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bob807
December 27, 2019
Solved

Bill, expenses, but still want tracking.

  • December 27, 2019
  • 1 reply
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Hi all, and Seasons Greatings.     I am doing the bookkeeping for a non profit organization.  We are non funded, no payroll, no tax, and is managed by volunteers. 

 

However, I did set up some accounts to show what we are paying our volunteers in regards to their bus fare, meals, etc. 

 

By the way, I am using QB Desktop, andwhat I want to do is this:  ex:  If Barb brings in a receipt for a total of $100.00 and I have to give her the money back, I want to keep track of where that money is going and into which account that I've created.

 

So for example,                                  

Paid Barb $100.00 

Acount #4000     is        Meals            $40.00

Account #4005   is         Gas                 30.00

Account #4010    is        Parking             5.00

Account 5001      is        Printing           25.00

 

What I've tried to do from previous information given was to set our volunteers as customers and then key in the expenses but each item (ex: Gas would have to be a new item with every different dollar amount) did not come up as being totalled.

 

I've also just tried  Enter Bills  both of these options are working well except the amounts for the second one was going to accounts payable and not to the actual account numbers.

 

Can anyone help me figure this out.  Thanks in advance.

Best answer by AndréB12

Hey bob807,

 

Thank you for reaching out. Even without payroll, reimbursable expenses can be quite tricky at first, but you'll be an expert in no time! Depending on when you reimburse expenses, the steps vary somewhat. Since you'll be paying money to your volunteers, they'll need to be set up as suppliers

 

To reimburse the volunteer immediately (note that with this method the volunteer replaces the supplier):

  1. To to the Banking menu and click Write Cheques.

  2. In the Write Cheques window, click the Bank Account drop-down list and choose the chequing account from which you want to reimburse the volunteer.

  3. In the Pay to the Order of field, enter the name of the volunteer.

  4. In the $ field, enter the amount spent.

  5. Click the Expenses tab.

  6. Click the Account drop-down list and choose the appropriate expense account.

  7. (Optional) Enter a memo.

  8. Save the transaction.

To reimburse the volunteer in the future, I'd recommend using bills. Simply head to Vendors then Enter Bills, and enter the expense with your volunteer as the Payee. You'll still need to go through the Pay Bills portion to have funds pulled from the bank account. The Chart of Accounts only displays a balance for balance sheet accounts, but the expense accounts you've set up are perfect to categorize these expenses. You'll have a clear image of where your money is going in your Profit and Loss report.

 

For more info on entering bills, check out the Enter Bills and Pay Bills in QuickBooks Desktop articles. My colleague posted more detailed steps with screenshots for this solution on your post last week. Feel free to disregard the QuickBooks Online portion. Here's the link again if you need it: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-ca/about-qb-community/running-out-of-ideas/01/434758

 

To search for similar solutions, simply click on the Help menu then select QuickBooks Desktop Help (Note: the F1 key can be used as a shortcut).
Click the Help tab.
Click the Search button.
Type keywords into the search bar (such as Reimburse an employee for paying a business expense out of personal funds) and hit Enter to search for related articles.

 

It's a good idea to speak with an accountant if you're unsure. If you don't have an accountant, you can find one here.

 

Let me know how this works for you! 

1 reply

Fiat Lux - ASIA
Fiat Lux - ASIA
December 27, 2019

What I've tried to do from previous information given was to set our volunteers as customers and then key in the expenses but each item (ex: Gas would have to be a new item with every different dollar amount) did not come up as being totalled.

 

Why did you set volunteers as customers, not vendors? You pay money to vendors and accept money form customers/donors.

    B
    bob807Author
    December 27, 2019

    Hi Bill and thanks for the reply.  I had it set up as vendors the first time around but again the problem was tracking where (or which account) was charged to.   What it seemed to be happening is that I would have to create a vendor list (not a problem) but then if they had multiple expenses, ex: $100.00 accommodations, $50.00 food, etc.... when I went back to the chart of accounts everything was still at a zero balance.

     

    I've done the workbook in Excel but would rather have a real program doing the job for me, its only a matter of setting it up.    I have experience with an older smaller program MYOB which is Mind Your Own Business, but QB seems to be a lot more complicated. 

     

    If you have any other suggestion, or perhaps you find a link I would certainly appreciate it. 

     

    All the best, and Happy New Year. 

    Fiat Lux - ASIA
    Fiat Lux - ASIA
    December 27, 2019

    When it comes to handling expenses, you can pay now or pay later. QuickBooks has features for both options. 

     

    Pay now. In QuickBooks, paying right away means writing a check, entering a debit card transaction, entering a credit card charge, making an online payment, or using money from petty cash. When you pay immediately, you don’t have to enter a bill in QuickBooks, you can simply record the expense payment transaction. Go directly to your COA list to record the expense and you may split each transaction to each account by click the splits button.
     
    Pay later. If bills arrive as steadily as orders at the local coffee shop, you’ll probably want to set aside time to pay them all at once when it won’t interfere with delivering services or selling products. Setting up vendor bills for later payment is known as using Accounts Payable because you store the unpaid expenses in an Accounts Payable account. In QuickBooks, entering bills for later payment delivers all the advantages of convenience and good cash management. You can tell the program when you want to pay bills—for instance, to take advantage of an early payment discount or the grace period that a vendor allows. Then you can go about your business without distraction, knowing that QuickBooks will notify you when bills are on deck for payment.

     

    Once you decide whether you’re going to pay bills now or later, use that method consistently. Otherwise, you could pay for something twice by entering a bill in QuickBooks and then, a few days later, writing a paper check for the same expense. To prevent duplicate payments, always enter bills you receive in the mail (or email) as bills in QuickBooks and pay them by using the Pay Bills feature . The Enter Bills window includes a list of recent transactions, which you can use to look for payments you’ve already made.

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