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Missionaries are expected to employ sound expense management practices and exercise prudent financial management in their stewardship of Reliant resources. As such, missionaries share the responsibility of ensuring that these resources are used appropriately, support the ministry, and comply with Reliant policies, applicable laws and regulations, and donor restrictions. All missionaries and central employees are expected to exercise due diligence when generating, reviewing, and approving transactions that commit to the expenditure of Reliant Fundsfunds. Missionaries must use discretion and also consider the reputation of the ministry when determining how much to spend on any given expense. Excessive and unnecessary expenditures must be avoided, and Reliant may, in its sole discretion, decline to reimburse excessive expenses. 

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• Could the cost be comfortably defended under public scrutiny?
• Would you be confident if the cost was selected for audit?Would you be comfortable reading about it in the newspaper?
• Would you be comfortable explaining to a donor that their donation was used this way?
• Does the supporting documentation align with the reimbursement policy?

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Reliant's Accountable Reimbursement Plan states that missionaries must follow the following basic guidelines when submitting a reimbursement. (See Documentation Guidelines for more detailsgreater detail.)

1. 1. Current approved Reliant reimbursement request forms are required for expense submission.
   2. Itemized original receipts and all other appropriate substantiating documents must be received by the Reliant finance department within 60 days after the end of the month in which the expense occurs, is incurred or is paid by the employee. (See receipt guidelines below for more details.) 
   3. Employees must provide a written explanation for each expense submitted clearly documenting:

      • Description of the item

      • Who the item is for which includes
        • Actual first and last names of the people involved
        • The ministry relationship of the person(s) to the missionary. If expense relates to five or more people, list them as a group with the specific number in the group (e.g. 12 ministry partners). Actual names are not necessary for groups of five or more people. The groups must have the same uniform ministry relationship (e.g. ministry partners, members of church music team, etc.). Otherwise, use of actual first and last names is required, if the relationship is not uniform.

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For all Reimbursement and Expense Recovery Bonus requests must be received within 60 days after the end of the month in which the expense occurs, in incurred, or is paid by the employee. However, flights/rental cars/hotels for travel expenses that were paid for prior to the month of travel can either be reimbursed when purchased or in the month that the travel actually occurs as both the payment date and travel date will be listed on the receipt for documentation. 

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Reliant requires that itemized receipts for expenses greater than $75 must be submitted along with the reimbursement form. (The only exception to the $75 limit is that a receipt is always needed for all hotel/lodging receipts regardless of the amount requested for reimbursement.)

Receipts must include itemized information related to what you purchased, dollar amount paid, date, name the following itemized details:

• What was purchased
• Amount paid
• Date
• Name of the company (or

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• person) that was paid

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• And (if applicable to the receipt) your name listed as the "payee" (such as for a flight or hotel)

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Credit Card Receipts

Credit card statements or credit card signature receipts that don’t include the list of purchased items are not acceptable as the only receipt documentation for an expense. However, typically it is the credit card receipt that shows any tips that have been added to the purchase. If you would like to reimburse the tip amount for an expense over $75 where an itemized receipt is required, please attach both the itemized receipt and the credit card receipt showing the amount included for the tip expense. 

Hand-Written Receipts

Hand-written receipts are acceptable when a printed itemized receipt is not available as long as it contains the following criteria.

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If a Reliant missionary pays an individual for a portion of an expense that requires a receipt, that receipt must come from the individual who collected the money and paid for the full expense. Make sure to include all details required for a receipt detailed above. For this type of situation, using the handwritten receipt guidelines or the app receipt guidelines above could be helpfulmay apply. Remember, if it is for a hotel purchase, an expense, a copy of the itemized receipt is always required no matter the amount being reimbursed.

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