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Dear Colleague
During a conversation with my sister recently she
remarked, "I hope Alan remembers to pick me up after
work." She and her husband have coordinated their
schedules so they can carpool. They were spending
over $100 a week on gas and something had to give.
This got me thinking about the mileage
reimbursement rate as you'll see below. The mileage
thing led to the idea that this might be a good time to
review how T&E receipts are handled-so I dug out
my Travel & Entertainment Best Practice book
for an excerpt.
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| Book Excerpt: T&E Best Practices |
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Receipts
IRS guidelines require receipts for expenditures in
excess of $75. However, most companies find this
level a little high and require that employees submit
receipts for expenditures in excess of $25. Still others
require a receipt for everything. You will find that
whatever dollar limit you set for receipts you will have
an amazing number of expenses just under that dollar
amount.
The other issue regarding receipts is how they are
sent to Accounts Payable. Traditionally, receipts were
attached to the expense report. Small pieces of paper
of differing sizes cause problems. To get these small
pieces of paper under control, some companies insist
that these receipts be taped to a piece of paper before
they are submitted. You may or may not require your
employees to do this. While some prefer to get
receipts in this method, others hate it.
At some companies, receipts are submitted along
with the report so the approver can verify that the
expenses are accurate. Then the receipts are shipped
along with the report to accounts payable. Another
approach is to have the receipts sent in a bar-coded
envelope for filing. Companies that utilize electronic
T&E approaches typically employ this approach.
If you'd like to read more of this book, we've made
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(and any book published by John Wiley). Use the link
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the page.
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Order any John Wiley Book at a 15% discount |
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| Mileage Reimbursement Rate |
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I can't be the only person these days thinking the
mileage reimbursement rate for use of personal
vehicles should be raised. There is a precedent too. In
2005 with gasoline prices rising-but not nearly as
high as they are today-the IRS adjusted the rate
effective September 1 of that year. At that point, gas
prices peaked at an average rate of approximately
$3.30 per gallon and the reimbursement rate was
raised to 48.5 cents per gallon.
We are now at close to $4.00 a gallon in most parts of
the country and the reimbursement rate is a measly
two cents a mile higher. We'll watch this one like a
hawk and will immediately report any change.
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| Proper Handling of Credits |
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The other day we received what looked like an invoice
at first glance from our telecom provider for $21.35.
Upon much closer examination, it became clear that it
wasn't an invoice but a credit memo. This got me
thinking. If I was almost deceived and I only look at a
few invoices each month, what were the odds that a
processor faced with processing hundreds of invoices
each week would be confused?
The inadvertent paying of credit memos is an ongoing
problem in certain accounts payable operations. One
way to identify credit memos is to take a second look
at what appears to be a smaller invoice as credit
memos tend to be of a much smaller dollar amount
than most invoices from a particular vendor. So, for
example, if vendor A's invoices are generally over
$50,000 and your processors are suddenly looking at
a $400 invoice from vendor A, a second look might
reveal it to be a credit memo. Along the same lines, if
the invoice number shows up as having already been
entered, the processor might be looking at a credit
memo. Finally, there should be a minus sign in front
of the number somewhere on the credit advice.
To make sure your processors recognize credit
memos, collect a sample from different vendors for
the processors to examine. It is easier than you might
think to inadvertently pay a credit memo-and I'm
speaking from personal experience here.
And while we're on the subject of telecom bills, I'm
really looking forward to Mark Evan's talk on June 26
on , "Think You're Being Overcharged on Your
Telecom Bills? Make Sure You're Not!". I suspect I
have a lot to learn!
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For additional information or to register for the Telecom webinar |
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| Updates to the AP Now blog |
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I've been accumulating some very interesting
information which I hope to get posted on the AP Now
blog this week. Several T&E vendors wrote with
information after last week's piece on doing expense
reports in the airport. And, Will Yancey has sent along
a number of interesting unclaimed property links that I
will add to several I've collected.
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Visit the AP Now Blog |
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| Top Clicks from Last Week's ezine |
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And, yes, I was surprised to see so many take a peek
at the Sales and Use Tax CD!
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| In closing |
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In case you are wondering about the fate of my
sister's ride mentioned in the beginning, let me point
out that my brother-in-law isn't a stupid man. He did
not leave my sister stranded.
Until next week, thanks for listening.
Mary Schaeffer
Editorial Director
Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow, a CRYSTALLUS,
Inc. publication
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