NESFA® Treasury Procedures: Use of Advance Accounts for Purchases
NESFA members who have an advance account
may under certain circumstances use it to purchase books and memberships.
The advance account may be used if any of the following is true:
- The member's advance account has a credit balance; i.e.,
shows NESFA owing the member enough, or almost enough, money to cover the purchase.
(Peachtree shows credit balances with a minus sign.)
- The member has an active advance account. The NESFA Standing Rules
§2.4(6)
does not define what constitutes an active advance account, but gives an example of an idle
one, saying that it is one with no expense reports in the last year.
A guideline for considering an advance account to be active is
where the member has a recent history of turning in expense reports equal to
twice the current balance in the advance account each year. So if a member
has an advance account with a $300 debit balance, then it's an active account if
they are turning in expense reports of more than $600 per year or $150 per quarter.
- The Treasurer has authorized that person to use an advance account.
The same section of the standing rules says that the Treasurer may decline charging
to an advance account, but says nothing about what the Treasurer must do.
The Treasurer, therefor, may allow charging to an advance account even if it is
idle, and even if the person has a large debit balance owing.
If none of the three criteria is met, then the member may not use their
advance account for purchases unless the NESFA Treasurer authorizes such use.