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

[Diana Carroll (dianaecarroll]

We (Mosaic Commons) have a debit card.  It has a PIN number so it *could*
be used by anyone with the PIN in a point of sale transaction, but we've
never used it that way.  So far, we use it mostly for online purchases from
Amazon.  We have a community account on Amazon, the card number is stored
in the account, and the few folks whose job it is to purchase stuff for
community use have the password to the account.  We use it for stuff like
paper towels, cleaning supplies, printer ink, and other such things.

I'm the treasurer and bookkeeper, and the physical card has my name on it,
so in theory only I can use it for a non-POS in person transaction.  We
have no special controls on the card.  The bank account belongs to the HOA,
and a few people's names are on the account, so those people have access to
our money...having access to the card doesn't change that.

Most of our purchases are made by individuals who then submit a request for
reimbursement.  Only a tiny minority of our expenses use the debit card.


On Mon, Oct 22, 2012 at 9:14 PM, audrey <audrey [at] galisteo.com> wrote:

>
> At winslow cohousing, we don't have any credit or debit cards that belong
> to the community.  Individual members pay for some things and get
> reimbursed by submitting an expense request and receipt to the treasurer,
> that has been initialed by the cluster/committee whose budget the expense
> belongs to.  Larger expenses are often invoiced to the community, and they
> also have to be initialed by the cluster/committee chair as well as the
> treasurer before they are paid.
>
> Each committee has a budget and we give them quarterly reports so they
> know how far spent they are with respect to their budget.   The treasurer
> also watches for unusual or unbudgeted expenses.
>
> for expenses that are above budget (we've had maintenance expenses over
> budget),  that are essential, we have an operating reserve that allows us
> to pay them, and then if at the end of the year that category is over
> budget, we collect more the following year to bring it back in line.  the
> board can authorize budget changes up to 10%, over that we bring it to the
> entire community.
>
> --audrey watson
> winslow cohousing
> bainbridge island.
> >
> > 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
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
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