Clubs are beginning to see a faster turnaround for their reimbursement requests to the AMS, although some club executives say there is still room for improvement.
The AMS has had longstanding issues with slow reimbursement payments to club and constituency executives, worsened in recent months by a transition to a new financial system and personnel turnoverin November 2022.
But, according to AMS VP Finance Lawrence Liu, the AMS has started to stabilize its financial system with the help of MNP, an external firm hired by the student society to help with the transition. This effort has in turn sped up the reimbursement process. He said it now takes between five to ten business days depending on if the paperwork is filled out correctly.
Previously, the process could take months.
Laura Gordon-Mitchell, one of the vice presidents of Sprouts, said she was waiting over a month to get reimbursed for a $1,900 purchase she made for the student-run cafe in a February interview with The Ubyssey.
She said the main reason for the delay was because the AMS requires a formal credit card statement during the reimbursement process — something she did not have as she had just paid for her last month’s statement at the time of the purchase.
“I’ve done multiple screenshots and sent, in my opinion, what appears to be proof of transaction [to the AMS],” she said. “And they said, ‘Yeah, not sufficient.’”
Gordon-Mitchell has since been reimbursed, but said the process could still create financial stress for students.
“I’m in a position that I have savings to cover [rent]. But that’s my personal situation, and definitely not everyone’s when you’re a student,” she said.
James Ross, president of the Data Science Club, echoed Gordon-Mitchell’s concerns around the additional financial stress caused by delayed reimbursements. He added that the delay could also limit some clubs from hosting larger events.
“For smaller clubs or for clubs where you’re not lucky enough to have a few people who can hold on to that added cost for a little while, then it definitely would limit the kinds of events you can host and limit the kind of activities clubs can actually host,” he said.
Debate Society VP Finance Seema Al-Tabbaa said this barrier limited club members’ abilities to participate in events as well.
“[The delays were] pretty difficult for some of the people that did go on [debate] tournaments because they couldn’t go on the next tournaments because they had not yet been reimbursed for the previous one,” she said.
Al-Tabbaa said she has noticed a faster turnaround time with reimbursements since the AMS started working with MNP.
Liu added that he would focus on creating training materials for club treasurers, including a manual in partnership with MNP, to ensure these people are filling out the reimbursement form correctly — something that Al-Tabbaa said could be more clear.
“I think it would definitely be more helpful if they were clear on exactly what they wanted to speed up reimbursement time,” she said.
“Sometimes I would submit a reimbursement but it wouldn’t be clear exactly what supporting documents they would want. So until they get back to me on that, and then me retrieving those documents and resubmitting that also would add to the time.”
Liu encouraged students to contact the AMS VP finance office if they have any concerns.
“We’d be happy to expedite any large payments or really just payments for students … who have been waiting so long,” he said.