This document is to be read in conjunction with the Expenses Policy.
If you are a member of a team or sub-committee it would be expected that you or your team lead have made a prior request to the council for an expense (see the team's policy) or that the expense was approved by your treasurer. If it was approved then the general process for receiving reimbursement is to email a copy of the receipt and your bank details to your treasurer or the Linux Australia Treasurer.
If you are (or going to be) making regular expense claims (as a team member or sub-committee member) it is recommended you get an account set up in Xero to allow you to make claims. If this is the case email treasurer@linux.org.au and they'll invite you into Xero.
- Log into Xero
- Click on Expense claims
- Under the default tab (Current Claim) click on Add Receipt
- Fill out the details for one receipt only.
- If you have multiple receipts, click Save and add another. Otherwise just Save.
- Once you have finished adding receipts you will be returned to the current claim tab.
- You may add any notes or more receipts from here.
- Once you're ready, submit the appropriate receipts for approval.
- Email a scanned copy of your receipt your treasurer for recordkeeping and your bank details for reimbursement.
- The treasurer will then approve (or deny if appropriate) your claim and deposit money into your account accordingly.
As per the sub-committee policy, seed funding may be given as seen fit by the council on review of the budget. The council also reserves the right to control the amount of cash in your account. For example should you have a large sum of money from sales the council may see fit to move the money into an interest bearing account. Should you require money back into your account to make a payment you must email the council treasurer. The money in your account does not at all represent the amount at your disposal and should not affect your budget.
Linux Australia is here to assist you. Should have you any questions or need help with any payments or accounting items please don't hesitate to contact the council or the Treasurer.
The treasurer and one other member (typically the coordinator) of a sub-committee should have access to Westpac in order to make payments. The first thing that you will be required to do is get a Customer Access Number from Westpac. If you are an existing customer you will already have one, otherwise you will have to go into any Westpac branch and have one assigned. Once you have your access number, email the Linux Australia Treasurer your full name, email address and access number and they will add you into Westpac (and Xero).
Once you are added, you can then log in from the Business online portal login. Once logged in you will then see your account and available funds. If you can't see the Linux Australia bank account and/or you are seeing your personal bank accounts, ensure that Linux Australia Incorporated is selected in the drop down in the top left of the banking page.
Payments below $5,000 you will be able to make yourself with two signatures. The Treasurer and Coordinator should both be able to sign a transaction but should you require somebody else when either member is unavailable, email the council as they have multiple signatories who can help.
To make a payment, click on the Banking tab or your account name. Then the menu down the left should show helpful options such as Pay Anybody or BPay. From these pages you can enter the deposit details as per normal. Once submitted the payment will go to the pending page (link down the left). It then requires the aforementioned two signatures. After it has been fully signed it is still required to be submitted before the actual funds are transferred. It is important that you remember to sign and submit your payment as simply adding it to the list or signing it will not get it paid.
For amounts above $5,000 you are still able to set up. It will then appear in the pending list where it will require a council member with a token to sign it. At this point email the council treasurer and they can sign and optionally submit the payment for you.
In Xero there are a bunch of Accounts that are controlled by the council Treasurer. When filling invoices and claims etc you should put it next to one of these Accounts. If the item does not fit in an appropriate Account, contact the council treasurer and they will set up a new Account or advise you appropriately. Each transaction is also tracked by an Area. This Area is specific to your sub-committee and should be applied to all your transactions (for example LCA201x). This allows us to do reporting based on sub-committees.
- To invoice a customer go to Accounts -> Accounts Receivable and add a new invoice as per Xero documentation here: ---
- You may be required to set up the customer's details if they aren't already in Xero. To do so go to the Customers tab and add a new one (---)
- Ensure that the correct Account and Area settings are applied.
- An invoice is generated in a PDF format and is able to be emailed to the customer (this is recommended). To do so, click on the Send Invoice link (---).
- Linux Australia is registered for GST and as such all invoices should have GST applied. (---international invoices?)
- Once done, the invoice will go to the Awaiting Approval tab. If you are ready to invoice the customer you may approve it. It will then sit in awaiting payment until reconciling is done. There is no need to add a payment against the invoice as this is taken care of at reconciliation.
Note: You can change the branding on the invoice to suit your sub-committee by going to Settings->General Settings->Invoice branding. It is easiest just to duplicate the Linux Australia stationery and change appropriately. You are at least required to keep Linux Australia's name and ABN on the invoice.
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When you pay an invoice you will need to enter the details into Xero.
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To do so go to Accounts->Accounts Payable and add a new invoice.
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Fill in the invoice as closely to the issued invoice as possible.
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Assign an appropriate Account and Area.
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Once happy, click on save.
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The invoice will enter the Awaiting Approval section. If you are happy with it you may approve it where it will jump to the Awaiting payment section. It is at this point that you pay the invoice but don't bother adding a payment against the invoice as this will be picked up during reconciliation. As a result any payment in the Awaiting Payment section should actually be paid already. Therefore don't approve any invoices until you are ready to pay at the same time. (Be careful not to be confused, this is unfortunately just the way we operate within Xero).
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Log into Westpac and process the payment.
- Go to Accounts->Expense Claims and have a look at the claims awaiting authorisation.
- Similar to how approving an invoice and marking it awaiting payment indicates that it is paid but not reconciled, any expense claim that is Authorised should be paid.
- Thus as you authorise the expense claim, pay it to the payee from Westpac.
- It can then sit in awaiting payment until reconciliation where the payments will be aligned.
- The Linux Australia Treasurer will import bank transactions for you.
- When you log into Xero from the Dashboard or the Accounts page you should see whether you have items that need reconciling against your account. If this is the case, you are required to reconcile them.
- Most transactions are automatically lined up for you against existing invoices and expense claims. Reconciling is mainly a matter of checking the item, Account and Area all line up correctly. If they do, go ahead and reconcile it.
- For items that aren't automatically lined up you can quickly create a Journal entry from within the reconcile page (See Xero reconciling documentation).
- It is best for the Linux Australia Treasurer to walk you through reconciling for the first time and then helping you in the future if you run into any trouble.