Handling Payments for Events and Fundraising

[mwilliams]

I am trying to setup PC+ v10.4 and have a question.

What is the best way to handle payments for events, such as a youth trip? Should an income account be setup or can these payments be posted to the Youth Ministry expense account? Typically, the payments will cover most of the cost for the event but not all, due to the church covering the cost of the chapperones.

Also, how should fundraising be handled? There are a number of scenarios that many churches deal with. Here are a couple that come to mind:

1. Youth fundraising for a missions trip. There are both income and expenses associated with the fundraising (selling candy bars or whatever) and the purpose of the funds raised is restricted to the missions trip.

2. General fundraising that has both income and expenses and the revenue is unrestricted.

Thank you in advance for your help! I am trying to get this software setup for the first time and have only a rudimentary knowledge of accounting priciples .... which do not seem to be helping me very much when it comes to actually doing double-entry accounting.

Michael

[Zorak]

There is an additional option as well:

3. Set up income and expense accounts for each of these programs, using sub-account numbers (in place of the -000 last three digits) to keep the income & expense accounts tied.

01-4405-100 Youth Ministry Income
01-5405-100 Youth Ministry Expense

The Sub-Account Report in Fund Accounting allows you to run reports for specific sub-accounts, showing the selected types of account.

The first option you listed, setting up donor restrictions, offers the most features and reports from the program, but also requires more setup and maintenance.

[BobD]

I've had good luck with pass-thru accts. for these events. Debits and credits can be posted and when all activity has ceased, close the account with a charge or credit to the appropriate expense account for the small amount left over.