50 lines
2.4 KiB
Markdown
50 lines
2.4 KiB
Markdown
# Handling Requests for Reimbursements
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Most non-profit organizations have to reimburse employees, contractors and
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volunteers for expenses, such as travel expenses. There are two sides to the
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reimbursement process that must be adequately handled by a non-profit
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accounting system.
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## Reimbursement: The Organization's View
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The organization has to be able to easily:
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* Receive and store receipts.
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[[Track those receipts|UseCases/TrackingDocumentation]] in the context of
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the [[double entry accounting entries|UseCases/DoubleEntryAccounting]]
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that relate to those receipts.
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* Track the reimbursement request as an invoice.
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* Handle any [[currency conversion|UseCases/MultiCurrency]] related to the
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receipts, both from the point of view of international travel, and also
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considering the fact that the person reimbursed may seek reimbursement in
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a different currency than the native currency of the organization's.
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* Track approvals of the expenses by multiple parties. (For example,
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perhaps a volunteer project leader must approve, and then later by with
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fiduciary duty to the organization itself).
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* Ideally, the system would auto-detect any places where a travel and/or
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reimbursement policy for the organization is violated (or mandates
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additional approvals).
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* Ideally, the system could "set up" accounting entries for "merger" into
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the accounts, based on an expense report submitted, via some
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[[draft transacting approval process|DraftTransactions]].
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## Reimbursement: The Traveler's View
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From traveler's/reimbursement-requester's view, they'll need:
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* An easy, outward-facing web interface for submitting receipts.
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* Ideally, flagging them when additional approval is needed before
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submitting their expense report, so that they can seek additional
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approval before submitting.
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* Updates on the external web interface system about status when the
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expense is moving through the internal system at the organization.
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* Automatic calculation of any per-diem allowances.
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## Reimbursement on Behalf Of
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A classic scenario that occurs for non-profits is an employee or a contractor
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buys an item that is actually for someone else. For example, a volunteer
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needs a plane ticket to go to a conference, so an employee or someone else
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(the "Floater") who can "float" the expense makes the purchase. The
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reimbursement request comes in from the Floater but the real person who
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received the item should be recorded.
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