Assets don't equal liabilities + fund balance on bal.sheet

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umcofmac
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Assets don't equal liabilities + fund balance on bal.sheet

Post by umcofmac »

Every month since at least Jan. 2005 (that's all of the paper records that are in my office), our assets exceed our liabilities and fund balance by exactly $2431.99. Why would they differ, and how could I fix it? If I decrease an asset, value of land and buildings, say, by $2431.99, I would have to decrease something in the fund balances by that same amount. I have been treasurer of my church for only 3 years, and I'm not an accountant by trade, so it didn't come to my attention until someone on our finance committee recently pointed it out. Is there any way to resolve this?

NeilZ
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Re: Assets don't equal liabilities + fund balance on bal.she

Post by NeilZ »

umcofmac wrote:Every month since at least Jan. 2005 (that's all of the paper records that are in my office), our assets exceed our liabilities and fund balance by exactly $2431.99. Why would they differ, and how could I fix it? If I decrease an asset, value of land and buildings, say, by $2431.99, I would have to decrease something in the fund balances by that same amount. I have been treasurer of my church for only 3 years, and I'm not an accountant by trade, so it didn't come to my attention until someone on our finance committee recently pointed it out. Is there any way to resolve this?
If its been the same amount for all this time, it does sound like an error that was never corrected back then. Where is the excess showing? Net Assets? Elsewhere?

My suggestion, I would find out if there's an accountant in the congregation and ask them how to adjust this. The main thing they need to know is that the church runs on a cash basis.

Its best to talk to someone local in this kind of situation as they can see exactly where the error is, and they can assist in person.
Neil Zampella

Using PC+ since 1999.

Matt
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Re: Assets don't equal liabilities + fund balance on bal.she

Post by Matt »

There is a little known feature where you can input a one sided accounting entry into PowerChurch. To do so, input OOB (that's letter O, letter O, B--for Out Of Balance) at the beginning of the reference number e.g. OOB CORRECTION. The system will then allow you to post the one sided entry without giving you an error message. You'll need to decide which account to post the one sided entry to. If you don't know, I would recommend posting it to the unrestricted fund balance account. Since your assets exceed your liabilities and fund balance you would want to credit the unrestricted fund balance account for $2,431.99.

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