Record Expenses and Reimbursements

Policy and Principles

Each stake and ward can reimburse members for authorized expenses. Members should not pay fees to participate, nor should they provide materials, supplies, rental or admission fees, or long-distance transportation at their own expense. Activities in which many members provide food may be held if doing so does not place undue burdens on members.

Expenses must be approved by the stake president or bishop before they are incurred. His approval may be verbal or written.

Members requesting reimbursement should:

• Indicate the category to be charged.
• Provide an electronic receipt or invoice (a picture or scan) or a physical copy.
  
  • Each receipt or invoice (including those provided by Venmo, PayPal, etc.) must include the vendor or place of purchase, items purchased, amount, and date of purchase.
  • Each receipt includes a breakdown of any required tax amount (sales tax, value-added tax, and so forth) from the total amount.
  • If a receipt or invoice was lost or a proof-of-payment for funds exchanged electronically (e.g. Venmo, PayPal or similar) does not include the vendor or place of purchase, items purchased, amount, and date of purchase, then the member must provide a written statement with this information.

The reimbursement or expense information is entered into Leader and Clerk Resources (LCR) or Member Tools. Units not using LCR should follow local procedures.

Two authorized leaders must approve each expense; one of them must be a member of the stake presidency or bishopric. An authorized leader should not approve the expense if he is the payee or fast-offering recipient.

The stake president or the bishop must also review each expense unless he is one of the initial approvers.

If the expense is to be paid by electronic funds transfer (EFT), the clerk ensures the member has added his or her reimbursement account (click here for more information). The clerk enters and saves the expenses into LCR or Member Tools. An EFT will be processed by the bank, and the member will receive an email stating that the funds should be deposited in two to four business days.

If the expense is to be paid by check, proper forms and approval are received by the clerk. The clerk prepares the check and gets the proper signatures. A check should not be signed until it is filled out completely.

STEP 1

Receive a payment request with an attached receipt or invoice.

STEP 2—ENTER EXPENSES TAB

Enter the expense information into LCR or Member Tools, electronically attach the receipt(s), and obtain a second approval for each expense. (For fast-offering payments, enter the fast-offering recipient.)

STEP 3—APPROVE EXPENSES TAB

Each approver must review the receipts and approve each expense. The expense(s) can be approved on the Church computer or approved remotely if the receipts are electronically attached.

If checks were created, sign the checks (two signatures required).

STEP 4—PRESIDENT/BISHOP REVIEW TAB

The president or bishop must approve all expenditures. Evidence of approval is demonstrated by selecting each expense on the Review tab and clicking the Reviewed button.

Approved expenses appear on the Expenses Summary tab.

File the receipts if they are not electronically attached.

STEP 5

Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) payments will be sent directly to the Reimbursement Account that was set up.

Distribute or mail the check(s). For fast-offering payments, mail the check to the payee; do not give the check to the member.

Member Tools Procedures

Depending on your location, your procedures for recording expenses in Member Tools may vary slightly from the following guidelines. If you have questions, contact your administrative office. Expenses can be entered in Member Tools with or without an internet connection. When entering without a connection, the information will be stored on the device and submitted once a connection is available. Care should be taken to lock one’s device when not actively using the device.

Enter Expenses

Unit leaders and clerks can submit Church-related expenses by completing the following steps:

• On a mobile device, open Member Tools.
• Enter Church account credentials and pin as needed.
• Go to the Finance menu.
• Click Expenses from the menu.
• Click the Add Button (+) to start a new expense.
• Select the desired Payee from the list.
  
  • To add a payee, click on New Payee and enter information as needed, then click on Add Payee.
• Select a Payment Type from the list.
• Enter a Purpose for the expense. (The purpose should be as short as possible; if additional space is needed, please place the additional information—typed or handwritten—on a separate document and attach it to the transaction along with the receipt.)
• Select a Category from the list. If the category is for a fast offering, select Recipient.
• Enter the Amount.
• Add other categories and amounts if applicable.
• To add a receipt:
  
  • Click Add Receipt.
  • Upload a picture of the receipt or take a new picture of the receipt using your device’s camera. Review the picture.
  • Select OK or Retry.
  • Review payment information. Add additional payment information or receipts as needed. (If a more detailed description is needed, use a separate piece of paper to document the reason. This document could then be photographed and attached as additional support for the transaction.)
• Click Submit.

Review Expenses

Unit leaders and clerks can review and submit expenses from payment requests for Church-related expenses by completing the following steps:

• On a mobile device, open Member Tools.
• Enter Church account credentials and pin as needed.
• Go to the Finance menu.
• Click Expenses from the menu.
• Go to the Expenses to Review section in the Approve tab.
• Review the expenses, including the attached receipts.
• Edit the expenses as needed.
• Click Submit or Delete.

Approve Expenses

Two authorized users approve each expense. Authorized users include the following:

Approval for expenses within Member Tools can only be completed for expenses that have an electronically attached receipt. Expenses that do not have an electronically attached receipt must be approved in LCR.

Unit leaders and clerks can approve Church-related expenses by completing the following steps:

• On a mobile device, open Member Tools.
• Enter Church account credentials and pin as needed.
• Go to the Finance menu.
• Click Expenses from the menu.
• Go to the Expenses to Approve section in the Approve tab.
• Review the expense, including the attached receipts.
• Click Edit to modify the expense (enter reason and then Edit).
• Click Approve or Reject to complete the process (enter reason and then Reject).

Rejected Expenses

If an expense has been rejected during the approval process, it will appear on the Rejected Tab. The expense can be edited and submitted again for approval. The expense may also be deleted if it is no longer valid.

Depending on your location, your procedures for reviewing and processing rejected expenses may vary slightly from the following guidelines. If you have questions, contact your administrative office.

• On a mobile device, open Member Tools.
• Enter Church account credentials and pin as needed.
• Go to the Finance menu.
• Click Expenses from the menu.
• Go to the Rejected tab.
• On the Rejected tab, a listing of all rejected expenses that might require additional information or correction will be displayed.
• To edit the expense, click the rejected expense. Note: If the expense should be deleted, click Delete on the expense.

When edits are complete, including reviewing the receipts, click Submit. The expense will be submitted for approval. Or click Select Recipient.

LCR Procedures

Depending on your location, your procedures for recording expenses may vary slightly from the following guidelines. If you have questions, contact your administrative office.

Enter Expenses

1. On the LCR menu bar, click Finance then Expenses.
2. Click Enter Expenses, then select the appropriate Payment Type. Note: The option to select a payment type may not be present if your unit has only one payment type. The default payment type for most areas is EFT.
3. In the Reference Number field, enter a reference number if one is not automatically provided.
4. In the Date field, enter the date if one is not automatically provided.
5. In the Payee field, enter the name of the payee, or click the drop-down arrow and find the payee in the list. If the payee is not on the list, you may need to click the Include Out of Unit box or add the person as a new payee by clicking Add Payee and completing the payee information. Note: If EFT payments are available in your unit and if the payee is a Church member whose bank account information is not available, then ask the payee to add the information to the Expense Reimbursement Account section on ChurchofJesusChrist.org/donations/#/settings after signing in to his or her Church account. Note: If an advance payment is being made to a Church member, select the Yes option. For an advance payment, a receipt will not be required to be uploaded at this time. The Dashboard and Unit Financial Statement will display an action item reminding the unit leadership to upload the receipt when it is available.
6. In the Purpose field, enter the purpose of the expense. Note: If you are in an area where the Church is required to pay sales tax or other taxes on purchases, the first category will be the tax category.
7. In the Amount field, enter the amount of the expense. Note: If you are in an area where the Church is required to pay sales tax or other taxes on purchases, the amount will be the total amount minus the tax amount.
8. If the payment is for more than one category, click the next Category field, then repeat step 7.
9. For a fast-offering expense, enter the name of the member receiving aid in the Select Recipient field or click the drop-down arrow and find the recipient on the list. If the recipient is not on the list, you may need to click the Include Out of Unit box or add the person as a new recipient by clicking Add Recipient and completing the recipient information.
10. To attach a receipt electronically, click Choose File to search for the image of the receipt or drag and drop the file into the Upload Receipts area. (The field will highlight when the file is dragged to the correct area.) If you are using a smartphone to enter the expense, you can use the phone’s camera to take and add a picture of the receipt.
11. After clicking Review to view the receipt, click Save. Note: Each uploaded receipt must be reviewed before the expense can be saved.
    

Approve Expenses

Two authorized users approve each expense. Authorized users include the following:

To approve expenses without electronically attached receipts:

1. Click Approve Expenses on the Expenses page or on the Dashboard.
2. Click Approve Expenses with Paper Receipts.
3. Select the box next to each expense in the list, or select the box on the column header to select all expenses in the list.
4. Click Approve.
5. Where applicable, LCR will require two authorized users to enter their Church account usernames and passwords to approve the selected expenses.
   

To approve expenses created with electronically attached receipts:

1. Click Approve Expenses on the Expenses page or on the Dashboard.
2. Click Approve Expenses with Attached Receipts.
3. Click Review Attached Receipts (each receipt must be reviewed before the expense can be approved).
4. Click Accept if the receipt properly supports the expense. Otherwise, click Reject. Note: If the expense is rejected, provide a reason for rejecting the expense. The expense will then be listed on the Pending Expenses tab and can be edited or deleted.
5. Click Approve.
6. After clicking Approve, you will be prompted to enter your Church account username and password. The second approver of the expense will be able to see the initial approver of the expense. If one of the expense approvers is not the stake president or bishop, the expense will be listed on the Bishop’s Review tab or President’s Review tab for final approval.
   

Review Expenses

All expenses must be approved by a bishop or stake president. LCR allows each expense to be approved electronically. If the stake president or bishop approved the expense in a previous step, the expense will not appear on this page and requires no further action by the stake president or bishop.

1. On the LCR menu bar, click Finance, then click Expenses.
2. The Bishop’s Review tab will display a list of all expenses that have not been approved. Note: If your unit is a stake, district, or branch, this tab will be named President’s Review.
3. Review the details of each expense. If an electronic receipt is available, a PDF icon will be present.
4. To approve the expense, click the box on each expense row, and then click Reviewed.
   

Pending Expenses

If an expense has been rejected during the approval process, it will appear on the Pending Expenses page. The expense can be edited and submitted again for approval. The expense may also be deleted if it is no longer valid.

Depending on your location, your procedures for reviewing and processing pending expenses may vary slightly from the following guidelines. If you have questions, contact your administrative office.

1. On the LCR menu bar, click Finance, then click Expenses.
2. On the Pending Expenses tab, a listing of all rejected expenses that might require additional information or correction will be displayed.
3. To edit the expense, click the reference number. Note: If the expense should be deleted, click the trash icon on the row of the expense.
4. When edits are complete, click Save Changes and the expense will be submitted for approval.