Booking Company Reimbursements from a Pre-Loaded Debit Card

[Scott Colby]

I am able to be reimbursed for the costs of public transit through my company. This is done in two manners, either by direct reimbursement in my paycheck or a pre-loaded debit card. I utilized the former option for the first couple months until the debit card was issued to me.

What kind of account should I use for the "expense" leg of the public transit purchases? I've previously booked public transit costs under `Expenses:Travel:PublicTransit`, but in this case this isn't my expense, it's my company's.

Below is an example of my beancount file. The two legs marked with `<--` are those I have questions about.

2019-01-01 open Income:US:Hooli:Reimbursements:CommuterBenefit USD  ; started work on New Years?

2019-01-01 open Assets:AccountsReceivable:Hooli USD
2019-03-01 open Assets:US:Hooli:CommuterDebitCard USD  ; finally got the debit card in March

2019-01-03 open Assets:US:MetroCardEsqueStoredValue USD  ; got my stored value card a soon after starting work

; the process of using a receivable for the reimbursement makes sense

2019-01-03 * "Public Transit Authority" "card purchase and add value" ^commute-benefit-jan-19
    Assets:AccountsReceivable:Hooli 1.00 USD  ; the card cost $1
    Assets:US:MetroCardEsqueStoredValue 20.00 USD  ; and I added $20 to it
    Liabilities:MyCreditCard

2019-01-11 * "Public Transit Authority" "bus fare 2019-01-03 -- 2019-01-11" ^commute-benefit-jan-19
    Assets:US:MetroCardEsqueStoredValue -20.00 USD
    Assets:AccountsReceivable:Hooli

2019-01-20 * "Hooli Payroll" ^commute-benefit-jan-19
    Assets:US:MyBank:Checking 21.00 USD
    Assets:AccountsReceivable:Hooli
    ; etc.

; ...

; however the process for using the debit card does not make sense to me at the moment

2019-03-01 * "Commuter Debit Card" "load of value" ^commute-benefit-mar-19
    Assets:US:Hooli:CommuterDebitCard 100.00 USD
    Income:US:Hooli:Reimbursements:CommuterBenefit

2019-03-01 * "Public Transit Authority" "add value" ^commute-benefit-mar-19
    Assets:US:MetroCardEsqueStoredValue 20.00 USD
    Assets:US:Hooli:CommuterDebitCard

2019-03-08 * "Public Transit Authority" "bus fare 2019-03-01 -- 2019-03-08" ^commute-benefit-mar-19
    Assets:US:MetroCardEsqueStoredValue -20.00 USD
    Expenses:Travel:PublicTransit  ; <-- this is my question

2019-03-10 * "Public Transit Authority" "bought weekly pass" ^commute-benefit-mar-19
    Assets:US:Hooli:CommuterDebitCard -15.00 USD
    Expenses:Travel:PublicTransit  ; <-- same question

(I realize tracking the exact value on my transit card is a bit...pedantic and, to be honest, I'm considering ignoring it entirely but now that I'm wrestling with the problem of how to book these I'm interested in finding out how to do so.)

[Patrick Ruckstuhl]

Hi,

the bookings should be between

Assets:US:Hooli:CommuterDebitCard

and your receivable account. As this wasn't an expense for you. Basically it's moving from one kind of assets (money on your card) to another kind of assets (money you should receive from your company).

Regards,
Patrick

[the.so...@gmail.com]

Dear Scott,

What you are doing currently is correct. From your perspective, it *is* an expense, since you're recording the money you get from your company ("Income:US:Hooli:Reimbursements:CommuterBenefit") as an income.  

This recording of income makes this a case of "spending using company resources", rather than "spending on behalf of the company" (which gets recorded as a receivable asset, since you'll get reimbursed).  If you want, you can mark such expenses separately as, "Expenses:Hooli:Travel:PublicTransit", so that you can distinguish between your personal expenses, and expenses using company resources.  (FWIW, I also track the value on my transit card.)

I hope that helps.

Regards,

Pranesh

[the.so...@gmail.com]

Alternatively, instead of accounting for the money from your company in the debit card as an income, you could account for it as a contra expense (i.e., an expense account with a *negative* balance, instead of the normal positive balance).  Another example of the use of a contra expense account is for reward coupons/cards which go to reduce the amount of your expense, but aren't really "income".

[Scott Colby]

Dear Pranesh et al.,

I feel like a concept just clicked! Of course if I'm booking receiving the money as Income then spending it would be at my Expense. I don't think that I want to actually count this benefit as income then, especially since it is also non-taxable to me.

If I do swap to an asset/receivable approach, I think my transactions would look like this:

2019-03-01 * "Commuter Debit Card" "load of value"

    Assets:US:Hooli:CommuterDebitCard 100.00

USD
    What:Is:This:Account?




2019-03-10 * "Public Transit Authority" "bought weekly pass"


    Assets:US:Hooli:CommuterDebitCard -15.00

USD
    What:Is:This:Account?



In the first transaction, I have to create value in an Asset with no clear (to me) source and then in the second I then spend that value. Should those two legs be on the same account so once I've spent all my commuter money both Assets:US:Hooli:CommuterDebitCard and the other account are back at 0?

Thanks,

Scott

[Pranesh Prakash]

The way I see it, you have two options to account for what your company provides you via their debit card: (1) Income; (2) Contra-Expense.  Since you don't want it to be "income", make it a contra expense account.

For the first case (2019-03-01), the "What:Is:This:Account?" the contra expense account could be: "Expenses:Hooli:CommuterDebitCard", or even "Expenses:Travel:PublicTransit:HooliDebitCard".  If you opt for the latter, then when you query the balance in "Expenses:Travel", it will show you the balance of your personal travel expenses (since it will deduct the "Expenses:Travel:PublicTransit:HooliDebitCard" expenses as those are negative rather than positive).

For the second case (2019-03-10), you can simply continue to use "Expenses:Travel:PublicTransit" (or "Assets:US:MetroCard", when you're loading money into the metro card).  Whether you account for the debit card you receive from your company for your commute as "Income" or "Contra Expense", the money you spend towards the commute itself would remain an expense.

If I'm missing something, please do correct me.

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[Scott Colby]

Sorry to necro the thread, but I want to thank you for helping out
with this. I went with the contra expense account and have been very
happy with it.

Thanks,
Scott

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