Fact or Fiction -- January 2023

[KevinD]

Alright everyone...here is the first installment of my Fact or Fiction series. Tell me whether the statement below is Fact or Fiction. In your response, please include an explanation or your reasoning. 

Here we go...

The Missing Receipt Declaration should be available for delegates.

I'll provide the answer on Monday to give people a few days to reply. 

[dlamont]

Fiction, someone else shouldn't be "attesting" to the fact that an expense is legitimate except the user.

[toriehigh]

FICTION!  Only the cardholder/expense user should attest to the validity of an expense.  Though I'll bet that the majority of my exec admins would disagree with that statement.  

[MSteele]

Fact - I'm a delegate for a VP and often have to track down receipts that he has kept somewhere "safe" in his office.  We also occasionally have termed employees that didn't have time to complete a final expense report before they leave the company.  Being able to use the MRD would be a big help in these cases.

[TammyK]

I answered fiction but we also run in to the same situation when an employee is terminated. 

Solution:  Our Team decided to use the Terminated email notification as a receipt/attachment for any charges we did not have a receipt for because they were terminated and never completed their final report(s).  We decided on this in the event of an audit so the auditor could see there was a termination and therefore no receipt.  Of course we held the Manager responsible to confirm that each purchase was for the company and not a personal expense on the company card.

[MSteele]

Thank you for the response.  I will bring up a possible change in our policy regarding Termed employees in my next meeting.

[Nancyagfa]

Fiction - The attestation of the expense is a legal document and must be supplied by the person that made the charge for it to hold up in an audit.

[leela2516]

I also say Fiction - for the same reasons as others. In the cases where a delegate does not have a receipt for the expense, they should use a paper "missing receipt" affidavit that is signed by the employee. If the individual is an ex-employee, unless it is a credit card charge, any reimbursement should have a receipt to justify the cash expense. If a credit card charge, then the paper "missing receipt" affidavit could still be included but signed by the manager to support the charge.

[NicholeH]

Fiction. The employee being reimbursed for the expense should be attesting to its validity. Also, if the delegates (admins) were able to do this for them, there would be many more missing receipt affidavits since there is no incentive for keeping track of a receipt.

[PamB]

Fiction. It is a legal document, and NicholeH is correct - there would be a huge increase in volume for missing receipts.  

[TammyK]

Fiction. Exact reasons as NicholeH stated.  Plus, over time that same VP who hates the fact that he actually needs to log in, open his report and click a few buttons might remember to put his receipts in a safe place. 😊 😂

[KevinD]

Hello everyone. Thank you to those who provided responses. I love seeing the participation. Here is the answer to this first Fact or Fiction:

Fiction

Because the expenses do not belong to the delegate and the declaration is an attestation that the expenses are legitimate business expenses, only the person who incurred the expenses should be declaring as such. Think of a court affidavit, it is signed by the actual person making the statement. It is not signed by a delegate or proxy. If so, it would not be legally admissible. 

Be sure to come back on the fourth Wednesday in February for the second installment. Hint: The topic will be travel related.