User Support Forum

nwhitman wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 13, 2022 9:01 am

I received a monthly check from our Music Directory. She is living in one of our Parsonages and she will reimburse us for the utilities instead of paying rent. How should I input this check as. Her check includes Water, Gas and Electric.

• Use the Accounts Receivable function and create an Invoice based on the total amount of all utilities to send to her. This does two things, provides a record of the amount the person must pay, and then provides a record of her payment. In it you would create a Predefined Item called Parsonage Utilities using the average monthly amount of costs. You'll probably have to adjust it monthly to account for varying usage.
  
  Then when the check comes in, you process the payment through AP, and post it to Funds Accounting. This may sound a bit complicated, but only for the initial setup, and it provides a full audit trail to prove to your church board that the church is billing the person, and she's paying

• Just send her an email, note, or letter with the total amount, and when she sends in the check, go into the Funds Accounting function, and enter a deposit transaction there. It looks exactly like the Contributions transaction, but you'll use the Miscellaneous or Parsonage[/i] income account as the CREDIT account and not the normal Tithes and Offerings

Zorak wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 13, 2022 9:38 am

The deposit of the reimbursement check would be recorded in Fund Accounting > Enter Transactions. Instead of recording income, like you would when receiving a contribution, the reported expenses for those utilities would be lowered. The transaction would look something like the following:

01-1110-000 Checking (Debit) $100
01-5210-000 Water Expense (Credit) $25
01-5220-000 Gas Expense (Credit) $25
01-5230-000 Electric Expense (Credit) $50

NeilZ wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 13, 2022 9:51 am

nwhitman wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 13, 2022 9:01 am

I received a monthly check from our Music Directory. She is living in one of our Parsonages and she will reimburse us for the utilities instead of paying rent. How should I input this check as. Her check includes Water, Gas and Electric.

I have to disagree with Zorak on this one, the church would have to pay utilities on that house one way or another, so its still an expense to the church, even though you're getting funds back. Plus you would lose the historical costs of utilities for that house if, in future, you have a minister living in the parsonage; which you would need in order to determine including the utilities as part of the housing allowance outside of rent.

It is NOT a contribution, it is basically income. While you may think its a 'reimbursement', it really isn't. If you don't have a miscellaneous or parsonage income account, create one.

Now you have two options:

• Use the Accounts Receivable function and create an Invoice based on the total amount of all utilities to send to her. This does two things, provides a record of the amount the person must pay, and then provides a record of her payment. In it you would create a Predefined Item called Parsonage Utilities using the average monthly amount of costs. You'll probably have to adjust it monthly to account for varying usage.
  
  Then when the check comes in, you process the payment through AP, and post it to Funds Accounting. This may sound a bit complicated, but only for the initial setup, and it provides a full audit trail to prove to your church board that the church is billing the person, and she's paying

• Just send her an email, note, or letter with the total amount, and when she sends in the check, go into the Funds Accounting function, and enter a deposit transaction there. It looks exactly like the Contributions transaction, but you'll use the Miscellaneous or Parsonage[/i] income account as the CREDIT account and not the normal Tithes and Offerings

In both cases, this will be a SEPARATE deposit from Contributions, again as part of a good audit trail. What I usually do is write up the deposit slip, endorse the back of the check, and clip them together. Then when the contributions are counted on Sunday, they include this separate deposit in the bank bag.