Reimbursable Expense HELP

12/21/2017

The BOOKS version of MyCorbu provides the tools you need for tracking Reimbursable Expenses.

Each member of your organization logs their Reimbursable Expenses as they occur.
The management tables of Reimbursable Expenses shows the amount to be reimbursed to the staff member and the dollar amount to be invoiced to the client, if appropriate.

Reimbursable Expenses make use of an individualized Markup Factor per Project.

There are three Parts to using the Reimbursable Expenses feature. The three Parts are listed here by the frequency with which they are used.

PART 1 - ENTERING REIMBURSABLE EXPENSES - DAILY

PART 2 - MANAGING REIMBURSABLE EXPENSES - PERIODICALLY

PART 3 - INITIAL REIMBURSABLE EXPENSES SETUP - ONCE

PART 1 - ENTERING REIMBURSABLE EXPENSES

ONLY BEGIN ENTERING REIMBURSABLE EXPENSES AFTER
COMPLETING THE SETUP STEPS IN PART 3

Here is what each person sees when entering a Reimbursable Expense. From the Timesheet Page click the Reimbursable Expense button at the top as shown here.

This opens a form for entering your Reimbursable Expense. See the screenshot below.

Select the date from the calendar after clicking in the date box.
Next select the Project for which the Reimbursable Expense was made. Your “Office” is treated as a Project, similar to entering General Office time.
Enter the amount of the expense.
Finally add a description, giving who you paid and what it was, ; e.g. “ACME Blueprints for review drawings”.
Select the appropriate Category for the expense.
Click “Submit” button when ready.

Your Reimbursable Expense entry will be added to the Reimbursable Expense Log below the form. The Log contains all YOUR Reimbursable Expense entries. You can search the Log by entering a Project name or other key term.

Entering a Reimbursable Expense in this way creates Bookkeeping records at the same time. A record is created showing that this amount is payable to the person who incurred the expense. If the Project for which the expense was incurred is billable, then a second record is created showing that an amount should be invoiced to the client.

PART 2 - MANAGING REIMBURSABLE EXPENSES

This Part addresses three tasks:
1) General access to Reimbursable Expense records
2) Reimbursement of staff for Reimbursable Expenses incurred
3) Invoicing clients for Reimbursable Expenses

This Part 2 works differently now that BOOKS has been introduced. The results are the same but it is easier to accomplish.

1 - GENERAL ACCESS TO REIMBURSABLE EXPENSE RECORDS

You can find all the information you need about Reimbursable Expenses on the Bookkeeping page. Navigate to the Bookkeeping page, click the button labeled “Reimbursable Expenses”.

On the page that opens you will find access to tables of Reimbursable Expenses that require reimbursement (First Table, below) or invoicing (Second Table, below). This page also has buttons to Add a Reimbursable Expense; Add a Category; or view a reference table of all Reimbursable Expenses.

This reference table lists every Reimbursable Expense that has ever been logged, most recent are shown first. By using the search box you can see records for a project or for an individual. These records in this table are for reference only and are not part of the Bookkeeping records.

2 - MANAGING REIMBURSEMENT OF REIMBURSABLE EXPENSES TO STAFF

Periodically, when you reimburse your staff for the Reimbursable Expenses that they have incurred, you can find all the information you need on the Bookkeeping page.

Navigate to the Bookkeeping page, click the button labeled “Reimbursable Expenses” as described above in '1 - GENERAL ACCESS TO REIMBURSABLE EXPENSE RECORDS'.

The First Table, shown above, is used for managing reimbursements to staff. The table is already filtered to show only the records for which reimbursement has NOT been made to the staff member. The records are grouped by individuals for convenience.

As you make payments, click in the column marked "Paid?" and change the 'No' to 'Yes'. This will update your Bookkeeping records. The line item will disappear from the table when the page is refreshed/reloaded.

You can print or export this table to make a permanent record of the reimbursements you are making. Printing preserves the subtotals.

3 - MANAGING INVOICING OF CLIENTS FOR REIMBURSABLE EXPENSES

Monthly, when you are preparing invoices for clients, you can find all the information you need in the Second Table, “Managing Invoicing of Reimbursable Expenses”. Use this table for preparing the reimbursable expense portion of your invoices.

Navigate to the Bookkeeping page, click the button labeled “Reimbursable Expenses” as described above in '1 - GENERAL ACCESS TO REIMBURSABLE EXPENSE RECORDS'.

This table only shows Reimbursable Expense records that you have not marked "Invoice Sent". The records are grouped by client and by Project to show the information needed to prepare invoices.

As you incorporate this information into your invoices, click in the 'Invoiced?' column for those records and change the 'No' to 'Yes' by checking the "Invoice Sent" box in the pop-up.

This will update your Bookkeeping records. The line item will disappear from the table when the page is refreshed/reloaded.

PART 3 - REIMBURSABLE EXPENSE SETUP

Here is where you start the Reimbursable Expense Setup.

There are Two Steps for implementing Reimbursable Expenses in MyCorbu BOOKS.

THE TWO STEPS HERE ARE CRITICAL TO USING
REIMBURSABLE EXPENSES.

Without this SETUP, Reimbursable Expense entries will be incomplete and require much more work to sort them out and to make them useable.

STEP 1 - CREATE YOUR REIMBURSABLE EXPENSE CATEGORIES

Create the Reimbursable Expense Categories that you will need.

You will probably need at least a few Categories. This is a suggested list of things you may need to reimburse yourself or your staff for when the expense is incurred on behalf of the client or your organization. You might prefer other terminology.

Mobile Phone
Meals and Entertainment
Models
Permits
Delivery
Reprographics
Supplies
Travel

To get started, click the 'Add Category' button.

Clicking the Add Category button will open this form.

Add a category name
Add a Sort-By Number if you want your categories to appear in a certain order.
Active? - this defaults to YES. Recommended.
For Reimb Exp Only - this defaults to YES. Recommended.

After clicking SUBMIT, you can Reload the form to create another category or go back to the Reimbursable Expenses page.

EDITING AN EXISTING REIMBURSABLE EXPENSE CATEGORY NAME WILL CHANGE ALL YOUR EXISTING REIMBURSABLE EXPENSE ENTRIES THAT USE THAT NAME.

Consider Adding A New Reimbursable Expense Category.

STEP 2 - ADD THE APPROPRIATE REIMBURSABLE EXPENSE MARKUP FACTOR TO EVERY PROJECT

After adding your standard Reimbursable Expense Categories, you need to add a Markup Factor to get meaningful data when you enter a Reimbursable Expense.

A Reimbursable Expense Markup Factor is a multiplier applied to the expense to arrive at the amount that will be invoiced. It is standard practice to add 10% or more to the actual cost to cover the cost of your time and expenses for managing the Reimbursable Expenses for a Project.

To add 10% of the cost, use a Markup Factor of ‘1.1’. Even if you do not plan to add a Markup, you need to enter a Markup Factor of ‘1.0’, for instance on a pro bono Project where you are passing costs through. However your “Office” Project where you collect non-billable time and expenses should have a Markup Factor of '0'. The zero Markup Factor will signal Bookkeeping to not show this Reimbursable Expense as needing to be invoiced.

Adding Reimbursable Expense Markup Factors is a small chore that won’t have to be repeated again because it is incorporated into the form for adding a Project. It is a fairly simple chore. Go through your active projects one by one in the table provided for this purpose.

Scroll down below the Reimbursable Expense Categories table to find a table of all your Projects. (At the bottom of this page is an image of what this whole Reimb. Exp. Page looks like.) One by one, update each Project with the appropriate Reimbursable Expense Markup Factor. Just click in the cell and a pop-up appears to receive your Factor.

The next time that you add a new Project to MyCorbu, you will be able to add its Reimbursable Expense Markup Factor as part of that process. There shouldn’t be a need to return to this Step again.

For reference: a view of the entire Reimb. Exp. page.

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