Reporting Questions

Fund Accounting, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Payroll

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ndgaab
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Joined: Sun Mar 05, 2017 1:37 am

Reporting Questions

Post by ndgaab »

Hi,
Our church has always provided a statement to our congregation during business meetings in a specific format. The format is as follows:

Account (not ACCOUNTING account) Balance as of last meeting expenses since last meeting current balances of accounts
Salaries 34560.00 4500.00 30,060
Youth Group 10,000.00 2,000.00 8,000
Utilities


This would continue on to each and every account that is listed on the chart of accounts. At the end of the statement they would list the current balance of the bank account. Is there a way to do this, I can't seem to find a report like this? I am not sure if I am setting things up the best way either. In the demo I have everything under the General Fund basically and then have added each of these items into the chart of accounts.

NeilZ
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Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2003 1:20 am
Location: Dexter NM
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Re: Reporting Questions

Post by NeilZ »

ndgaab wrote:Hi,
Our church has always provided a statement to our congregation during business meetings in a specific format. The format is as follows:

Account (not ACCOUNTING account) Balance as of last meeting expenses since last meeting current balances of accounts
Salaries 34560.00 4500.00 30,060
Youth Group 10,000.00 2,000.00 8,000
Utilities


This would continue on to each and every account that is listed on the chart of accounts. At the end of the statement they would list the current balance of the bank account. Is there a way to do this, I can't seem to find a report like this? I am not sure if I am setting things up the best way either. In the demo I have everything under the General Fund basically and then have added each of these items into the chart of accounts.
The Congregation will need to get used to a new set of reports, it is far easier to teach about the new reports, than to try to replicate what you've been doing. Why? Why not? You're not doing your books the old way anymore, so why should you give the same old reports. You may find that the reports in Powerchurch give more information, with a whole lot less data manipulation.

The Income & Expense report gives a report of all the INCOME and EXPENSES for each month (or for the time period selected).

As far as the balances, you want the Accounting Fund Balances report. If you want to see exactly how much 'liquid assets' are left in the checking account, the Cash Management Report gives that bottom line. It accounts for all the funds that have been 'spoken for' in any liability and temporarily restricted funds that are stored in the checking account. This actually gives a better report as you can see exactly what you can write a check for, rather than just a total with no idea of how much can actually be spent.



Your terminology is not what I'm expecting.

What do you call an "ACCOUNT" ?? What are you calling a "Chart of Accounts" ... it appears that you actually fund each account with money, then spend what's there.

Most churches set an annual BUDGET to each Ministry, which they have to spend across all their expense accounts, or the Ministry sets a BUDGET for each expense account in its area. In either case, the expenses are shown against the budgeted amount.

The report closest to what I think you should be using is the Income & Expense report.

It can list the Current Expenses, YTD Expenses, Annual Budget Annual Budget Difference (and so on).
Neil Zampella

Using PC+ since 1999.

ndgaab
Posts: 20
Joined: Sun Mar 05, 2017 1:37 am

Re: Reporting Questions

Post by ndgaab »

I'm sorry for the confusion on my terminology. As I said I'm new to this and I am still learning. Would it help if I showed you an example of what our church is used to?

NeilZ
Posts: 10209
Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2003 1:20 am
Location: Dexter NM
Contact:

Re: Reporting Questions

Post by NeilZ »

ndgaab wrote:I'm sorry for the confusion on my terminology. As I said I'm new to this and I am still learning. Would it help if I showed you an example of what our church is used to?
Perhaps, but you need to give your definitions.

I've also given this advice to others, your church may want to invest in a good Fund Accounting book.

http://store.churchlawtodaystore.com/churchfinance.html
Neil Zampella

Using PC+ since 1999.

ndgaab
Posts: 20
Joined: Sun Mar 05, 2017 1:37 am

Re: Reporting Questions

Post by ndgaab »

when I say account I am referring to any item that appears on the chart of accounts report that PowerChurch prints out. For example, if I have created an income account for a fundraiser or an expense account for a fundraiser.

NeilZ
Posts: 10209
Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2003 1:20 am
Location: Dexter NM
Contact:

Re: Reporting Questions

Post by NeilZ »

ndgaab wrote:when I say account I am referring to any item that appears on the chart of accounts report that PowerChurch prints out. For example, if I have created an income account for a fundraiser or an expense account for a fundraiser.
OK ... so everything is under one FUND.

But what do you mean when you show your report having headers such as
Balance as of last meeting expenses since last meeting current balances of accounts

Are you saying you show YTD as of last month, this months expenses, and remaining budget amount??

Also, I hope you're not creating a new income and expense account for every different fundraiser you do, that gets VERY unwieldy very quickly. You CANNOT delete accounts that have had any sort of activity in them unless you delete old data, and the IRS is very picky about having at least 4 years of income and expense data on hand.
Neil Zampella

Using PC+ since 1999.

ndgaab
Posts: 20
Joined: Sun Mar 05, 2017 1:37 am

Re: Reporting Questions

Post by ndgaab »

So we do our meeting monthly. So they want to show the balance as of last month, the income and expenses, and ending balance. Would it make more sense to setup items under different accounting funds (I believe that is the right terminology). So have the general fund, missions, youth, church school (as we already disgussed)? Right now I have them all under the general fund. You are correct in saying that an account is funded first. For example, we have 10,000 sitting in a restricted account for new carpet. I also know the church hasn't operated by a budget in a few years.

NeilZ
Posts: 10209
Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2003 1:20 am
Location: Dexter NM
Contact:

Re: Reporting Questions

Post by NeilZ »

ndgaab wrote:So we do our meeting monthly. So they want to show the balance as of last month, the income and expenses, and ending balance. Would it make more sense to setup items under different accounting funds (I believe that is the right terminology). So have the general fund, missions, youth, church school (as we already disgussed)? Right now I have them all under the general fund. You are correct in saying that an account is funded first. For example, we have 10,000 sitting in a restricted account for new carpet. I also know the church hasn't operated by a budget in a few years.
Frankly ... I am not an accountant, I don't know who setup the way your church handles its finances, but operating with any sort of budget is not the way to run a business, and I'm sorry a church is a business as it does have income and expenses.

The best advice I could give is to find a CPA with experience in church fund accounting (if possible) and spend the money to have them go through your financials, and setup the program properly.

Otherwise you will not have a very good handle on what your actual income and expenses are.
Neil Zampella

Using PC+ since 1999.

ndgaab
Posts: 20
Joined: Sun Mar 05, 2017 1:37 am

Re: Reporting Questions

Post by ndgaab »

Below is an example of a report thenchurch is looking for. http://www.accountingforchurches.com/pd ... xample.pdf

NeilZ
Posts: 10209
Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2003 1:20 am
Location: Dexter NM
Contact:

Re: Reporting Questions

Post by NeilZ »

ndgaab wrote:Below is an example of a report thenchurch is looking for. http://www.accountingforchurches.com/pd ... xample.pdf
Accounting Fund Balance report .. note each one of those is a separate accounting FUND, not a separate account.
Neil Zampella

Using PC+ since 1999.

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