expoweb/years/2013/accounting_policy.html

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<h1>CUCC Expo 2013 Accounting Policy Document<br/></h1>
June 4, 2013<br/>
<h2>1 Policy Philosophy</h2>
The intentions of this policy are several-fold:<br/>
<ol>
<li>To permit the ﬁnancing of an expedition that breaks even.</li>
<li>To avoid unreasonable expenses being passed on to other expedition members.</li>
<li>To ultimately allow the generation of bills for individuals without surprises.</li>
<li>To allocate costs fairly, insofar as does not take excessive effort.</li>
</ol>
Where choices exist there will be a bias towards encouraging more caving and greater student participation.<br/>
<h2>2 Expo Income</h2>
<h3>2.1 Grants</h3>
Grant money, unless obtained for a speciﬁc purpose, will be divided per person and offset against communal equipment costs.<br/>
<h3>2.2 Deposits</h3>
All expedition members are expected to pay a deposit of &pound;120 before the expedition to ﬁnance
the purchase of expensive communally bought items, unless they are personally incurring a larger communal expedition expense.<br/>
<h3>2.3 Sponsorship</h3>
<p>Sponsored items suitable for communal use (food, some equipment) simply mean the expedition avoids the expense of having to purchase them. Communal equipment remains the property of the expedition for use in future years.</p>
<p>Sponsored items more appropriate to individual use will be sold at below-retail price to individuals and the proﬁt used to subsidize per-day costs. An individual purchasing such an item is responsible for fulﬁlling any conditions stipulated by the sponsor.</p>
<h3>2.4 Personal Contributions</h3>
Charged at the end of the expedition to make the accounts balance.<br/>
<h2>3 Expo Expenditure</h2>
<h3>3.1 Communal Equipment</h3>
For personal equipment, see 3.4.3.<br/>
<p>One-off purchases will be charged per person. This covers items such as tarps, Hilti anchors, ﬁrst aid supplies, t-shirts for Hilda, and communal caving/camping gear bought speciﬁcally for the expedition. Items used in making Expedition Photographs are also in this category;
Expedition Photographs must be requested by the expedition leader and materials and
permission to reproduce and/or modify given to the expedition.</p>
<p>Costs of consumable items will be shared per day spent on expedition. Such items include fuel, bog-rolls and cleaning supplies.</p>
<p>Owners of items borrowed for communal use will receive wear-and-tear compensation if the item’s use is agreed in advance by the expedition committee. Such compensation will be based on proportionate use of the item’s expected lifetime, and will be charged as a one-off purchase. Compensation will be generous (an example being 10% of purchase price for rope
borrowed for the whole expedition), but does not cover replacement in the event of damage.</p>
<p>Anyone informing the expedition treasurer of an intention not to cave prior to the expedition will not pay for top-camp/caving equipment, except any already purchased on their behalf.</p>
<h3>3.2 Transportation</h3>
<b>3.2.1 To/From Austria</b><br/>
<p>Cars can qualify as “serving Expo” for their outward journey and/or for their return journey.<br/>
To achieve “serving Expo” status, the car will taking an acceptably direct route and be
transporting either:<br/>
• Three or more expedition members (including driver) for most of the journey.<br/>
• Two or more expedition members (including driver), plus an appreciable quantity of
communual equipment for most of the journey.</p>
<p>Cars that fail to meet these criteria may also be considered to be “serving Expo” at the discretion of the expedition treasurer.</p>
<p>The transport pool will pay for fuel, ferry and additional insurance/breakdown cover (see
the note below) costs incurred while a car is “serving Expo” if receipts for such costs are provided.
The expedition will not pay for road tolls (it is perfectly possible to drive to Austria from the
UK without incurring any tolls), ﬁnes, any aspect of costs incurred following a breakdown, or for additional equipment legally required to drive to/from Austria.</p>
<p>In addition, car owners are entitled to a &pound;25 wear-and-tear payment for each direction their car is serving Expo.<br/>
<p>Where a car is serving Expo in one direction only, Expo will pay 60% of the additional
insurance/breakdown cover costs and half of the ferry fare only.</p>
<p>The pool will cover the costs of ’plane, bus and train tickets for those who are forced to ﬂy/train/bus
from the UK due to a lack of car space.</p>
<p>Expedition members may exclude themselves/their vehicles from this scheme and travel<br/>independently, but are then responsible for funding their costs.</p>
<p>The cost of the pooled transport to and from Austria will be shared across expedition members
according to the distance they have travelled in the pooled scheme. Any members outwith the scheme will be deemed to have travelled 600km in the scheme to cover the expense of transporting communal gear (reduces to 300km for a one-directional member).</p>
<b>A Note on Vehicle Insurances</b><br/>
<p>Vehicle insurance for an additional driver to assist in getting
to/from Expo, and breakdown cover, will be met by the transport pool, so long as they cost no more than &pound;100 together. In the event of them adding up to more check with the expedition treasurer, with details of what you propose.</p>
<b>Excess Baggage</b><br/>
<p>Similarly to transportation of an independent traveller’s communal gear, a 400km per half Inglesport/Bernie’s bag surcharge will apply to anyone taking signiﬁcantly more than two such bags of personal gear via pooled transport. Please don’t.</p>
<p>Should there be insufﬁcient transport available for communal gear the cost of freighting (with insurance matching replacement cost) will be split per person.</p>
<b>3.2.2 In Austria</b><br/>
<p>Fuel and parking for all vehicles being used for communal purposes (i.e. communal shopping and going caving) will be combined and charged per day spent in Austria.</p>
<p>Driving unrelated to Expo (“Jollies”) must be entered on the appropriate page in the Bier Book, and will be deducted from drivers’ petrol allowances. It is the driver’s responsibility to enter swaps to distribute the costs between their passengers.</p>
<p>A &pound;10 wear-and-tear allowance will be paid to a vehicle’s owner for each week or major
fraction thereof the vehicle is on Expo and transporting people communally.
The toll road cost will be shared equally across all caving members of the expedition.</p>
<h3>3.3 Maintenance</h3>>
<h4>3.3.1 Food and Drink</h4>
<p>Communal food and drink costs will be shared on a time on expedition basis. Personal<br/>food/drink items must be accounted separately in the Bier Book.<br/>
<p>G&ouml;sser and limos will be charged individually based on Bier Book tallies.<br/>
<h4>3.3.2 Accommodation</h4>
<p>Base camp fees will be shared on nights spent at base camp.</p>
<h3>3.4 Individual Expenses</h3>
<h4>3.4.1 Swaps</h4>
<p>Person-to-person transactions are processed through the Bier Book, and costs transferred directly. Examples include excursion expenses and personal food/drink.</p>
<h4>3.4.2 Seshes and the Expo Dinner</h4>
<p>Gastronomic binges in the local hostelries ultimately turn in to swaps, but must be clearly
written down at the time if any hope of reality is subsequently desired.</p>
<p>Expo Dinner participants will be billed according to their recorded meal choices.</p>
<h4>3.4.3 Personal Gear</h4>
<p>Any items bought speciﬁcally for expedition members will be charged directly to the individual based on the information supplied by the purchaser to the expedition treasurer. No allowance for wear-and-tear of personal equipment will be made.</p>
<h4>3.4.4 Carbide</h4>
<p>Sold at &pound;2 per week, if anyone still uses it.</p>
<h4>3.4.5 Rescue Costs</h4>
<p>Not an item for the expedition accounts, expedition members are entirely liable for rescue costs. Buy insurance.</p>
<b>Financial and Accounting Responsibilities for Expo-goers</b><br/>
<ol>
<li>Pay a deposit.<br/>
<li>Keep receipts, give them to the expedition treasurer.</li>
<li>If you are in any doubt whether the expedition will reimburse an expense do not incur</li>
it before obtaining the expedition treasurer’s agreement.</li>
<li>Fill in the relevant pages of the Bier Book fastidiously.</li>
<li>Where possible, enter details of your expenses on the Expo computer.</li>
<li>Leave money when you leave Austria in order to cover your share of the campsite bill.</li>
<li>Pay your bill within a reasonable timeframe after the accounts are ﬁnalized.</li>
</ol>
<p>Regarding item 5, an accounting system will be available for submitting your expenses on the computer. Primarily this is to make the expedition treasurer’s job easier, but it also avoids misinterpretation of your scrawlings, and will allow easier estimation of expedition members’ relative ﬁnancial positions during Expo (which ideally ought to be even).<br/>
When making paper or electronic entries ensure they are clear.<br/>
<h2><b>Implementation of this Policy</b></h2>
<p>The expedition treasurer, Stuart Walker (s.walker.2010@my.bristol.ac.uk), will manage the expedition’s ﬁnances. In the ﬁrst instance queries ought to be addressed to him. The only recourse is to Alex Crow (a.ckrow@gmail.com), the expedition leader.</p>
<p>By attending the expedition it is assumed you agree to subsequently clear any debts owed to other expedition members which arise due to application of this policy.</p>
<p>All expense claims must be submitted to the expedition treasurer by 14 September 2013.</p>
<p>Expenses without receipts may not be reimbursed.</p>
<p>Any person-to-person swap which the debtor disputes, and for which the creditor cannot provide evidence, will not be processed through the expedition accounts.</p>
<p>The accounts will be based in pounds sterling. Euro denominated transactions will be
converted using the best achievable Euro selling rate at the start of the expedition. This rate
will be updated during the expedition should exchange rates change signiﬁcantly.</p>
<p>This document can be amended following consultation with those going on the expedition,
and general agreement being reached. An updated version will then be circulated.</p>
<p>The expedition treasurer reserves the right to alter the policy post Expo, but only where the policy proves unworkable or is found to be in conﬂict with the initially stated intentions. Affected parties will be advised at the earliest opportunity in order for general agreement to be reached on any modiﬁed scheme.</p>
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