Tales From Tech 2 - Issue: 23.2

Today, dear friends and neighbors, we will be grading the test that you took during the last Tales From Tech 2.

NOTE: If you just signed up for Tales From Tech 2 or if for some other reason you haven't taken the test in Volume 23.1 yet, STOP READING! Well, don't stop reading just yet. You can finish this paragraph. If you haven't finished the test, go back and finish it and then come back here for the answers. NO CHEATING!

Anyway, thinking about the price of tea in Yugoslavia reminded me of that old saying: Stop beating around the bush because there are two birds in it and you don't have a stone.

Well, without any further delay, here are the answers.

1) POWERCHURCH PLUS WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO DELETE AN INDIVIDUAL THAT HAS AN ENVELOPE NUMBER AND HAS GIVEN. TRUE OR FALSE?
False. The program will allow you to delete an individual, regardless of whether they've given.

If there are posted contributions for the individual (and the person you are deleting is the only one in their family with that specific envelope number), the program will actually ask you THREE times whether you're sure that you want to delete them, but if you say yes three times, the program will do what you're asking it to do. (Crazy, isn't it?)

By the way, if you delete a contributor in Version 7 or higher of PowerChurch Plus and no one else in the family shares their envelope number, the program will take the money in their envelope and reassign it to an internal envelope, numbered 99999. This is done so you never lose money from the Contributions module, but since the contributions are now in envelope 99999, they are no longer accessible through the original envelope number.

(If you want to know more about envelope 99999, just go back and read Volume 9 of Tales From Tech 2.)

2) IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO ENTER YEAR START BALANCES ON INCOME OR EXPENSE ACCOUNTS BECAUSE THE DEVELOPERS AT POWERCHURCH SOFTWARE WANT TO MAKE YOUR LIFE MISERABLE. TRUE OR FALSE?
This one was a little tricky. Although it is certainly true that the software doesn't allow you to enter year start balances on income or expense accounts, the reason is not that our Program Development Department just wants to make you sad. Therefore, the answer is false.

A basic accounting concept is that income and expense accounts are for tracking money in your current accounting year. Income and expense accounts aren't for tracking money from year to year. Therefore, the program doesn't allow you to enter year start balances on income and expense accounts because they are supposed to begin each new year with a zero balance.

3) JUST LIKE APPLES AND ORANGES, THE FUND BALANCE ACCOUNT IS THE SAME THING AS THE CHECKING ACCOUNT AND THEIR BALANCES SHOULD MATCH. TRUE OR FALSE?
This is another tricky one. Here's why.

Although it is possible for the balance on your checking account and the balance on your Fund Balance account to match, the only time they will is when the Accounting Fund has only one asset (your checking account) and no liability accounts. This is typically not the case, so the balances are generally different and the answer is false.

Even in the case where the balances match, the checking account is certainly not the same thing as the Fund Balance and so the answer is still false.

4) IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO CORRECT A CONTRIBUTION ONCE IT HAS BEEN POSTED JUST AS IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO GET MILK FROM A COW. TRUE OR FALSE?
False. Correcting a posted contribution is easy. In fact, it's easier than getting milk from a cow (or a chicken).

Basically, if a contribution is posted and you find something wrong with it, you simply enter and post another contribution, just like the original, only with the amount as a negative. Use the same envelope number, fund number, date and amount as the original (only negative instead of positive). Then, when you post the correcting entry, you will be negating the original contribution. After that, you can then re-enter the contribution correctly, if you need to.

5) IF YOU DATE A TRANSACTION 04/15/2003, IT CAN ONLY BE POSTED TO ACCOUNTING MONTH 04. TRUE OR FALSE?
False. When you post in Fund Accounting, the program looks at the fiscal month on the transaction, not the posting date. In other words, when you post transactions and then choose current for the month, all the entries with a fiscal month matching your current month will post, whether it has a posting date of today, tomorrow, the day Columbus landed in the New World or the day Captain Kirk destroys the Doomsday Machine.

The reason this is the case is that Fund Accounting can be maintained on a calendar or a fiscal year, so the program can't look at the date and prevent you from posting it to whatever Accounting Month you want.

6) TECH 2 IS ALWAYS TALKING ABOUT CHICKENS AND OTHER FARM ANIMALS BECAUSE HE IS A FARMER. TRUE OR FALSE?
False. Tech 2 does raise several farm animals (no chickens, yet), but he's not a farmer. He's a technician, hence the name "Tech 2" and not "Farmer 2."

7) IT IS POSSIBLE TO ENTER A BUDGET ON AN ASSET ACCOUNT OR TO FLY IF YOU FLAP YOUR ARMS FAST ENOUGH AS YOU JUMP OFF A HIGH BRIDGE (NOT THAT I'M SUGGESTING YOU GO JUMP OFF A BRIDGE). TRUE OR FALSE?
False. A budget is like an expectation. A budget on an income account says that you are expecting to earn some amount of money through that account. A budget on an expense account means you expect to spend so much money through that account.

Budgets are guides to help you see how much you've made or spent (think income and expense) versus how much you were expecting to make or spend. This is why the software doesn't allow you to put a budget on asset, liability or balance accounts.

8) YOU DO NOT HAVE TO ASSIGN ENVELOPE NUMBERS IN POWERCHURCH PLUS IN ORDER TO ENTER CONTRIBUTIONS. TRUE OR FALSE?
False. You do have to assign envelope numbers in order to enter contributions, but you don't have to know the number when you are entering the contribution. You can look up the envelope number based on the name, but in order to be in the list, an individual does have to have an envelope number assigned to them. Therefore, the answer is false.

(By the way, if you want to know more about how easy it is to look up an envelope number when you're entering contributions, just go back and read Volume 1 of Tales From Tech 2.)

BONUS) THE BALANCES ON MY CHECK REGISTER REPORT RUN FOR 01/01/2003 THROUGH 01/31/2003 MUST MATCH THE BALANCES ON MY CASH FLOW REPORT FOR ACCOUNTING MONTH 01 AND IF THEY DON'T, THERE'S A GLITCH IN THE PROGRAM. TRUE OR FALSE?
Well, believe it or not, the answer is false. I'm sure that came as a big surprise since all the other answers have been false. I actually didn't plan it that way, it just kinda happened.

Anyway, if you think through the question and answer above about posting a transaction dated 04/15/2003 to Accounting Month 04, you'll see one reason why this answer was false. If your Accounting Year doesn't go from January through December (in other words, you're on a fiscal rather than a calendar year), then January would not be month 01 and that immediately makes the above statement false.

If you are on a calendar year, the balances on these two reports should match, but the Check Register report is based on the transaction date and the Cash Flow is based on the Accounting Month and so it's possible they won't. If they don't, it's not because of a problem in the software, so the answer is still false.

To get a better understanding of how these reports could show different balances, let's walk through an example. Let's say you're on a calendar year and you're running the Check Register report for 1/1/2003 through 1/31/2003 and the Cash Flow report for Accounting Month 01. Here are three reasons why they might not match.

Possibility One. You have a transaction dated BEFORE 1/1/2003 that is posted in Accounting Month 01. In this situation, the beginning balances on the two reports will not match. If there aren't any other issues, the ending balances will match, however.

Possibility Two. You have a transaction dated AFTER 1/31/2003 that is posted in Accounting Month 01. In this situation, the ending balances on the two reports will not match.

Possibility Three. You have a transaction dated between 1/1/2003 and 1/31/2003 that is posted to your current Accounting Year, but not to Accounting Month 01. In this situation, the ending balances on the two reports will not match.