User Support Forum

Here's what we are doing when we write a check out of a designated fund...

01-1110- CR
? - DB
01-4810- CR (using the restricted release button)
01-4999-DB (using the restricted release button)

Our question is what account can I use for the second line that will not affect my budgeted expenses? We want to track designated income and the realsase of that income without having to use an expense account. That way when I print a year end budget report it will not include money outside the budget.

Knaq wrote:Here's what we are doing when we write a check out of a designated fund...

01-1110- CR
? - DB
01-4810- CR (using the restricted release button)
01-4999-DB (using the restricted release button)

Our question is what account can I use for the second line that will not affect my budgeted expenses? We want to track designated income and the realsase of that income without having to use an expense account. That way when I print a year end budget report it will not include money outside the budget.

The problem is, what are you spending the money on, that is an expense, no ?? If not a budgeted expense, then an unbudgeted expense. You can't get around that, why are you trying not to reflect that ??

I have the same question as Knaq. It's not a budget expense, it's a restricted fund "payment" for lack of a better word. It needs to show as an expense in the restricted account, not the budget account.

We do want to reflect the expense, but out of the restricted account, not the budgeted expense accounts. In our context, restricted money has nothing to do with the budget. It is money that comes in and goes out out apart from the budget. If I create a seperate list of expense accounts in the 5000 seriese, then those start to show up in budget reports. I would like to avoid that confusion. I would like to be able to print a "changes in equity" report that shoes the temp resticted accounts being expensed rahter than the gereral fund.

Normally, when you are setting up a donor restriction, using an income, release, and equity (fund balance in the 3000s range), the income and the release close to that 3000s account. On an income and expense statement, it should show the income for that restriction and the release. When you release that money (spend it) the transaction should actually look something like:
01-1110 credit
01-4810 debit
01-4999 credit
01-expense debit.

This releases the restricted money and moves it to the unrestricted. The 4999 and the expense should close to the unrestricted equity (unrestricted net asset or unrestricted fund balance, different names for the same 3000s account). So the 4999 and the expense offset each other in how they affect the unrestricted money. Normally you would want an expense account that reflects what the money was spent for but if you don't want it to impact a budgeted expense, then you should use an unbudgeted expense. The debit to the release account will reduce the restricted equity just like an expense account would.

We ended up creating a new series of accounts in the 7000’s for all our designated accounts to be expensed from. So if I have a restricted "youth fund" I also have a 01-7000 "youth fund" to expense from.