Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Question about expensing purchases for building maintenance

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Sep 12, 2021, at 6:35 PM, Ruby Reay <rurubux [at] hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Thank you. We're getting some advice that auditors don't like to see payments 
> to individuals in the form of expenses. I simply can't imagine how that is 
> practical, to disallow expensing things. Interesting to hear you have a few 
> debit cards. We have one that is not shared.

As long as you have receipts and reimbursement forms, there is no difference 
from paying an individual than paying a business. The auditor has to be told 
that you are a self managed community and the overhead of having all purchases 
go through one person is unworkable. The forms and receipts should be available.

We have tried the debit card but it doesn’t work very well. The card holder 
still has to do all the same paperwork so it only means they don’t have to wait 
for a check. But our process for getting checks is now streamlined so it it 
isn’t a long time depending on when you request for reimbursement hits the 
cycle of check writing. You might have the check before a payment is due on 
your own credit card. 

Just keep professional quality books.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org