Recording and approving expenses

An expense is money the association has paid out: hall hire, stationery, a welfare cost. You record it after it is paid, with the receipt. A different officer checks the receipt and approves it, and only then does it count in the books. You never write debits and credits: the books are updated for you.

Before you startCopy Anchor Link

• To record, change and send expenses you need the manage finances permission (Administrators, Treasurers and Financial Secretaries by default).
• To approve, reject or void you need approve payments, which only Administrators and Treasurers have by default.
• The category is one of your expense accounts in the chart of accounts, so add an account there if the one you need is missing.
• The paid from account is one of your cash or bank accounts, including petty cash.

Record an expenseCopy Anchor Link

The receipt ruleCopy Anchor Link

Spending above the receipt limit cannot be sent without its receipt. At or below the limit you may send it with a reason instead, such as "bus fare, no receipt". The limit starts at ₦5,000.00. An officer with the edit settings permission can change it under SettingsFinancial (A receipt is needed above). Set it to 0 to always ask for a receipt.

Approve, reject or voidCopy Anchor Link

• Approve. Open the expense, check the receipt against the amount, then approve with your password. It is posted to the books straight away: the category is debited and the account it was paid from is credited. You cannot approve an expense you recorded.
• Nobody to approve? An officer who cannot approve payments sees the expense and a note saying so. If no one but the officer who recorded it can approve, the expense says that too: give the Treasurer role to someone, or let another officer approve payments, under Settings → Roles.
• Reject. Give a reason. The officer who recorded it sees the reason, changes the expense and sends it again.
• Take it back. The officer who recorded an expense that is still waiting can take it back to change it.
• Void. If an approved expense was wrong (paid twice, wrong amount), an approver can void it with a reason and their password. The books get a reversing entry dated today, and the expense stays on the list marked Voided. Nothing is deleted. A date in a closed accounting period cannot be voided until the period is reopened.

BudgetCopy Anchor Link

If the category has a line in the budget in force, the form and the approver both see where it stands. A voucher that takes the line over budget is not refused: the approver decides, and the approval records that it went over.

Where it showsCopy Anchor Link

Every approved expense appears in the books as a journal entry. Open an expense category on the chart of accounts or the income statement, and select a line: its entry has a Where this came from card that opens the expense and its receipt. See Opening a figure to see the entries behind it.

An expense waiting for approval shows on the Accounting dashboard and on Home for officers who can approve it.

RelatedCopy Anchor Link

• Journal entries: for adjustments and opening balances. Spending belongs here, not there.
• Budgets, approval and variance