Imprests and JPA

[Lionel Lion]

Bit out of the loop at the mo.....can any Brize or Lyneham types tell me how FSI will work after JPA day? The question was asked at the briefing and no answer was forthcoming

TVM

[dessert_flyer]

went to a brief recently where it was brought up, we were told that it would remain the same except for capped actuals will exist. Th imprest holder gives out money in the same way, but those claiming the meals are to produce reciepts and give them to the imprest holder accounting for every penny spent. The advice given was to put the receipts from each individual into a sealed envelope. This would mean that the individuals who give in the receipts, hope that the imprest holder dosnt lose them so that when it is one of the imprtests is audited it all adds up. Now how is that for progress.

[16 blades]

Apparently, rates will be issued as before, calculated as a 'capped actual' (read 'much less money'). You must then obtain a reciept for all meals purchased and return any unspent (read 'unreciepted') cash back to the imprest holder.

This is going to be interesting - with poor copilots collecting a MASSIVE swathe of reciepts at the end of a 2-week route, with 25 crew, and having to go through EACH ONE ensuring that it accounts for the difference between money issued / money returned....it won't work.

16B

Edit: Not quick enough....

[Tourist]

Not trying to be funny, but what exactly is an impresst?
I am aware that it is a lunp of cash you take with you, but how is it worked out, and more importantly how come we never had one in the RN?

[ratty1]

Originally Posted by 16 blades

This is going to be interesting - with poor copilots collecting a MASSIVE swathe of reciepts at the end of a 2-week route, with 25 crew, and having to go through EACH ONE ensuring that it accounts for the difference between money issued / money returned....it won't work.

16B

Edit: Not quick enough....

25 Crew?????????? Now you see we dont have that problem on the "J". Whoops wrong thread.

[Tourist]

If we are switched on, which is in my case never, we can put in a c30 and claim some in advance individually, but more often we have to put in a claim with receipts later. Prefer your method

[dessert_flyer]

All 3 services are going onto jpa, however the RAF is going to be the first to accept the system, with the Army and Navy either later this year or next year, so we are all going to have to suffer this new system in the end, fantastic isnt it.

[Could be the last?]

To avoid the uncertainty of whether or not you will be audited, could you not ask to have the imprest audited on your return as a matter of course?

Spread the pain and it would certainly put the ball back in the blunties court. Also, if you have offered yourself up for audit and they decline, would you have to keep the receipts for 12 months?

[16 blades]

This system is going to be an administrative nightmare for imprest holders. There'll barely be enough time for a copilot to balance their imprest on the last inbound leg.....er, I mean at the end of every day!

Seriously, what are they going to do? Add an extra hour to crew duty to allow cos / loadies to balance up at the end of each leg?? They're gonna need it!

16B

[Avtur]

As I understand with JPA expenses, a receipt is not required for any purchase that is £5 (~$9 US) or less. We could therefore argue that all our prchases were for goods under £5 and would therefore not be required to produce any receipts. For example: We are entitled to a 1 course breakfast plus drink (rules do not specifically exclude alcohol either), a 2 course lunch plus drink, and a 3 course dinner plus drink. You do not have to purchase everything from the same eatery so you would be entitled to have each course at a different place. Clearly all drinks and each course will be £5 each. That is 3 drinks and 6 courses per day at £5 each, totalling £45 or $81 US, which must be within the ball park for a days rates in the States.

???????

[Dr Schlong]

Has anyone seen/heard anything from an official source? I'm under the impression that despite all the rumours flying around, imprests are going to remain as they are. Or am I being hopelessly optimistic?

[brakedwell]

Originally Posted by 16 blades

This system is going to be an administrative nightmare for imprest holders. There'll barely be enough time for a copilot to balance their imprest on the last inbound leg.....er, I mean at the end of every day!
Seriously, what are they going to do? Add an extra hour to crew duty to allow cos / loadies to balance up at the end of each leg?? They're gonna need it!
16B

You could always go into the Lyneham holding pattern for a couple of hours while the Copilot finishes his paperwork.

[Hoots]

Luckily for the Officers, on the kipper fleet its the SNCO's that do the imprest, should there be a det with 20 to 25 people it would be a nightmare for the imprest holder to keep track of all receipts. I was under the impression that the individual would keep their own receipts for a year incase of audit and not the imprest holder. If someone could please correct me if im wrong. The admin burden if it was the imprest holder to account for all receipts would be unacceptable. I would prefer the imprest holder to be focussed on the flying job rather than the admin burden, maybe taking an Admin branch officer on each trip to look after the imprest would be the solution. Some parts of JPA could be good, if it works and access can be guaranteed but this Capped Actuals initially seems to be a bit of a joke. No wonder morale is at an all time low. Should be interesting trying to get individual receipts should 20 people go out for a meal, although that meal may be at a fast food outlet for lunch or a family resturant for the evening meal.

[FJJP]

When Visa cards reared their ugly heads, it was declared that only orficers were responsible enough to hold them. That meant that if you had a SNCO imprest holder [eg NigNog fleet] they had to carry vast amounts of the readies to pay for everything. Not surprisingly, they refused on safety and security grounds. A fight ensued, where the VERY senior NCOs pointed out that they could not be forced to deal with large sums of money.

Common sense eventually prevailed and SNCOs were issued with cards.

On one infamous detachment, the Italian hotellier tried to pull a fast one, and after a conversation with the Brit Embassy finance dept [a very senior FS] the over-priced bill was paid - the FS signalled details to HQSTC that he'd authorised it [which he was entitled to do]. Some weeks later the Detcom got a personal bill for the extra [several hundred muhlahs] which was eventually scrapped after the mother of all fights up to SASO level. Next det, Sqn refused to go unless command accounts provided an imprest holder...

We didn't get any more cmd accountants on det after that one, and imprests became easier to handle.

Amazing what can be done if you shout loudly enough and threaten to throw your teddies out of the cot [provided you've got a leg to stand on and the backing of the immediate brass].