User Support Forum

We have been running PC in "test" mode for some time. As a result, we have data for last year but the balances are all out of whack. Our chart of accounts is pretty solid; it just needs a little tweeking. We need to get our balances correct as of 12/31/12 so we can go live in January. All things considered, it looks like the simplest option for us would be to delete old data to zero out the balances, tweek the COA, and make journal entries to reset the balances. That way we can make the entries based on what the balances should be rather than spending hours chasing down the incorrect balances and doing the math to find out what the journal entries should be.

Problem is, to delete old data we have to close out all the months. Then when I go to enter the beginning balances the only month open is January 2013 (I've been testing this to try it out). It would be easy if December didn't have anything posted to it. Then I could just use it for the journal entries.

How do I delete old data so that January will have the correct beginning balances and still allow for bank reconciliation of the January statement when it comes in? Or can I? Is a restart my only option? If we do a restart we have a similar problem. It only sets up the 01 fund. We would still be faced with getting the beginning balances in the other two funds as beginning balances instead of activity for January.

It's hard to say, because you have apparently put some time into configuring more than one Accounting Fund.

The only way to get a clean start and have outstanding checks from December is to do a RESET Accounting move.

After almost twenty years, I did a RESET Accounting in 2009 because our COA was woefully out-of-date. Then, I did a RESET Accounting in 2010 to correct the mistakes I made the first time around in 2009.

It's a lot of work, but in my case, it was well worth it.

You can use the delete old data option in PowerChurch to do what you are wanting to do.

Here is a step by step.

Delete any unposted entries in Fund Accounting
Close all months through the last month you have transactions posted to
Use the delete old data to delete all information through the last month you have posted data to.

The program will notice that you just deleted all posted transactions. It will give you the option to zero all account balances and pick a new month to start over at.

In you case you might want to pick December to start over in. Put your beginning balance transactions in December to start fresh for January.

This leaves your existing chart of accounts but allows you to zero out all the transactions and balances in the program.

Thanks to you both. I had done what you described Jeff, except that I think I closed December when I didn't really need to. I restored from a backup that didn't have any December data and it looks like it will work. I just haven't had a chance to play with it yet to make sure.