Correct contribution posting

[GEBCbookkeeper]

I'm trying to figure out what contribution transactions should look like on the Fund Accounting side. We recently just began posting our contributions to Fund Accounting and I want to make sure our accounts are set up correctly and are appearing in the correct account for reconciling. For more info, these are our funds/accounts:

01 - General Fund (represents our checking account)
01-1110-000 Checking account - asset acct (1110 is the account we reconcile for checking)
01-4100-000 Checking account - income acct

20 - General Fund (represents our money market account)
20-1210-000 Money market general fund - asset acct (1210 is the account we reconcile for money market)
20-4100-000 Money market general fund - income acct

05 - Designated Funds
05-1110- Designated Fund asset accts
05-4710- Designated Fund income accts

Here is an example of what is happening - we have a deposit of $8767.40. The breakdown is as follows:
General Fund $8192.15
Bible Study Curriculum $16.00
Youth Fund (designated) $59.25
Youth Missions Fund (designated) $400.00
Debt Elimination Fund (designated) $100.00

The transaction to Fund Accounting looked like this:
Debits
01-4100 General Fund Contributions 16.00
20-1210 Money Market General Fund Contributions 8,192.15
05-1110-545 Youth Fund Contributions 59.25
05-1110-550 SERVE Youth Missions Contributions 400.00
05-1110-570 Debt Elimination Fund Contributions 100.00
Credits
20-4100 General Fund General Fund 8,192.15
01-4250-270 Women's Bible Study Curriculum 16.00
05-4710-545 Youth Fund Youth Fund 59.25
05-4710-550 SERVE Youth Mission Fund 400.00
05-4720-570 Debt Elimination Fund 100.00


The result when I go to reconcile: $8192.15 shows up in the 1210 Money Market, $559.25 shows up in the 1110 Checking, and the $16 doesn't show up anywhere.

I can't figure out this tangled web and where the problem is that needs fixing. In the past, we didn't post to Fund Accounting from Contributions - a transaction would be made weekly to Debit the 20-1210 Money Market asset, Credit the 20-4100 Money Market income. and at the end of the month would make a transaction to "deposit" all contributions into each fund.

[NeilZ]

Here is an example of what is happening - we have a deposit of $8767.40. The breakdown is as follows:
General Fund $8192.15
Bible Study Curriculum $16.00
Youth Fund (designated) $59.25
Youth Missions Fund (designated) $400.00
Debt Elimination Fund (designated) $100.00

The transaction to Fund Accounting looked like this:
Debits
01-4100 General Fund Contributions 16.00
20-1210 Money Market General Fund Contributions 8,192.15
05-1110-545 Youth Fund Contributions 59.25
05-1110-550 SERVE Youth Missions Contributions 400.00
05-1110-570 Debt Elimination Fund Contributions 100.00
Credits
20-4100 General Fund General Fund 8,192.15
01-4250-270 Women's Bible Study Curriculum 16.00
05-4710-545 Youth Fund Youth Fund 59.25
05-4710-550 SERVE Youth Mission Fund 400.00
05-4720-570 Debt Elimination Fund 100.00


The result when I go to reconcile: $8192.15 shows up in the 1210 Money Market, $559.25 shows up in the 1110 Checking, and the $16 doesn't show up anywhere.

I can't figure out this tangled web and where the problem is that needs fixing. In the past, we didn't post to Fund Accounting from Contributions - a transaction would be made weekly to Debit the 20-1210 Money Market asset, Credit the 20-4100 Money Market income. and at the end of the month would make a transaction to "deposit" all contributions into each fund.

The $16 is not being Debited to any asset account. Evidently in the Bible Study Contribution Fund, you're debiting an INCOME account ... the Contribution Fund Account setup very plainly points out that the DEBIT account should be the BANK account. While there are times you can use another account for the Debit, it should never be an income account, as a DEBIT to the income account is a SUBTRACTION from the account.

I also need to point out that the Bible Study Contribution Fund should NOT be set to print on the Contribution Statement as its a reimbursement to the church for an item, not a contributon.

[GEBCbookkeeper]

Here is an example of what is happening - we have a deposit of $8767.40. The breakdown is as follows:
General Fund $8192.15
Bible Study Curriculum $16.00
Youth Fund (designated) $59.25
Youth Missions Fund (designated) $400.00
Debt Elimination Fund (designated) $100.00

The transaction to Fund Accounting looked like this:
Debits
01-4100 General Fund Contributions 16.00
20-1210 Money Market General Fund Contributions 8,192.15
05-1110-545 Youth Fund Contributions 59.25
05-1110-550 SERVE Youth Missions Contributions 400.00
05-1110-570 Debt Elimination Fund Contributions 100.00
Credits
20-4100 General Fund General Fund 8,192.15
01-4250-270 Women's Bible Study Curriculum 16.00
05-4710-545 Youth Fund Youth Fund 59.25
05-4710-550 SERVE Youth Mission Fund 400.00
05-4720-570 Debt Elimination Fund 100.00


The result when I go to reconcile: $8192.15 shows up in the 1210 Money Market, $559.25 shows up in the 1110 Checking, and the $16 doesn't show up anywhere.

I can't figure out this tangled web and where the problem is that needs fixing. In the past, we didn't post to Fund Accounting from Contributions - a transaction would be made weekly to Debit the 20-1210 Money Market asset, Credit the 20-4100 Money Market income. and at the end of the month would make a transaction to "deposit" all contributions into each fund.

The $16 is not being Debited to any asset account. Evidently in the Bible Study Contribution Fund, you're debiting an INCOME account ... the Contribution Fund Account setup very plainly points out that the DEBIT account should be the BANK account. While there are times you can use another account for the Debit, it should never be an income account, as a DEBIT to the income account is a SUBTRACTION from the account.

I also need to point out that the Bible Study Contribution Fund should NOT be set to print on the Contribution Statement as its a reimbursement to the church for an item, not a contributon.

Okay, I see that problem. However, there is still the problem that the entire deposit of $8767.40 should be hitting the Money Market account, but only part of it is. With the different funds of 01, 20, and 05, how do I make that happen as a balanced transaction and still hit the correct bank account? If that $16 debits the 01-1110 asset (checking account) then its not showing up in the correct bank account. Everything needs to be reflected in the 20-1210 asset account, so are we missing some accounts within those 05 and 20 funds to allow these transactions to be done correctly? As I said, we just started processing the contributions this way so it's now obvious the Contribution fund setup has inaccuracies that I'm trying to fix. Lots of inherited problems I'm trying to work with - I know the income for things like bible study are not being done right, but I'm trying to get through one fix at a time...that is added to the list.

[NeilZ]

Okay, I see that problem. However, there is still the problem that the entire deposit of $8767.40 should be hitting the Money Market account, but only part of it is. With the different funds of 01, 20, and 05, how do I make that happen as a balanced transaction and still hit the correct bank account? If that $16 debits the 01-1110 asset (checking account) then its not showing up in the correct bank account. Everything needs to be reflected in the 20-1210 asset account, so are we missing some accounts within those 05 and 20 funds to allow these transactions to be done correctly? As I said, we just started processing the contributions this way so it's now obvious the Contribution fund setup has inaccuracies that I'm trying to fix. Lots of inherited problems I'm trying to work with - I know the income for things like bible study are not being done right, but I'm trying to get through one fix at a time...that is added to the list.

You shouldn't have to make a balanced transaction if you have the DEBIT accounts setup correctly in the Contribution Fund setup for each Contribution Fund. The system if everything is to show up in the -1210 account, you need to make sure that account is available in EVERY fund where it may be used, just like the normal checking account.

[GEBCbookkeeper]

Okay, I see that problem. However, there is still the problem that the entire deposit of $8767.40 should be hitting the Money Market account, but only part of it is. With the different funds of 01, 20, and 05, how do I make that happen as a balanced transaction and still hit the correct bank account? If that $16 debits the 01-1110 asset (checking account) then its not showing up in the correct bank account. Everything needs to be reflected in the 20-1210 asset account, so are we missing some accounts within those 05 and 20 funds to allow these transactions to be done correctly? As I said, we just started processing the contributions this way so it's now obvious the Contribution fund setup has inaccuracies that I'm trying to fix. Lots of inherited problems I'm trying to work with - I know the income for things like bible study are not being done right, but I'm trying to get through one fix at a time...that is added to the list.

You shouldn't have to make a balanced transaction if you have the DEBIT accounts setup correctly in the Contribution Fund setup for each Contribution Fund. The system if everything is to show up in the -1210 account, you need to make sure that account is available in EVERY fund where it may be used, just like the normal checking account.

Okay, that's the info I was needing.
Further question - in our 05 funds (designated) there are separate asset accounts set up for each fund account, Youth Missions, Youth Fund, Debt Elim, etc. that have been used rather than just one account for the money market - is that incorrectly set-up? So in my above transaction, the 05-1110- accounts are asset accounts - should those contributions be debiting the -1210 as well? I'm just not sure how this all looks going forward and if this was set up incorrectly?

[NeilZ]

You shouldn't have to make a balanced transaction if you have the DEBIT accounts setup correctly in the Contribution Fund setup for each Contribution Fund. The system if everything is to show up in the -1210 account, you need to make sure that account is available in EVERY fund where it may be used, just like the normal checking account.

Okay, that's the info I was needing.
Further question - in our 05 funds (designated) there are separate asset accounts set up for each fund account, Youth Missions, Youth Fund, Debt Elim, etc. that have been used rather than just one account for the money market - is that incorrectly set-up? So in my above transaction, the 05-1110- accounts are asset accounts - should those contributions be debiting the -1210 as well? I'm just not sure how this all looks going forward and if this was set up incorrectly?

Do you have separate checking accounts for each asset ??? It does not sound that way. They should have been setup as separate Temporarily Restricted Funds in the 05 - Youth accounting fund. Since you say that all income goes to the MM account, the DEBIT (Bank) Account should be the 05-1210-000 account, and the CREDIT (Income) accounts should be the Temp Restricted Income account (once you set it up properly).

You would do this through the Funds Accounting setup menu's Maintain List of Donor Restrictions. I'm assuming that each one of those youth areas have an income account? I'd renumber the account (using the Maintain Chart of Accounts) to a number within the Donor Restricted - Temporarily Restricted income area, then using the Maintain List of Donor Restrictions, use these account when creating the restriction.