Fund Accounts out of balance

[FBCro]

I ran Trial Balance for all our funds and discovered 01 General Fund and Fund 20 Children's Fund are off by $382.24. After research I found that in December 2015 the bookkeeper paid the Church's Gas Energy bill form 01 correctly but the expense went to Fund 20 in error.
01-1110 National Bank Credit $382.24
20-5771 Gas Building 1 Debit $87.47
20-5771 Gas Building 2 Debit $174.12
20-5771 Gas Building 3 Debit $65.40
20-5771 Gas Building 4 Debit $55.25
December 2015 is closed. I'm not sure how to correct these accounts. Please help. I don't know what entry to make to correct. I have now changed our open months to 18 to help in the future. Thanks for your help

[NeilZ]

I ran Trial Balance for all our funds and discovered 01 General Fund and Fund 20 Children's Fund are off by $382.24. After research I found that in December 2015 the bookkeeper paid the Church's Gas Energy bill form 01 correctly but the expense went to Fund 20 in error.
01-1110 National Bank Credit $382.24
20-5771 Gas Building 1 Debit $87.47
20-5771 Gas Building 2 Debit $174.12
20-5771 Gas Building 3 Debit $65.40
20-5771 Gas Building 4 Debit $55.25
December 2015 is closed. I'm not sure how to correct these accounts. Please help. I don't know what entry to make to correct. I have now changed our open months to 18 to help in the future. Thanks for your help

What you can do is reverse that entry from Dec 2015, then create another entry with the correct accounts listed. I'm hoping that you have December in 2016 still open? What you can do is date those transactions for 12/31/2016 and list as END OF YEAR transactions. Enter all supporting information in the transaction NOTE area, then post to Dec 2016. This will correct the accounts for the beginning of 2017.

What I would also do before you post those transactions above, is to get a screen print or capture of the incorrect transaction, along with copies of the reports that show the out of balance condition. Put them with last year's data for audit purposes.

Then do a backup of the accounting database in case the results are not what you expected, then post the corrections.

This should clear up the issue.

As far as keeping it from happening again, does the Children's Fund actually pay any utilities ??? If not, why are these accounts active for that fund?? Once you reverse and post those transactions, remove these accounts from the Fund 20, along with any other fund where they should not be. If you get a message that they cannot be removed as there are transactions posted to it, just make them inactive. Not as final, but at least they won't be available in future.

[FBCro]

Thanks. December 2016 is still open. Childrens fund does not pay utilities. Not sure why Childrens fund has these accounts but will remove. We only have one checking account used for all funds. Thanks for your help

[FBCro]

What I now have discovered is that account 20-5771 is for gas for vehicles if children are taken on trips etc. Account 5407 in fund 01 should have been used for utilities so it should have been as follows
01-1110 bank credit $382.24
01-5407 utilities gas debit $87.47
01-5407 utilities gas debit $174.12
01-5407 utilities gas debit $65.40
01-5407 utilities gas debit $55.25
So 5771 in Childrens fund was for vehicle gas and 5407 in 01 was for utilities. Would this be handled in the same way? I'm new to this and not sure where to go to reverse the transactions. Thanks

[NeilZ]

What I now have discovered is that account 20-5771 is for gas for vehicles if children are taken on trips etc. Account 5407 in fund 01 should have been used for utilities so it should have been as follows
01-1110 bank credit $382.24
01-5407 utilities gas debit $87.47
01-5407 utilities gas debit $174.12
01-5407 utilities gas debit $65.40
01-5407 utilities gas debit $55.25
So 5771 in Childrens fund was for vehicle gas and 5407 in 01 was for utilities. Would this be handled in the same way? I'm new to this and not sure where to go to reverse the transactions. Thanks

Yes, definitely. Reverse the wrong transaction, then enter the corrected transaction with the proper accounts, and post as I mentioned above.

Also, as I mentioned, do a backup of the Accounting Database before you post anything so you can back it out if there's an issue.

FWIW .. I would edit the name of the 5771 account to properly reflect what it is. I'd change it to Vehicle Fuel so there's no mistake in the future.