Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Credit / Debit Spending for Operating Expenses - Again

[Douglas G. Larson (ddhle]

I posted these questions more than a week ago but got only 2 responses. So I
am posting again to see if I can get any more.
The two people who responded originally need not respond again (Sharon and
Eris). 


Our community is making changes to one of our bank accounts and we would
like to know what policies and practices other communities use.

These questions relate solely to operating expenses, not to replacement
reserve budgeting or expenditures


Specifically we would like to know

 1) How does your community use credit cards and debit cards to pay for
    community expenses and what controls do you have in place for those
    expenditures?
    1a-  Who is authorized to use your community credit card or debit card?
    1b-  What policies or authorization procedures are in place for use of
         these cards?
    1c-  Are your books audited and if so by whom and how frequently?
  

 2) What budgeting controls do you have in place for operating expenditures?

    2a-  Is every operating expenditure checked to see that it is within
         budget? If so, who does that?
    2b-  If an expenditure would exceed budget but is deemed legitimate or
necessary, what override or
         exception procedures are used?
    2c-  If a requested expenditure would exceed budget but is deemed not 
         essential, what denial or refusal procedure is used? Who issues the
refusal?


Please limit your responses to only operating budget and operating
expenditures and not to Replacement Reserve spending. 



Douglas Larson,
Songaia Cohousing,
Bothell, Washington