Account Activity Report

[dtroutman]

I am creating the 'Account Activity' report under Fund Accounting Reports and noticed that all check items on the report have 'Fifth Third - Then the Description'. Where is the system getting this 'Fifth Third'? Our checking account is with a local bank, National Bank & Trust. I have checked the Chart of Accounts and the descriptions look fine there. I have also looked through all the preferences and do not see anything pertaining to this. Can someone explain to me where this is coming from? I am sure I have missed something somewhere. Thanks!

[JohnDMeyers]

When you say that you are "creating" the report, does that mean you are using Custom Reports?

[dtroutman]

No, I am simply choosing the report from the Powerchurch Fund Accounting report menu.

[JohnDMeyers]

Do the word appear in the Reference column, Description column, etc?

Also, is it just this one report that does this?

[dtroutman]

It appears in the description column in this format: 'Fifth Third Bank - Brief description'. It almost looks like a concatenated field with the first part being the bank name, Acct Receive, Contributions, etc and the last part being the description of the transaction. This is the only report I have noticed this on. It has probably been that way for a long time, this is the first time I have really used this report.

[JohnDMeyers]

We have a similar, but maybe not related situation.

If we cut several checks to one vendor (like our credit card - Bank of America), this is what happens:

If the first check in a series is to Bank of America and the description is faucet parts
DB 01-5110-000 faucets "faucet parts"

Then, the next check is also to Bank of America for reimburse food:
DB 01-5320-000 meals "faucet parts"

Then, the next check is to Bank of America for paper supply:
DB 01-5670-000 paper supplies "faucet parts"

As you can see, the description gets copied from the first check in the series, but it does not append any other description.

In my mind, this is a bug. However, it may be considered a feature. I'm not sure how it will be handled in the next version.

[dtroutman]

Actually, after I look at the transactions in detail, I think the 'Fifth Third Bank' part of the description is correct. This is coming from a credit card purchase and that is the Vendor setup in AP. However, we are experienncing the same 'issue' you have described, where it repeats the first description of the transaction when multiple transactions for same vendor. I agree this may be a bug.

I am not going to worry about it at this point, we will wait for the next release. We are simply using this Account Activity report to help us with reviewing our expenses for the year and planning our budget for next year. Thank you for your help.

[Zorak]

It sounds like what you are describing is the "line description" of the Accounts Payable transaction carrying over into Fund Accounting.

John, when you say that you "cut several checks to one vendor" do you mean you are actually printing multiple checks to that vendor, or are you just putting multiple charges into one invoice? The line description will carry forward in a single invoice, from line to line, but you can easily see that happen as you enter the transaction, so I don't think that is what you are talking about.

I have tried and so far have been unable to recreate this happening with the line description carrying forward from one check to the next.

Now, when entering multiple invoices for a single vendor, PowerChurch Plus will, by default, want to combine them all and pay it with a single check. In this scenario, the Fund Accounting transaction that is created only has one credit to the checking account for the total amount of the check and therefore can not list multiple line descriptions. Instead, it just picks the first line description that it comes across on the invoice. The expense accounts, though, in the Fund Accounting transaction, will still have their separate line descriptions. That is, unless they too were combined because of multiple invoices using the same expense account.

I guess I need either or both of you to clarify with an example of the bug (or feature - ha ha) that you are seeing.

[JohnDMeyers]

Zorak:

It happens when printing several checks to one vendor. I tried to reproduce it (it is actually our bookkeeper who takes care of this), and I couldn't.

I'd better check on her procedure before I make anymore assumptions.

When I read the account activity reports in Fund Accounting, all the accounts that had a credit card item always take on the description of the first item.

I'm thinking now that it is more procedural on our end than something that PowerChurch is doing, but I won't know until I figure out how she is paying the credit card items.

I'll check back in on this.

[dtroutman]

The problem I initially started this thread with is not an issue. After further researching on my end, all of the Fifth Third Bank items on the report were indeed credit card purchases to that vendor, with nothing to do with a checking account. I didn't realize there were that many purchases for this budget category that was using this vendor (guess I will have to take that one up with our youth minister ). It was my mistake. The only other issue I brought up in this thread was when entering multiple invoices for the same vendor it does only print the first description, which would be expected, since there would not be any room to print all the descriptions for all the invoices. I do not see any problems at this time. Sorry for the confusion.

[Zorak]

John, it sounds like the bookkeeper is entering multiple CC charges into one invoice, then not changing the line description, letting it carry forward from one detail line to the next.

DTroutman, glad to hear all is well!