For the expense management setup, we advise review of the company reimbursement policy which covers the following details:
1. Expected transactions a month — important to get a feel for sizing
2. Get list of expense categories available for staff reimbursements (that including the GL Code that will allow for the transfer of the information to accounting system)
2.1 generally, we do not recommend over 10 expense categories
3. Is every staff allowed to claim reimbursement or is it limited to specific departments?
4. What is the minimum reimbursement amount requiring expense receipt and approval?
4.1 in most of cases that is any amount of reimbursement that require approval and receipt but in specific cases (usually related to management staff) certain people could have special limit or approval conditions
5. Who approves expenses (initial approval)?
5.1 usually that is done by direct manager but in some cases accountant or HR would be involved in initial approval process
5.2 there could be multiple approvers defined but importantly that is linear process where second approval person is asked for approval only when first person approve expense
5.3 note that there is separate, final review process involving payroll manager or accountant beside of the initial approval
5.4 It’s probably best if a list is provided of these people prior to commencement
6. Who is making final review and approval of the expenses before it is submitted for reimbursement?
6.1 the accounting staff who will be handling reimbursement claims should be identified so that permissions are setup in Totem
7. What is the reimbursement cycle, is there a specific request / reimbursement period (is there a fixed reimbursement period for the month — start date/end date), or is it handled ad hoc (reimbursement can be done at any time)?
8. Can staff request advances and who approves it?
9. Will reimbursements only occur in payroll or if ad hoc, then details of the journal (JV) are required?
10. It should be understood that whilst there may be multiple categories of expenses claimed for reimbursement, only “Reimbursement” will show on the payslip, and all items will accumulate to this item