how to add opening balances to Fund accounts

[bjwhitson]

I am setting up a new Powerchurch account. We are trying to start the process with the June 30 income and expenses numbers from our old accounting program. I have gone thru the Set-up Assistant to get my accounts set up. I included the balances in the Restricted accounts so the Balance Sheet matches the report from the old system. However, when I was going thru the expense account setup, I did not input any balance for those accounts. Now, I can't find where I can input that data. Since I deleted almost 2/3 of the accounts that the software set up for me, I'd hate to start over. But I will if I need to. Suggestions?
Betsy Whitson
Highlands PC
Grayson, GA

[NeilZ]

I am setting up a new Powerchurch account. We are trying to start the process with the June 30 income and expenses numbers from our old accounting program. I have gone thru the Set-up Assistant to get my accounts set up. I included the balances in the Restricted accounts so the Balance Sheet matches the report from the old system. However, when I was going thru the expense account setup, I did not input any balance for those accounts. Now, I can't find where I can input that data. Since I deleted almost 2/3 of the accounts that the software set up for me, I'd hate to start over. But I will if I need to. Suggestions?
Betsy Whitson
Highlands PC
Grayson, GA

Unfortunately, you should have done this during the running of the Setup Assistant. On page 189 of the PCPlus v12 User Manual when talking about the Setup Assistant, it says this:

The accounting month in which you are starting to use PowerChurch Plus - either at
the beginning of your accounting year or at some other time. If you are starting at
some time other than the beginning of your accounting year, you can choose to enter
year-to-date balances for each income and expense account. If you choose to not
enter this information, then your Income and Expense reports for your first year will
reflect activity only from what point you started to use PowerChurch Plus.

Trying to add it those items now, especially since you say the Balance Sheet is correct, will throw the system completely off. You may have to restart accounting and start from scratch.

As far as the accounts the system sets up, you can delete them before you finalize the setup. Also, if these are level 2 thru 4 accounts, these are basically headers/group accounts, and you can leave them for now. If you don't want to do any deletes while in the setup, just hold off until you get all your actual expense accounts setup, and under the group header you want them to be.

You can then enter the starting balances at that time. My advice, do not finalize the setup until you are sure everything you want in the COA is there.

[bjwhitson]

Thanks, Neil,
I used Power Church version 11 at another church for 10+ years - we started the process in January so I didn't have this issue. Guess I"ll go back and delete what I have and restart.
Thanks for your quick answer!
Betsy

[bjwhitson]

Hi Neil,
I've gone back and started over and have the YTD expenses entered into the accounts such that the P&L has all the correct numbers.
I have a couple of questions about the restricted Income accounts -
1 - of the 15 restricted accounts, only 3 have had expenses thru 6-30-2018 and one has had income and expenses. Can I enter a negative amount in the "year to date amount" field to reflect expenses?

2 - I've tried to enter Contribution data for July but noticed that I haven't been able to assign account numbers to the income accounts. Can I only post Contribution data to Fund Accounting AFTER I've completed the Accounting set-up?

3 - by starting in mid-year, will my P&L report accurately reflect YTD income and expenses or will I be providing 2 reports to the officers of the church? I know that the Contribution statements will only reflect July - December and that's ok.

Thanks so much for your help and advice!
Betsy
Finance Committee-HPC
Grayson, GA

[NeilZ]

Hi Neil,
I've gone back and started over and have the YTD expenses entered into the accounts such that the P&L has all the correct numbers.
I have a couple of questions about the restricted Income accounts -
1 - of the 15 restricted accounts, only 3 have had expenses thru 6-30-2018 and one has had income and expenses. Can I enter a negative amount in the "year to date amount" field to reflect expenses?

Restricted accounts really don't have 'expenses' they have releases. If the balance you're reflecting in the temp restricted account (which should be reflected in its accompanying Fund Balance account) is the balance after previous releases, then you shouldn't have to do anything. However, if you have made purchases/expenses that the funds in restricted account was supposed to cover, you need to release that amount. The easiest way is to do it by entering a transaction in Funds Accounting, and clicking the 'Release Restricted Funds' button and entering the amount that should cover those expenses.

2 - I've tried to enter Contribution data for July but noticed that I haven't been able to assign account numbers to the income accounts. Can I only post Contribution data to Fund Accounting AFTER I've completed the Accounting set-up?

Yes, the system will do a verification to make sure those accounts are available.

3 - by starting in mid-year, will my P&L report accurately reflect YTD income and expenses or will I be providing 2 reports to the officers of the church? I know that the Contribution statements will only reflect July - December and that's ok.

Thanks so much for your help and advice!
Betsy
Finance Committee-HPC
Grayson, GA

If you entered the year-to-date balances on your income and expenses as directed, yes the report should reflect your YTD Income and Expense. Remember its it NOT a profit and loss statement, that is only use in 'for profit' accounting.

[bjwhitson]

Got the accounts all fixed but as we're working, the finance committee decided they wanted the value of the land and church building to show on the Balance sheet. They've not had that before and didn't mention it as we were getting started. It doesn't appear that I can go back and add the opening balance to a new Asset account for Land and/or Building. Am I right? Do I need to ditch all my work to date and redo with those numbers?
Betsy
Finance Committee - HPC
Grayson, GA

[NeilZ]

Got the accounts all fixed but as we're working, the finance committee decided they wanted the value of the land and church building to show on the Balance sheet. They've not had that before and didn't mention it as we were getting started. It doesn't appear that I can go back and add the opening balance to a new Asset account for Land and/or Building. Am I right? Do I need to ditch all my work to date and redo with those numbers?
Betsy
Finance Committee - HPC
Grayson, GA

Actually, that's much easier to do .. do they want it under Operations, or as a separate accounting fund?

In any case this thread should give you the help you need;

https://www.powerchurch.com/forum/viewt ... set#p12588