User Support Forum

I have started all over with my church books because I lost all information from last year because of lighting. I now know that carbonite does not backup data inside software program, but have learned how to do that now.

My question to you is: last year I had two outstanding checks for total of $280 which I forgot to put in when I started all over again. My general fund account and checking account are equal. My problem is when I reconciled the bank statement I need $280 reconcile. When I input the balance for January 1, 2017 I used the ending balance for December 31, 2016. The two checks were written in 2015 and never cashed or voided in 2015. How do I solve this problem?

I have been using this software for one year. The treasurer before me has used software for several years, but does not know how to help with this problem.

Sincerely
Brenda Canada
Plains UMC Treasurer

bcanada@myrhinomail.com wrote:I have started all over with my church books because I lost all information from last year because of lighting. I now know that carbonite does not backup data inside software program, but have learned how to do that now.

My question to you is: last year I had two outstanding checks for total of $280 which I forgot to put in when I started all over again. My general fund account and checking account are equal. My problem is when I reconciled the bank statement I need $280 reconcile. When I input the balance for January 1, 2017 I used the ending balance for December 31, 2016. The two checks were written in 2015 and never cashed or voided in 2015. How do I solve this problem?

I have been using this software for one year. The treasurer before me has used software for several years, but does not know how to help with this problem.

Sincerely
Brenda Canada
Plains UMC Treasurer

As an aside .. while its a good idea to use an external backup to backup your drives, its a better idea to use the Powerchurch backup utility to backup your Powerchurch data. You can have the Windows Task Scheduler perform a Powerchurch backup on a regular basis. This Knowledgebase article can give you pointers on how to setup the Task Scheduler to do this. The directions for Windows 8 work well for Windows 10.

As far as your issue ... when you restarted accounting, I take it that you used the ending balance from Powerchurch and not that of the Bank Account?

If you used the Bank Account, you should not have had the $280 difference. The reason is that the bank would not show any funds being used, and since you didn't put those checks in the system as outstanding, they shouldn't cause that difference either.

You say that Powerchuch and the bank balance from the statement agree, so I don't understand where the $280 comes in to play.

I did not use my bank balance. I used my balance on Account 1110 on the Balance Sheet of Power Church for 2016. The following is my reconciliation of Account 1110 General.

Statement Balance $18,601.15
Outstanding Cks 0.00-
Outstanding deposits 925.00+
=Adjusted Bal $19,526.15

Account 1110 Bal $19,246.15
Difference 280.00

Ending Balance in Checkbook on Dec 31 was $20,010.11 This is the balance I put in Account 1110
Bank Bal on Dec 31 $20,488.18
Outstanding Check Dec 31 198.00
Checkbook balance Jan 31 $19,246.15


Thank you for info on saving data to PowerChurch.

I hope all this is helpful.

Brenda Canada
Plains UMC Treasurer

bcanada@myrhinomail.com wrote:I did not use my bank balance. I used my balance on Account 1110 on the Balance Sheet of Power Church for 2016. The following is my reconciliation of Account 1110 General.

Statement Balance $18,601.15
Outstanding Cks 0.00-
Outstanding deposits 925.00+
=Adjusted Bal $19,526.15

Account 1110 Bal $19,246.15
Difference 280.00

Ending Balance in Checkbook on Dec 31 was $20,010.11 This is the balance I put in Account 1110
Bank Bal on Dec 31 $20,488.18
Outstanding Check Dec 31 198.00
Checkbook balance Jan 31 $19,246.15


Thank you for info on saving data to PowerChurch.

I hope all this is helpful.

Brenda Canada
Plains UMC Treasurer

OK . the problem is that you should have used the bank balance off your statement to restart the system. This would have avoided the issue of the two checks altogether.

However, since you have to account for that $280, so we're going to have to create a transaction that has to touch the checking account and the net assets account. Normally the net assets account is not one that you access directly, as the system normally maintains the balance there. We're going to eliminate that $280 difference

So .. in Funds Accounting, you're going to enter a transaction:

I'm assuming that you're using the default accounts:

01-1110-000 Checking DB $280.00
01-3110-000 Unrestricted Net Assets CR $280.00

As usual, I advise to use the Powerchurch Backup utility to make a backup of the Accounting files to restore in case this advice does not work properly.



This should make the system show the same amount as the bank does. What I'd then do is put a stop payment on those two checks, even though they are from 2015, unless you have on your checks that they are not valid after 90 days, they still can be presented for payment.

Thank you for the information. I went back in and used the bank balance and the account is now in balance. Yes I am backing up my work and I thank you for all your help. It is good to know we have someone to help us. Again thank you for the your help. My books are balancing and I am happy.
Have a blessed day.

Brenda Canada
Plains UMC Treasurer.