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Our preschool has a fund with the preschool balance and also a scholarship balance in it. I wanted to record the scholarships given for the year, so I debited the scholarship balance directly and credited the preschool balance for the same amount. I realized later that this won't show on the preschool's income statement. Should I create transfer accounts in this fund instead and use those to record? I'm not sure if they will show up on the income statement if the transfers are in the same fund.
thanks

goodshepherdlutheran wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 07, 2023 2:41 pm

Our preschool has a fund with the preschool balance and also a scholarship balance in it. I wanted to record the scholarships given for the year, so I debited the scholarship balance directly and credited the preschool balance for the same amount. I realized later that this won't show on the preschool's income statement. Should I create transfer accounts in this fund instead and use those to record? I'm not sure if they will show up on the income statement if the transfers are in the same fund.
thanks

You really don't need to 'transfer' within a fund, not sure if that even works. I'm assuming that the Preschool has its own accounting fund other than the one for the church, and the Scholarship funds are in a Donor Restricted account also under the Preschool Accounting Fund, and only available for scholarships, right?

Before I go further, I need to verify that.

Yes, that's correct. The preschool fund is separate from the church and it has the preschool balance and the scholarship balances in it. I was going to just move $1,000 from one balance to the other, but wasn't sure if that was the correct way to do this or not.

For example:
Debit #02-3110 Scholarship Balance by $1,000 and
Credit #02-3130 Preschool Balance by $1,000

I've only used transfer funds when it involved transfers between two separate funds, not within the same one.

Thanks

goodshepherdlutheran wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 08, 2023 10:02 am

Yes, that's correct. The preschool fund is separate from the church and it has the preschool balance and the scholarship balances in it. I was going to just move $1,000 from one balance to the other, but wasn't sure if that was the correct way to do this or not.

For example:
Debit #02-3110 Scholarship Balance by $1,000 and
Credit #02-3130 Preschool Balance by $1,000

I've only used transfer funds when it involved transfers between two separate funds, not within the same one.

Thanks

OK .. based on the account numbers I'm assuming you mean that 02-3110-000 is the Preschool Net Assets (Fund Balance), and that 02-3130-000 is the Scholarship Fund Balance? If so, that scholarship fund may not be a restricted fund, is that correct?

Correct, we don't use the restricted funds feature in PowerChurch. We create a separate balance for anything that is restricted and keep track of it that way.

goodshepherdlutheran wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 08, 2023 2:33 pm

Correct, we don't use the restricted funds feature in PowerChurch. We create a separate balance for anything that is restricted and keep track of it that way.

Hate to say it, but that's why you're not going to be able to show that scholarship money as income. Not having it setup as a temporary restriction doesn't allow you to release the funds in a way that shows money movement.

If this was a temp restriction, you could have created a transaction that DEBITED the scholarship expense account, CREDIT the preschool INCOME account, and then click on the release funds button which would have added the lines that moved from the Scholarship Fund Balance account to the unrestricted funds balance account, and that would have shown up on the Income and Expense.

Its not too late to setup the scholarship fund balance as a temp restriction. Temp restrictions make it much easier to have an audit trail for funds.

Ok, thanks. I'll try the restricted funds feature. I appreciate your help!