Cash Advance

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rwood90
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Joined: Sun Dec 18, 2011 10:00 pm

Cash Advance

#1

Post by rwood90 »

There is audit item on unit audits about proper documentation for cash advance, and unused funds returned. our auditor tends to figure if the audit dates of 12/31 or 6/30 pass with an advance out, it an exception.
Looking for guidance - Handbook#1, none HB#2 none, on line training - none. only mention of cash advance appears to be in the audit questions.....
Today is there any official guidance on cash advances??
RW
PS: yeah, we know an advance taken out a week before say 6/30 shouldn't be written up, but then we be not the auditor..... where's the written word to show the auditor
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aebrown
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Location: Draper, Utah

Re: Cash Advance

#2

Post by aebrown »

rwood90 wrote:There is audit item on unit audits about proper documentation for cash advance, and unused funds returned. our auditor tends to figure if the audit dates of 12/31 or 6/30 pass with an advance out, it an exception.
Looking for guidance - Handbook#1, none HB#2 none, on line training - none. only mention of cash advance appears to be in the audit questions.....
Today is there any official guidance on cash advances??
RW
PS: yeah, we know an advance taken out a week before say 6/30 shouldn't be written up, but then we be not the auditor..... where's the written word to show the auditor
The audit instructions say "Every payment and advance should have original receipts or invoices." There is no requirement as to when those receipts or invoices have to appear, except that of course they must appear prior to the audit date. A deadline of 6/30 or 12/31 is something the auditor is making up purely out of his imagination. If he wants to be consistent, he'll have to write you up for every June and December Unit Financial Statement, because the bishop doesn't sign those before 6/30 or 12/31.

Oh, and there is a mention of advances in the online training. It's on slide 23 of Expenses and Reimbursements. But it doesn't answer the question of what the specific timing is.
jdlessley
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Re: Cash Advance

#3

Post by jdlessley »

Without further information about the audit exception it is hard to point to something specific that may have been missing.

Audits are conducted in August for the first half of the year and in February for the second half of the year. The first half ends on 30 June and the second half ends on 31 December. An advance payment made on 30 June should have all the documentation required by the time the audit is conducted in August and likewise an advance payment made on 31 December should have all documentation by the audit in February.

The audit checklist states:
Does each payment have proper documentation?
  • Every payment and advance should have original receipts or invoices.
  • A payment request document alone is not adequate documentation.
(bold added for emphasis)

So the minimum documentation required, even for an advance, is the request for advance payment document, an original receipt or invoice, and the check stub. A month or little more is adequate time to obtain the original receipt or original invoice for the advance payment.

If any of the required documentation is not present at the time of the audit then there are grounds for an audit exception. The purpose of the audit is to ensure compliance with Church policies and procedures as well as to protect the Church and Church leaders. The required documentation is necessary to ensure policies and procedures are being followed.

As aebrown states there is no deadline for an advance payment reciept or invoice to be produced or dated before the end of the audit period. An auditor requiring all documentation for an advance, to include receipts or invoices, to be produced or dated on or before the end of the audit period is indeed making up requirements. There is no such requirement. Therefore we cannot point you to any documentation with Church policies or procedure that requires a receipt or invoice to be dated or produced by a specific deadline. The only deadline is the date of the audit. Anything else is unreasonable.

My recommedation is to council with your bishop to take the matter to the audit committee chairman and for the auditor to produce the documentation that requires an advance payment receipt or invoice to be dated or produced before the end of the audit period. If the audit committee chairman needs clarification he can council with the area auditor.
JD Lessley
Have you tried finding your answer on the ChurchofJesusChrist.org Help Center or Tech Wiki?
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