Reimbursement and Disbursement

Purpose

Reimbursement to employees will be allowed for reasonable and necessary expenses incurred in connection with approved travel, activities, and purchases when expenses are within budget allowances, ANCS reimbursement guidelines, supported by required documentation, and when reimbursement has not been or will not be received from other sources.

Duration

This policy is permanent.

Policy

Section 1. Required Supporting Documentation

Reimbursement of purchases that employees elect to make out of pocket are subject to the availability of budgeted funds and must be supported by itemized receipts.
It is the responsibility of the employee to retain and submit receipts and supporting documentation for reimbursable school-related expenditures.
All requests must have supporting documentation attached. Undocumented or unreceipted expenditures will not be processed or reimbursed.

Section 2. Non-Profit Tax-Exempt Requirement

ANCS is a 501c non-profit tax-exempt organization. ANCS' tax-exempt status should always be utilized when making school-related purchases or expenditures. It is the responsibility of the purchaser to provide the vendor or retailer with the tax‑exempt information.
The school's tax‑exempt form and number can be obtained from the Director of Finance and Operations or designee.
Employees are to provide this information to any vendor or retailer to prevent the vendor from assessing sales tax.
While the amount may seem small for one purchase, over the course of the school year the tax can be significant and quickly adds up when making multiple or large purchases.
ANCS is not responsible for reimbursing individuals for sales tax.
Copies of the Purchase/Disbursement Request form can be found in the faculty room or front office. The form may also be accessed through Google Docs and the school's Intranet.

Section 3. Travel Expenses

All business travel on behalf of ANCS outside of the Atlanta metropolitan area must have the prior approval of the Campus Principal or Executive Director.
Travel arrangements should be coordinated through and made by the Business Manager - Purchasing.
Information should be provided to the Office Assistant at least two weeks prior to travel.
Transportation costs, living expenses, and incidental items (such as tips, etc.) may be reimbursable when incurred in the conduct of ANCS business.
First-class air travel is not permitted; only coach or lesser class is permitted and should be arranged well in advance to procure the best price.
Travel insurance is considered a personal matter, and the cost is not reimbursable.
Use of personal automobiles when authorized will be reimbursed at the then- prevailing rate established by federal (IRS) guidelines.
ANCS does not pay for expenses of spouses traveling with a faculty or staff member on school business. A proper separation of travel expenses must be made. Under such circumstances, ANCS will reimburse based on the amount of expense that would have been incurred by the employee traveling alone.
Incidental travel expenses incurred during school travel (such as baggage handling, check-in charges, or tips to porters and bellhops) that are supported by receipts where applicable may be submitted for reimbursement.
Any individual item of expense requires an original paid receipt.
When employees are traveling together, reimbursable expenses for meals should be paid for and receipted separately.
Detailed receipts should be submitted for meal reimbursement, and receipts should identify the specific meal or incidental.
Meal costs for food and non-alcoholic beverages are reimbursable.
Tips and gratuities should not exceed 20% of the pre-tax restaurant charges.
Amounts expended for personal items or services are not reimbursable expenses. Examples of such items are laundry, dry cleaning, valet service, shoe shines, haircuts, newspapers, magazines, personal entertainment, medicines, and toiletries.
Travel-related expenses may not be reimbursed through petty cash funds. All travel-related expenditures must be submitted through the check reimbursement process.
Amounts reimbursed for meals will be the lesser of the receipt for the meal or incidental or the maximum amount listed in the applicable Per Diem Rate table:
1. Reimbursement for meals and incidentals related to in-state travel will be reimbursed in accordance with the State of Georgia Per Diem Rate table.
2. Reimbursement for meals and incidentals related to out-of-state travel will be reimbursed in accordance with the GSA Per Diem Rate table.

Section 4. Entertainment Expenses

Reimbursable entertainment expenses shall include only those that are necessary in connection with ANCS' business.
The proper amount to be spent is a matter of good judgment in each case and must have prior written approval of the Campus Principal or Executive Director.

Section 5. Reimbursement Process

Reimbursement can occur only if a completed and approved Purchase/Disbursement Request form is submitted, along with original receipts, to the Business Manager – Cash & Accounting.
Only expenses that have actually been incurred in accordance with ANCS expense reimbursement policy, and that are supported by receipts, should be submitted for reimbursement.
Complete this form in detail:

Circle or indicate the type of disbursement request (e.g., check request).
Circle "order" (when requesting items be purchased by the Business Office), "advance payment" (when requesting funds be advanced to the employee for future expenses), or "reimbursement" (for expenses already incurred by the employee).
As applicable, list what type of items were/are to be purchased (classroom supplies, instructional materials, etc.).
Attach receipts/documentation of the expense.

For travel expenses, also attach documentation of the event/conference/reason for travel.
All requests must specify which budget is to be charged. Any requests submitted by a teacher will be charged to that teacher's/team's classroom budget unless otherwise indicated.
Teachers working in a content area that has an assigned Content Coordinator should submit their request form to their Content Coordinator for approval. All other faculty and staff should submit their requests to their budget stakeholder, who in most cases will be their Campus Principal, or the Executive Director for approval and then forward the approved Purchase/Disbursement Request form to the Business Manager – Cash & Accounting for processing.
If a check request is to be made payable to the budget stakeholder who would normally approve the expense, the stakeholder must obtain the approval of the employee to whom they report, as stakeholders may not authorize payment to themselves.
Requests without the appropriate budget stakeholder's approval will not be processed and will be returned to the initiator.

Section 6. Reimbursement Check Distribution

Checks are processed in the Business Office biweekly on Fridays and issued that following Monday. Therefore, check requesters should allow two weeks for processing and take this schedule into consideration when planning the timing for submitting their check requests.

Section 7. Charging Multiple Budgets

When ordering or requesting reimbursement for purchased items, multiple classroom or department budgets may be charged on the same Purchase/Disbursement Request form if the full reimbursement is to be made payable to one staff member.
However, there can be only one payee per check request, so each payee must receipt their purchases separately. For example, if two teachers are shopping together, then each teacher must separate their own classroom items and not combine them on one receipt.
If the items are for separate payees, then there must be two separate receipts. For example, if one teacher is shopping for other departments as well, there may be one check request form submitted with multiple budgets charged, but it will be payable only to that one teacher.
Whenever more than one department or program is to be charged on a purchase or reimbursement request, the breakdown of amounts to be charged to each budget area must be clearly listed on the request form, and the stakeholder of each budget to be charged must have initialed by their respective charges on the form to indicate their authorization of the charges to their budget.

Section 8. Disbursement Requests

All disbursement requests must have supporting documentation and/or original receipts attached and must be approved by the budget stakeholder before submission to the Business Office.

Section 9. Request for Reimbursement in Advance

In cases where an employee anticipates incurring substantial out-of-pocket costs for school-related activities, such as field day, athletic banquets, or out-of-town field trips, the employee may submit a request for an advance of cash funds to be utilized to cover these expenses.

Checks are processed in the Business Office bi-weekly on Fridays and issued that following Monday. Therefore, check requesters should allow two weeks for processing and take this schedule into consideration when planning the timing for submitting advance check requests.
A completed and approved Purchase/Disbursement Request form is submitted to the Director of Finance and Operations, along with a budget of anticipated expenses supporting the amount requested in advance. Complete this form in detail, circling or indicating "advance payment."
The employee must execute an Advance Receipt form when receiving the advance check. In executing the Advance Receipt form, the employee acknowledges that they are required to submit all receipts covering the total amount of the advance and return any cash for which supporting receipts are not provided.
The employee acknowledges their liability for the total amount of advance funds received and that any unreceipted advance funds remaining outstanding 45 days after the conclusion of the activity will be deducted from their pay.
Upon the conclusion of the activity, a completed and approved Purchase/Disbursement Request form, along with original receipts, is submitted to the Director of Finance and Operations.
Only expenses that have actually been incurred in accordance with ANCS expense reimbursement policy and that are supported by receipts should be submitted to satisfy the advance check requirement.
Complete this form in detail and in compliance with the general reimbursement procedures.
If the attached receipts are less than the amount advanced, the cash difference should be submitted to the Business Office along with the Purchase/Disbursement Request form.
Once the advance documentation requirements have been received and approved by the Director of Finance and Operations, the Advance Receipt form will be marked as "satisfied" and attached to the submitted receipts.

Resources

Purchase/Disbursement Request form (available in the front office at both campuses or by request)
Advance Receipt form (available in the front office at both campuses or by request)

Approval and Review

Approved	Effective	Last Review	Next Review
06/16/2015	07/02/2015	09/2024	09/2026