How to verify before posting

[BillD]

I am new to PowerChurch as of 1/1/2009.
I entered all our transactions for January, and once I thought I had it right, posted all transactions. Then, trying to do the bank reconciliation proved that MANY corrections were needed. I had so many correcting entries to make that there were more corrections than actual transactions (you can probably already tell I am not an accountant -- I had corrections that needed correcting, etc, etc). Once the bank reconciliation was in balance, then I closed January, and entered February. Once I thought I had it right, I posted February, and then figured out that I still had corrections needed in January, plus corrections for February.
So, now I have COMPLETELY started over, and have January entered.
What I would love to hear is a process for knowing that what is entered is correct BEFORE posting. It doesn't appear that many reports show unposted transactions. How can I know that the transactions I have are correct and that ALL the needed transactions are present, before I post transactions in fund accounting? Do I need some reports outside of PowerChurch? What reports should I run, and what should I compare to what?

[NeilZ]

I am new to PowerChurch as of 1/1/2009.
I entered all our transactions for January, and once I thought I had it right, posted all transactions. Then, trying to do the bank reconciliation proved that MANY corrections were needed. I had so many correcting entries to make that there were more corrections than actual transactions (you can probably already tell I am not an accountant -- I had corrections that needed correcting, etc, etc). Once the bank reconciliation was in balance, then I closed January, and entered February. Once I thought I had it right, I posted February, and then figured out that I still had corrections needed in January, plus corrections for February.
So, now I have COMPLETELY started over, and have January entered.
What I would love to hear is a process for knowing that what is entered is correct BEFORE posting. It doesn't appear that many reports show unposted transactions. How can I know that the transactions I have are correct and that ALL the needed transactions are present, before I post transactions in fund accounting? Do I need some reports outside of PowerChurch? What reports should I run, and what should I compare to what?

Under Fund Accounting find the Modify Unposted Transactions function. This will list all your transactions that have not been posted. You can then do any modification you need to make there.

That said, every transaction must credit an account and debit another account. An explaination of Credits and Debits can be found in the Powerchurch help under Credits.

Not knowing how your system is setup restricts what kind of advice can be given on which accounts you need to debit or credit.

FWIW ... Powerchurch recommends that the first time you setup Funds Accounting you have someone who is familiar with double-entry bookkeeping to assist you, perhaps an accountant who is a member of the church, or your church auditor.

Hope this helps.

[beas]

Note that you can run (print) a report showing unposted transactions prior to actually posting them. Once you have found any problems, you can then use the Modify Unposted Transactions to make the corrections and then rerun the report to check them again or go ahead and post.

Also, you can keep up to 18 months open at one time.

[bookkeeper-sheila]

We keep 12 months open at all times, closing the coming month/last year before dumping repeating entries into A/P or Fund Acctng for the coming month/this year. This way, any errors found by other eyes (directors, leaders, council members) can be corrected up to a year later.

Remember that the debits and credits work like a teeter-totter...you have to have at least one of each at the same amounts for the transaction/teeter-totter to balance. On complicated journal entries, I actually write down the transaction on paper and add up my debits and credits to make sure it is balanced, and I pull account activity reports on the accts I want to use in the journal entry, to make sure I am debiting and crediting (plus-ing or minus-ing) correctly; income and expense accounts are opposites of each other. Using the unposted transactions report is helpful as well.

[BillD]

Sorry, maybe I was not clear enough about what I need help with (it also may be that there is no good answer except BE CAREFUL). I have a reasonable familiarity with double-entry bookkeeping, so I am not asking about that, exactly. However, I am VERY capable of making mistakes. I really have 2 questions:
1. Since you cannot do a bank reconciliation before posting transactions, what process is recommended to be sure that ALL the transactions that should be entered in the system, have been. Do people keep some separate list of transactions, or a file folder of what needs to be entered? How do you KNOW that all contributions and bills have been entered?
2. Notwithstanding the answer to the first question (and all the effort that goes in to trying to make sure that everything is correct), when the bank rec doesn't balance at the end of the month, what process should I go through to find out what is missing/wrong. What steps, what order to do them in, what reports for each step, what backup should I have available to help with this, etc, etc?
Sorry if this is just galactically stupid....
Thx
Bill

[Eden Whitehead]

Hi Bill--
Well, I've reached the point in my life that I can't remember very much of anything! So I have created for myself several "checklists" to get me through the day/week/month. I have an end-of-month checklist I use to ensure I've entered all my transactions (have I posted from AP? have I posted from CO? have I run all the reports I want to run? have I entered that month's bank interest for each account? etc.).

I developed the checklist by observing what I was having to back-track to take care of every month. Now, I just walk myself through my checklist. If I get to the point of reconciling bank statements and find out I've STILL neglected to enter/post some transaction(s), I just use the "Postpone" option in the reconciling process, do what I neglected, and come back to it.

Yes, it's a nuisance to have to re-enter the bank account, statement date, and ending balance but I can't think of any way the program can know automatically which bank statement I'm working on without my entering it again. Hence, the motivation to create my checklists!

I'm not sure this is what you are looking for, but it's what works for me. Maybe it will help you... maybe not.....
Eden

[Eden Whitehead]

2. Notwithstanding the answer to the first question (and all the effort that goes in to trying to make sure that everything is correct), when the bank rec doesn't balance at the end of the month, what process should I go through to find out what is missing/wrong. What steps, what order to do them in, what reports for each step, what backup should I have available to help with this, etc, etc?

Under Contributions you may find the Unposted Contributions report helpful; under Accounts Payable, likewise the Open (unposted) Items report may help. Finally, under Fund Accounting I run the Check Register by Fund report and confirm it against my physical checkbook register. Those are 3 places you might look to find out what is missing when your bank rec doesn't balance.

Hope this helps,
Eden

[BillD]

Thanks Eden for your answers! I am with you on the inability to remember anything that's not written down
I have a couple more questions.
- Eden, any chance you would be willing to send me your checklists? I would GREATLY appreciate having them, if you are willing (if not, I completely understand). TIA.
- We have been keeping a separate check register, in prior years. We do MANY of our payments by electronic transfer at the bank (to save on postage), and, now, in PowerChurch, we plan to do just about all the rest by printing the checks in PowerChurch (hardly ever hand-writing a check). Should I continue to keep a separate, manual, check register, or can I rely on the reports in PowerChurch to serve as a check register?
Thx,
Bill

[NeilZ]

Thanks Eden for your answers! I am with you on the inability to remember anything that's not written down
I have a couple more questions.
- Eden, any chance you would be willing to send me your checklists? I would GREATLY appreciate having them, if you are willing (if not, I completely understand). TIA.
- We have been keeping a separate check register, in prior years. We do MANY of our payments by electronic transfer at the bank (to save on postage), and, now, in PowerChurch, we plan to do just about all the rest by printing the checks in PowerChurch (hardly ever hand-writing a check). Should I continue to keep a separate, manual, check register, or can I rely on the reports in PowerChurch to serve as a check register?
Thx,
Bill

Bill,

I can definitely say that using Powerchurch to do all your check writing is much easier than keeping a separate check register. The system reports will suffice.

About contributions, not knowing if you have a separate Contributions secretary, I can only relate how we did it at our last location.

The Contributions Secretary would wait a week after the weekly collection was entered and deposited at the bank before Posting the contributions to Funds Accounting. This time allowed for any problem with the deposit (such as a bounced check). This direct posting to F.A. eliminates any issue with contribution information not getting passed on to the Treasurer.

As far as the bills, the best way is to enter them as soon as you get them into the system, nothing says you have to pay them the same day they're entered, but as long as they're there, you can then write checks the same time every month (say the 1st and 3rd Saturdays) and take care of anything entered the previous two weeks.

However, if you have a church like the one I'm at, lots of times the head of the ministry "forgets" to pass on the bill until a day or so before its due, in which case you have no choice but to pay it ASAP