Unbalanced multi-fund transactions

[Carl]

We occasionally have trouble caused by multi-fund transactions that balance overall but are not balanced within each fund. The only thing that I can find in the PCPlus manual about this situation is a statement that transcations *should* balance in each fund, but I couldn't find a statement that this was either checked for or not.

Whenever we enter a multi-fund transaction we get the warning "This transaction uses multiple funds" but of course that is the intention so we proceed from there. And when a transaction is not balanced overall we get an error that requires the situation to be fixed before proceeding.

I'm wondering if there is a warning about this situation that at some point in the past someone said "don't warn me about this again". If so, how would I go about turning that back on?

We are currently using PCPlus Online, but as far as I can tell this behavior goes back at least to version 9 of the program for us.

Thanks for any insights.
-- Carl

[NeilZ]

We occasionally have trouble caused by multi-fund transactions that balance overall but are not balanced within each fund. The only thing that I can find in the PCPlus manual about this situation is a statement that transcations *should* balance in each fund, but I couldn't find a statement that this was either checked for or not.

Whenever we enter a multi-fund transaction we get the warning "This transaction uses multiple funds" but of course that is the intention so we proceed from there. And when a transaction is not balanced overall we get an error that requires the situation to be fixed before proceeding.

I'm wondering if there is a warning about this situation that at some point in the past someone said "don't warn me about this again". If so, how would I go about turning that back on?

We are currently using PCPlus Online, but as far as I can tell this behavior goes back at least to version 9 of the program for us.

Thanks for any insights.
-- Carl

There is no way to turn the warning off. It is a reminder to check the transaction to make sure that you've not 'fat fingered' the account number entry. We see it whenever we have a church credit card bill that has expenses from two or three different funds. We just make sure that the transactions balance in each account and click "OK".

[Zaina]

The warning IS "WARNING: The total debits and credits in each accounting fund do not balance. Do you want to continue?"

It is telling you that you are crossing funds, meaning that you do not have a debit and a credit in each fund. This transaction balances on the debits and credits but not on the debits and credits in each fund. The program will allow you to continue.

What warning are you looking for or think is missing?

[Carl]

The warning IS "WARNING: The total debits and credits in each accounting fund do not balance. Do you want to continue?"

...

What warning are you looking for or think is missing?

Zaina and NeilZ,
Thanks for the prompt reply. I have egg on my face -- we are getting exactly the warning that you quote, Zaina, although somehow I remembered differently from the testing I did several weeks ago.

With people not sensitive to accounting rules sometimes entering transactions, what I was hoping for was a way to require with a global, administrator-controlled setting that transactions be balanced in all funds. We have definitely had problems with this over the years, and it is not very easy to find the offending transactions when they happen.

The other source of imbalanced transactions has been the contributions module where mis-configured contribution funds (credit and debit to different accounting funds) lead to accounting transactions that when imported (by file) to financial accounting seem to produce no warnings at all.

Maybe this is a wish-list item for a future release: prevent any transactions from posting that do not balance in each accounting fund.

Thanks again.

-- Carl

[ehopper]

Hi, I think my question is related to this post because I am getting the same warning. I'm new to the entire world of church fund accounting. I have two funds that share one checking account so any transactions we post will never balance within EACH fund. Apologies if this is an obvious answer, but should I not worry about this as long as on consolidation everything balances?

Thanks to everyone who jumps in to help on this forum. It's so good to see people solving problems together!

[tborgal]

ehopper,

Transactions should ALWAYS balance within each fund even with only one checking account.

example: Checking account would be xx 1110

You will then have two funds accessing that checking account 01 1110 and 02 1110

When you enter a transaction for fund 02 you will then use CR 02 1110 DB 02 xxxx.

This will keep you funds in balance. If you run a Balance Sheet by Funds report you will see how far out of balance the Funds are. Your Total Assets and Total Liabilities and Fund Balance should be the same. If they are not you will then have to transfer money between Funds to balance them out.

[ehopper]

Tom- thank you. I was not aware that having the same account number meant it was the same physical checking account, but I'm glad to know now! So here's my problem, because I didn't know the above. When I made payments the entry was:

dr. mortgage expense 02-5120
cr. checking account 01-1120

I think this led to my funds not balancing within each other. Consequently, this is the scenario:

Fund 01
Assets 98
Liabilities +Equity 112

Fund 02
Assets 1,115
Liabilities +Equity 1,101

I am not sure how to go about fixing this. I also note that the net asset/equity balance in Fund 02 properly shows a deficit as not enough income has come in to cover the expense which is the 14K difference Fund 01 has had to cover! If I make the following entry:

Dr. Net Assets 01 14
Cr. Net Assets 02 14

Will I lose track of how that fund is performing since fund 02 will now show net assets of $0? How will I be able to know how much money is available in fund 02, similar to what the restricted funds function gives us?

Lastly, to avoid this in future, it looks like I should activate checking account 1120 for fund 02 and route all deposits there? What will happen if I don't have sufficient funds in the 02 checking account for the payment, but in "real life" the bank account does have the money? Will I need to do an extra journal entry to transfer money between funds and does it look like this:

Dr. Mortgage expense 01- 5120
Cr. Checking account 01- 1120

Dr. Checking account 02-1120
Cr. Income 02-4155

Sorry for the arsenal of questions. I fear I have created some extra work.

[JohnDMeyers]

Answer to 1st question:

dr. mortgage expense 02-5120
cr. checking account 01-1120

You will need to REVERSE this transaction just like it is with the DB and CR reversed. You will get a warning. In this case, it is okay to ignore the warning and post.

[JohnDMeyers]

Partial answer to question #2:

Dr. Net Assets 01 14
Cr. Net Assets 02 14

Don't do this! Two things are very wrong.

1) You should not have to directly transact the equity accounts.
2) You should not have a DB in one fund and a CR in another.

I am trying to figure out what you are doing before I can give another suggestion.

[JohnDMeyers]

More on question #2 and #3:

You don't have to "do away" with 1120.

You can move money between the two funds by using a Transfer account.

Example: Move $1000 from 01-1120-000 to 02-1120-000

CR 01-1120-000 checking $1000
DB 01-9120-000 transfer account $1000

DB 02-1120-000 checking $1000
CR 02-9120-000 transfer account $1000

[JohnDMeyers]

Will I lose track of how that fund is performing since fund 02 will now show net assets of $0?

Not if you use the Transfer account method.

[JohnDMeyers]

Will I need to do an extra journal entry to transfer money between funds and does it look like this:

Dr. Mortgage expense 01- 5120
Cr. Checking account 01- 1120

Dr. Checking account 02-1120
Cr. Income 02-4155

I can't quite figure out what you are doing.

In general, you can deposit money in either fund and take money out of either fund. Use the transfer accounts to move money where you need it, and I think you will be fine.