Google Forms is a cloud-based software application available for free with any Google account. Google Forms is most often used for event registrations, orders, or surveys, but is easily customizable for other uses. For nonprofits on a budget, Google Forms can be an efficient tool to help streamline expense requests and reports.
Does your organization have several individuals with company debit cards or credit cards? Do you often need to reimburse your employees or volunteers for expenses? Do you struggle to keep track of bills and vendor invoices? All of these scenarios lend themselves to the use of a Google Form. With Google Forms, you can customize the form fields to collect specific information needed by your finance department. You can also feed this information into a centralized Google Sheet for reporting and tracking purposes.
To create your customized form, log into your Google account and select “Forms” from your application menu.
To create a custom form, choose the “Blank” option from the template gallery.
Give your form a title and description. Then begin to list your questions or data fields. For example, if you are creating a form for expense requests, you might want to list these questions:
Name of the person making the request
Name of the vendor/payee
Remittance address of the vendor/payee
Amount to pay
Due date
Expense account
Any notes applicable to the expense
You can also ask the requester to upload a file, such as a copy of the bill or invoice. You can make any of these questions/fields required, so that the form cannot be submitted without an answer.
Google Forms gives you many different ways to format your questions. The “Short Answer” or “Paragraph” options are useful for collecting names and addresses, while the “Multiple Choice” or “Dropdown” options may help the requester choose a specific expense account or classification. With the Dropdown option, you can populate a list of your GL accounts with names and descriptions. This may be helpful for those who are not familiar with your chart of accounts.
Once you have created your form, you will want to share it with your team. Click the “Send” button to send the form via email, generate a link to the form, or embed the form into a website.
As your team members begin to submit the form, you will be able to retrieve their response through a Google Sheet. Click on the “Responses” tab, then click on the green icon to select a destination for responses. You can view all responses in this centralized Google Sheet, allowing you to quickly pay bills, process reimbursements, or record transactions.
Google Forms is a powerful tool to help your organization streamline expense requests, as well as collecting other important information from your staff and volunteers. And the best part? It’s free! While there are more robust applications that might be better suited for large organizations or more complicated accounting situations, Google Forms is a great place for many nonprofits to start.