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General Guidelines

Stewardship Responsibility

Field As noted in the policy, field staff are expected to employ sound expense management practices and exercise prudent financial management in their stewardship of Reliant resources. As such, field staff 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 field staff employees are expected to exercise due diligence when generating, reviewing, and approving transactions that commit to the expenditure of Reliant funds. Field staff 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. 

As noted in the policy, general criteria for determining a permissible expense is that they must be reasonable, ordinary, necessary, and directly related to the field staff’s job and ministry.

In the course of raising financial support and conducting ministry, it is reasonable to expect that field staff will incur legitimate ministry-related expenses. Any expense that does not support the ministry of Reliant and does not reflect proper stewardship is considered non-reimbursable and non-recoverable regardless of the source of funds. Reliant expects that field staff will demonstrate scrupulous integrity when deciding whether an expense is ministry related or personal in nature. Field staff may not use, or attempt to use, Reliant's non-profit status for personal benefit (e.g. avoiding state sales tax on personal or ministry items). Misuse or attempted misuse of Reliant's non-profit status is grounds for discipline, up to and including termination, in Reliant's sole discretion. 

General Criteria For Determining A Permissible Expense 

In order to be reimbursed to an individual, a ministry expense must be:

• Necessary to perform a valid ministry purpose fulfilling the mission of Reliant; and
• Reasonable in that the expense is not extreme or excessive, and reflects a prudent decision to incur the expense; and
• Ordinary
• Appropriate in that the expense is suitable and fitting in the context of the valid business purpose.

Necessary

An expense is necessary if there is a valid ministry purpose required to fulfill the mission of the Reliant. The primary beneficiary of a necessary ministry expense is Reliant or the participants in the ministry activity, not the individual. A necessary expense is a minimum purchase or service required to achieve a valid ministry objective.

Reasonable

Reasonable means that the amount being spent reflects the value that normally would be spent in that specific situation. An expense is considered reasonable if it is not extreme or excessive and reflects a fair and prudent decision and action to incur the expense. A cost may be considered reasonable if the nature of the goods or services acquired, and the amount involved, therefore, reflect the action that a prudent person would have taken under the circumstances prevailing at the time the decision to incur the cost was made. Major considerations involved in the determination of the reasonableness of a cost are: (a) whether or not the cost is of a type generally recognized as necessary for the operation of the ministry; (b) whether or not the individuals concerned acted with due prudence in circumstances, considering their responsibilities to the ministry, its employees, its participants, the Federal Government, and the public at large; and (c) whether or not the cost represents fair value for the good or service provided.

Appropriate

Costs are appropriate if they are suitable or fitting for a ministry purpose. For a cost to be appropriate it is also presumed that there is a valid ministry purpose, which is normally the responsibility of the missionary to determine.

The following questions should be considered when determining the appropriateness of costs:

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

 *Reliant reserves the right to determine whether or not an expense fulfills the above criteria. 

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Submission Request Types

• Expenses that qualify under IRS guidance for non-taxable reimbursed business expenses are referred to as a “Reimbursement”. Reimbursements can be paid out of the MTD account for which you are responsible or from project funds. 
• Requests for recovery of expenses that do not qualify for non-taxable reimbursement under the IRS guidance are referred to as “Expense Recovery Bonus” or ERB. These expenses will be recuperated through a bonus which will be considered additional taxable wages (compensation) for the missionaryfield staff. 

Accountable Reimbursement Plan 

In the course of raising financial support and conducting ministry, it is reasonable to expect that field staff will incur legitimate ministry-related expenses. Any expense that does not support the ministry of Reliant and does not reflect proper stewardship is considered non-reimbursable and non-recoverable regardless of the source of funds. Reliant expects that field staff will demonstrate scrupulous integrity when deciding whether an expense is ministry related or personal in nature. field staff may not use, or attempt to use, Reliant's non-profit status for personal benefit (e.g. avoiding state sales tax on personal or ministry items). Misuse or attempted misuse of Reliant's non-profit status is grounds for discipline, up to and including termination, in Reliant's sole discretion. 

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

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• "Expense advances"- fill in details

Relevant Forms

All submissions for expense reimbursements and bonuses should use the appropriate form listed below.

• Current approved Reliant reimbursement request forms are required for expense submission.
• Expense advances, primarily relating to large, expected travel expenditures, may be available. Please refer to the Expense Advances for details. If advance payments to cover anticipated expenses are made by Reliant, field staff must return all unused portions within 90 days.
• Exception requests are available for submission in the event of a denied reimbursement or a late submission. 

Included on the form with each expense should be:

1. 1. Itemized original receipts and all other appropriate substantiating documents must be received by the Reliant finance department central 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.) 
   2. Employees must provide a written explanation for each expense submitted clearly documenting:

      • Description of the itemexpense

      • Who Whom the item is for which includes:
        • Actual first First and last names of the people involved
        • The ministry relationship of the person(s) to the missionaryfield staff. 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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*Please refer to all Reimbursement Standards, which detail receipt information and other specific criteria.

Expense advances, primarily relating to large, expected travel expenditures, may be available. Please refer to the Expense Advances for details. If advance payments to cover anticipated expenses are made by Reliant, field staff must return all unused portions within 90 days.

Exception requests are available for submission in the event of a denied reimbursement or a late submission. 

Submission Timeframe

For all Reimbursement Reimbursements and Expense Recovery Bonus Bonuses, 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 prior to the month of travel can either be reimbursed when purchased or in the month that the travel actually occurs as both is incurred. An expense is incurred when an item is purchased or in the case of pre-payment for travel or an event the expense is incurred when the travel or event actually has taken place. (For example, an expense is incurred when something is purchased or when travel or an event has actually taken place as long as both the payment date and travel date will be are listed on the receipt for documentation. )

Late submissions will only be accepted considered on a case-by-case basis by the submission of an exception request. The exception request must include a valid reason for the late submission and include supervisor approval.

Please view Payment Dates & Deadlines for more details on the timing of receiving reimbursement/bonus funds based on the submission date. 

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Receipts for Shared Expenses

If a Reliant missionary field staff pays an individual for a portion of an expense that requires a receipt (the portion is over $75), they will need to submit two receipts.  The missionary field staff submitting the expense will need both a copy of the original receipt with the full expense amount listed from the individual who collected the money and paid for the full expense as well as submitting a hand-written or mobile/banking app receipt for the portion paid to the individual to give Reliant a paper trail for both transactions. Make sure to include all details required for the hand-written or mobile/banking app receipts as detailed above. Remember, if it is for a hotel expense, a copy of the itemized receipt is always required no matter the amount being reimbursed.

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Sufficient Funds Required

If the MTD account a missionary field staff is responsible for with Reliant does not contain sufficient funds to provide full reimbursement for the amount requested by the employee on a reimbursement request form, Reliant will hold the form and delay reimbursement until sufficient funds are available in the staff MTD account, in accordance with Reliant's approved order of pay.

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Requesting a Reimbursement be Partially Paid Out (forfeiting any un-reimbursed expenses)

If a missionary field staff would like to request a reimbursement be partially paid out using the available funds, they must agree to forfeit any un-reimbursed amount from that reimbursement.  For example, if there is a $1,000 reimbursement that's next in line for the order of reimbursement payout and only $650 is available to pay out.  The missionary field staff may elect to send an email to reimbursements@reliant.org asking the reimbursement team to pay the $1,000 reimbursement using the available funds, and acknowledging that they forfeit any un-reimbursed portion of that reimbursement. Note: this action is completely voluntary and at the discretion of the missionaryfield staff.  

Here's a sample email of how to word the email.

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Exiting Employment with Unpaid Reimbursements

If a missionary field staff is exiting employment and has reached their final month of payroll without receiving enough funds to fully cover the total amount of a submitted reimbursement, Reliant will automatically reimburse a portion (based on available funds) of the submitted reimbursement without the missionary field staff needing to submit a request for partial payment of the reimbursement.

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