They just won't cooperate!

[Katie G]

I am responsible for reconciling our department's budget expense reports against the records I have of all expenses incurred by the department.  (Basically a glorified balancing of the checkbook, if you will.)



The way this system is supposed to work is that I get at least a copy of any paperwork that has anything to do with incurring any expenses in the department -- receipts from corporate credit card usage, receipts from anything ordered over the internet, any supplies ordered, any printing jobs, etc.  I file them and when the report from the accounting department arrives, I should be able to go back to the files and have "backup" for all the charges.  Now most of this paperwork crosses my desk because it's my boss who has to sign off on them.  However, there are some instances like corporate credit card purchases and internet orders, and inter-departmental "arrangements" that seem to work their way around us.  I get the monthly report and BAM! there are thousands of dollars of charges that I can't account for!



It's not my boss' or my job to say whether they can or can't spend it, but it is our job to know who is spending how much on what so we can do accurate budgeting.  We've tried to tell people that we don't ask for these copies to "police" the spending, but just so we have some backup.  (What if we're audited?!?)



The problem is that my boss just recently took over this job of doing the budgeting.  Frankly, nobody else wanted to do it.  It's not even really his area, but the person who had done it before has retired and he was a vice-president and my boss is not, so he doesn't quite have the same amount of authority as his predecessor.  Before, people were used to spending the money like water and it was the former VP's job to "make it work".  Well, he had the power to do that.  To make matters worse, we have a new VP and a new President for that matter who are looking much closer at the financial situation.



Sorry this is so long winded but there are a lot of "political" issues here and I feel like we've been given the responsibility to get this stuff done, but no authority to do it.  How can we get some cooperation here?



 

[ohiosec]

Didface, I post, track and balance all the expenses/invoices for my department.  Since you don't have the power to crack the whip, I would simply report the discrepencies to your boss in an e-mail and let him decide how he wants to handle it.  

[bethalize]

Presumably people are only using corporate credit cards to purchase things. Could you get individual statements for each credit card, make a copy, and get each credit card holder to fill in an expenses form? The way I have always seen it done (and by gum! I hated doing it) was that people had to account for everything, if not with a proper receipt then with a handwritten note detailing the expenditure.  

[laundryhater]

If it were me in this situation, I would ask my boss to have a meeting with the people who "police" company credit card usage to inform them that you are having a lot of trouble getting people to turn in their receipts and that you need those receipts in order to balance the budget. Have him/her suggest that until employees are willing to be responsible enough to turn in receipts and documentation to you, that their company credit card privileges be suspended.

[Katie G]

Great posts, everyone....but.....



If this were a corporation, that would be one thing, but we're a university, a damn big state one, and the "powers that be" are so far above my boss and I that going up the ladder of responsibility would be pointless.  (One of the biggest offenders is my boss' boss, the assistant VP)  I'd LOVE to see the corporate cards disappear and have them do stuff on their personal credit cards and get reimbursed.  You can be sure there'd be no "lost" receipts then!  But the reality is that simply isn't going to happen.



We also big enough that there's some confusion in other departments over who has actual signature authority here.  Some depts seem to think that it's our assistant VP.  It's NOT, but stuff is going through on his signature without us ever seeing it.  I just found out that the printing department did a job for us on our AVP's signature that cost us a couple thousand dollars.  I have NO PAPERWORK at all on this! Poof! another mystery charge on the cost report (and just try to get somebody to own up to it!)



Sorry for the rant.  I'm just so frustrated with this whole mess...I've spent 5 days trying to reconcile this stuff and I'm getting nowhere.  AND our NEW VP just went on a "thing" about "timely" accounting.  It's like the story of Rumplestiltskin.  I'm expected to make gold from straw, but this time there's no little man to help me out.



I'm also upset because we've got an office move coming up.  Everything is being kept hush-hush (why?).  I ask questions, I get told, "Don't worry about that" and the next thing I know somebody from the architect's office is calling ME about where a wall should go.  It took every ounce of strength in me not to say, "How in the HELL should I know!?!"



You'd think I was the only support person in this office.  I'm not.  There are five others here but, in all blunt honesty, the majority of them are, well, "lightweights", so here I am doing the budget, organizing a move, and acting as a temporary HR person for the new VP, and the rest are, well, I'm not sure but we're talking about people who can make sending a fax an entire morning's work if you know what I mean. (Oh, and we all get paid the same.....)



Grr.



It goes to show the reward for a job well done is more work!

[whitesatin]

Did,



You seem to be in a "no win" situation that is only going to get worse as time goes on.  Sounds to me like it may be time to polish up that resume and start sending it out to prospective employers.  You shouldn't have to put up with such a miserable situation with no way out.



WhiteSatin  

[laundryhater]

I agree with Whitesatin. Sounds like a good solution to keeping your sanity is to just find a job elsewhere.



Your people there are asking the impossible: "Do your job in a timely and efficient manner. But don't expect us to cooperate in any way."



The only other solution, which sounds like won't work in this case, is to go to the new VP (who mentioned that he wants timely accounting) and explain why accounting can't get done timely (staff isn't turning in paperwork). Then at least maybe he will stop ridding your a** about timely accounting.



But in the end, I think you would be much happier somewhere else where your efforts will be appreciated. Sounds like they are taking advantage of you (making you do more than others and not getting a pay raise for it).



Good luck.