an Advance using EFT/ACH, and then upload the actual receipts when they come in. When creating the expense record for the Advance, you could upload a form that indicates the purpose of the Advance.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

drepouille wrote:Playing Devil's Advocate here: If you absolutely had to pay an expense today, but you know you would not receive a receipt until later, you could upload and attach any file, perhaps just a note that the actual receipt is not yet available. If a member of the bishopric approves it, the expense is immediately paid, and the clerk can attach the actual receipt when it becomes available. In this manner, you could pay an Advance using EFT/ACH, and then upload the actual receipts when they come in. When creating the expense record for the Advance, you could upload a form that indicates the purpose of the Advance.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

I find myself wondering what issue would be in this situation. We cannot pay vendors via EFT/ACH so this would not be a welfare situation where someone was being threatened with eviction (for example). It is against policy to give the welfare reimbursement to the member to provide to the vendor so we cannot address the previous scenario that way. I would think an advance would be done by paper check, but even then the advance should not be issued without the bishop's approval so there would be that document and the actual receipt be uploaded later if the advance was done by EFT/ACH. Or perhaps I'm missing the point completely and if so, I apologize.

davesudweeks wrote: I find myself wondering what issue would be in this situation. We cannot pay vendors via EFT/ACH so this would not be a welfare situation where someone was being threatened with eviction (for example). It is against policy to give the welfare reimbursement to the member to provide to the vendor so we cannot address the previous scenario that way. I would think an advance would be done by paper check, but even then the advance should not be issued without the bishop's approval so there would be that document and the actual receipt be uploaded later if the advance was done by EFT/ACH. Or perhaps I'm missing the point completely and if so, I apologize.

I know the check is supposed to be written to the vendor for fast offerings, but you've indicated the recipient of the FO can't take that check (payable to the vendor) and deliver it. I just checked the following link but don't see that restriction. Do you have a link to that policy?

https://www.lds.org/help/support/paying ... s?lang=eng

davesudweeks wrote:

drepouille wrote:In this manner, you could pay an Advance using EFT/ACH, and then upload the actual receipts when they come in. When creating the expense record for the Advance, you could upload a form that indicates the purpose of the Advance.

I would think an advance would be done by paper check, but even then the advance should not be issued without the bishop's approval so there would be that document and the actual receipt be uploaded later if the advance was done by EFT/ACH. Or perhaps I'm missing the point completely and if so, I apologize.

I have printed advance checks for food purchases for YW Camp and for ward activities. If the person requesting the advance wanted to receive it via EFT, then the only thing we could attach to the expense would be a pre-approval form. The actual receipts would be attached later. If the advance was insufficient to cover expenses, we would create a second expense. If the advance was too much, the funds would need to be redeposited (and not as a donation credited to the member).

chriswoodut wrote:I know the check is supposed to be written to the vendor for fast offerings, but you've indicated the recipient of the FO can't take that check (payable to the vendor) and deliver it. I just checked the following link but don't see that restriction. Do you have a link to that policy?

https://www.lds.org/help/support/paying ... s?lang=eng

Perhaps I'm a purist, but in over 10 years as ward clerk, we have always delivered/mailed the payment to the vendor. I suppose it depends on how one interprets the statement that we should "make payments to" and whether that means we hand the check to the member to take care of it or we deliver/mail it from the ward to make sure the payment is accomplished.

How do you request a reimbursement? Last time I logged into my account I had a link to request it, but the link is no longer there.

taniss87 wrote:How do you request a reimbursement? Last time I logged into my account I had a link to request it, but the link is no longer there.

There is no request functionality. Clerks and the bishopric can enter already approved expenses for payment. your ward clerk can provide you the process for your ward.

taniss87 wrote:How do you request a reimbursement? Last time I logged into my account I had a link to request it, but the link is no longer there.

The link you saw might have been a link to the donation tool settings where you can set up a bank account to receive direct deposits. You'll need to set up a bank account there (similar to setting up a bank account for donations) first, then ask your clerk how he wants to receive electronic reimbursement requests. Some clerks may still be learning about the system and not ready to receive electronic requests yet. For those that are receiving electronic reimbursements, it's common to send a photo of the receipt by email to the clerk, along with a description of the expense, confirmation that the expense was approved, name of the payee, etc. The "request" part isn't handled by the Church's systems directly – what's new is the workflow to record and disburse expenses after the request is received.

sbradshaw wrote:For those that are receiving electronic reimbursements, it's common to send a photo of the receipt by email to the clerk,

Depending on your position, it might be best to send to the email to the head of the organization for them to forward to the clerk as a way of approving it. It's not strictly necessary, but it is a nicety to make sure the appropriate leadership is aware and approved. This is why it's best to ask how your ward wants to handle it.