Revised 9/15
Contents
Accounting
Guidelines for Counselors
Timesheets/Time
off requests (Kimberly)
Accounting
Contact Information:
Employee related items
Timesheets/Time off requests (Kimberly)
- Employee completes their time sheet at least bi-weekly by Thursday at noon
- Time sheet and time off requests must match before time sheet can be approved
- If Keri is not available by phone or email to approve time off, please see seek out approval from another supervisor
- Time off requests submitted to supervisor must be named as such:
- Last name, first name, date, hours requested, type (i.e. Phipps Jamie 6-24-2014 8 vacation) per Keri
Travel Vouchers: (Kimberly) Employee will be reimbursed for work related costs through the travel voucher
- If an employee must purchase gas for work (only if the WEX card does not work when driving the state car) the employee will use their own money and this must be on a separate travel voucher for reimbursement.
- Employee submits a travel voucher at least monthly to their supervisor.
- Make sure the correct year is on the travel voucher. Employee then enters date of travel (month/day)
- Start/end time: Employee enters the time they start/end traveling that day (5 a.m. to 7 p.m.).�
- Travel description should include where the employee traveled (Decorah to Des Moines) or (Decorah to Davenport and vicinity to Decorah).
- Travel description can also include things such as postage, parking garage, etc.
- Mileage is completed only if employee is using own vehicle. The mileage rate is $.39/mile. The maximum mileage to be reimbursed is 14,000.
- Tape receipts and identify difference between claimed amount and actual amount
- Meal reimbursement is allowed when employee travels outside their domicile.
- Breakfast can be reimbursed if travel started before 6 a.m. and dinner is allowable if travel ends after 7 p.m.
- 15% tip is allowed to add on to meals. Employee uses �sub-total� (before tax) and multiply by 15% to obtain the allowable tip. Employee adds the sub-total, tip, and tax for total.
- A receipt is required for meals, hotel, and any other costs on voucher besides mileage
- Allowable expenses include $5.00 breakfast, $8.00 lunch, $15.00 dinner
- Hotel rate is $55.00 plus tax. Some hotels will charge a safe cost. The safe cost is not included in the allowable rate. Receipt must show rate and tax both.
Non-Standard Receipt: A non-standard receipt is a receipt the
employee had to write and sign because they could not get a receipt for such
items as food from a vending machine, phone booths, parking meters, or coin
operated car washes. A non-standard receipt is not to replace:
�
a) a
lost receipt ������� or b) a forgotten
receipt or c) the detailed credit card receipt
If you receive a non-standard receipt from an establishment, include the
following information on the receipt and sign the receipt:
�
Name of
establishment,
�
itemization
of what was eaten,
�
date
and time,
�
city and state.
When the
employee writes information on a non-standard receipt, they must sign each
receipt.
- Employee must sign and date the travel voucher and submit to supervisor for approval
Internet reimbursement: (Kimberly) Employee can be reimbursed for their internet at their home office
- Employee signs and submits the internet bill from the service provider to their supervisor for approval
- The reimbursement will be completed through the employee paycheck
Car Report: (Joyce) Required if employee is assigned a
state car. Employee is responsible for setting up oil changes (as close to
every 5000 miles, but not over) and PMI (as close to every 30,000 miles, but
not over). These can be done anywhere that has an account set up with the
state.
- At month end, employee emails Joyce the following information by the first working day of each month.�
- Last oil change date/mileage
- Last PMI date/mileage
- Ending odometer reading
- Employee staples all gas receipts and any other receipt (oil change/PMI/tires/etc) to car report and mails to IDB on the first working day of the month
- Refer to books (2 books with tan covers) in each vehicle for service area, maintenance requirements, etc.
Client related Items
Authorizations
Maintenance: (Cara)
- All maintenance vouchers must be fully filled out (legible if written), signed, and currently dated prior to being sent in to Kimberly.
- Monthly maintenance may be done for 3 months at a time. After 3 months, counselor and client revisit to determine if the amount is still appropriate. A new authorization must be completed timely (2 week turn around after Kimberly receives voucher) to ensure the client receives the maintenance on time.
- A maintenance voucher may be emailed to the client and the client can sign/date and send to Des Moines to expedite the process.
Internal Memos: (Joyce)
Counselor completes an internal memo for the following vendors
- Amazon
- Insight
- Home Depot
- Walmart
- Lowe�s
- Anything ordered online
- Equipment Transfers
- Aids & Devices
Purchase Order: (Cara)
Purchase order is an authorization to a vendor to provide the service/product
- The purchase order is completed in Eforce prior to the client receiving the product/service prior to product/service being ordered.
- New vendor set up is done by VR/IL staff. Accounting will verify information and correct as needed. If this is a new vendor, the vendor must submit a W9 form found at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf (emailed to Cara, faxed to 515-281-1395 or mailed). The process of setting up a new vendor takes time, so this step should be done immediately so the vendor can be paid in a timely manner
- A purchase order is used for any product/service other than college tuition, reimbursement, maintenance, and internal memos
- The authorization is reassigned to support staff
- Support staff sends the purchase order to the vendor
- The vendor is required to submit a detailed invoice directed to Iowa Dept for the Blind (not the client or counselor) either by attachment in an email directly to Cara or mail (not fax).
Reimbursement: (Cara)
If necessary (not the ideal way), the counselor can reimburse the client for products/services related to their VR plan.
- The counselor completes a reimbursement authorization. This MUST still be done prior to the purchase/service being made.
- The client must submit a signed detailed receipt for the product/service they purchased along with a letter requesting reimbursement. The letter shall include:
- Reason for request (i.e don�t have the means due to being unemployed, in college, etc)
- Dollar amount being requested
- Original signature (not typed)
- Name and address
- Tuition: (Cara) Counselor completes this type of authorization for college tuition and/or college books. This MUST be done prior to the purchase/service being made.
Reader Service: (Cara)
Counselor completes this type of authorization if the client requires a reader (i.e. assist with reading in college).
- Counselor completes the reader authorization
- This reader authorization MUST be done prior to the purchase/service being made.
- If a new reader, a W9 form must be completed with the reader information so the reader can be paid.
- Reader must submit a �reader service form� in order to be paid the service
- The hourly rate is a maximum of $10 per hour.� It is recommended that counselor starts negotiating at a lower rate and go up if necessary. The maximum amount authorized is 400 hours an academic year.� The maximum for a summer session is 150 hours.� Payments cannot be made to family members for reader service.
Equipment Transfers:
When
you have equipment that was purchased for a client & that equipment is being
returned to us to either be reassigned to another client or being transferred
to the loaner pool, there needs to be authorizations done within eFORCE to track the moving of the equipment & the costs
involved.�
�
For equipment returned
from a client that will eventually be reassigned to another client:
An
authorization needs done reflecting the date that IDB received the equipment
back from the client stating the equipment is being transferred to IDB.� This authorization should be written as an
internal memo and should reflect the original vendor that we made the purchase
from, the original price and the date it was paid.� You can obtain the original price we paid and
the payment date by going to the authorization screen (VR case info or IL case
info, then Authorizations) in eFORCE.� You should see a list of all authorizations
on the client’s plan.� Find the
authorization for the equipment.� On the
far right side of that line is a “balance” button.� Click on that button.� This will bring up the payment
information.� Click on the
“item” and it will bring up a payment screen.� In this screen, click on
the payment number.� This will
show you the vendor, amount paid and the date paid.� This information should be kept with the
piece of equipment until such time as it is reassigned.� Do not include the other client’s name, due
to confidentiality, however, if you want some kind of
a trail, you can refer to a case #.� The
authorization amount will be a negative number since we are taking that cost
away from the plan.� This finalizes the
return process.
For returned equipment
that is reassigned to a different client:
An
authorization needs done reflecting that the equipment is being transferred
from IDB to the client.� The
authorization should be written as an internal memo and should reflect the
original vendor, original price and original date paid.� You can include a tie to the original owner,
not by using the client’s name, but by referring to the original client’s case
number.� The authorization should be dated
with the date the equipment is being assigned to the new client (not the
purchase date).� This authorization would
need to be all positive costs, since we are now adding that cost to this
client’s plan.
For
equipment that is being reassigned to the loaner pool, you can include this
information directly in the original authorization that is written when the
equipment has been returned.
If the
original purchase price was $5,000 or more, the equipment will need to be added
to the loaner pool fixed asset listing.�
Please make sure you provide the loaner pool staff with the information.
Hiring drivers
- Counselor completed
an authorization for a purchase order for transportation services
- This MUST still be done prior to the purchase/service being made.
- If the driver is new, a W9 form must be completed and submitted prior to payment
- If the driver is new, a copy of the driver�s license must be sent to Joyce for approval BEFORE transportation is provided. They can be mailed, scanned & emailed or faxed. Make sure copy is legible and include who the person is driving for.
- The driver completes a transportation form with hours and mileage. The average wage is between $7.25-$10.00/hour. Mileage is reimbursed at $.39/mile.
Fiscal Year Guidelines
�State FY begins July 1; Federal FY begins Oct 1
When readers/drivers turn in forms, counselors
will inform them June and July cannot be on the same invoice
Travel vouchers must be turned in by July 15th �for
dates prior to June 30th
If possible, break authorizations up to end at a fiscal year. DART is one example, please don�t combine June & July or after on one authorization. DART sends us one invoice and we cannot pay item for the next fiscal year until after July 1. This causes problems for DART and us with past dues.
ISE & SE � authorize only by �phase� of service, don�t authorize multiple service that may be dependent on the client achieving a goal before moving into the next phase. Many times, we have services authorized that are never used due to this.
Accounting runs a report each month to know how much money has been encumbered via authorizations. Bruce uses this information to ensure that we have ample funds to pay for expenses for each fiscal year�s budget. It is important that information be kept current. If you know an authorization will not be used, please notify accounting and we can cancel the authorization and free up the funds.
Accounting is required to have packing slips or delivery confirmations for all items received between 6/1 � 7/15 each year. If you are having items shipped directly to a client, you need to make sure accounting receives this information. We cannot pay an invoice without having this information.
If you encounter something you have not done before or not very often, try looking in eFORCE for a similar authorization or you can call accounting to confer. This can save time in having to correct or redo authorizations.
Accounting Contact Information:
Kimberly 515-281-1265
Joyce 515-281-1286
Cara 515-281-1273