Income and Expense Report versus Account Numbering

[Bev Brown]

We've been using Powerchurch software since the beginning of the year. After some initial problems in setting up the program for our church, we thought we 'had it right' and things were running smoothly. We just noticed that many of the figures on our Income and Expense Report are incorrect due to our account numbering....at least we think that is the problem.

For example, we have an account under General Fund as 01-4102, then under Scholarship Fund we have an account as 02-4102, Youth Fund as 03-4102, etc. We used a consistent numbering process in each fund. It appears as if the Income and Expense report adds 'all' the 4102's together and gives us one figure on the report under the first fund. Is this how it should work?

I just want to ensure we're right in how Powerchurch handles this before we proceed and change any duplicate accounts between funds.

Thank you,

[Randy B]

You are right. When you run a report for all funds, it takes account 4102 and sums it up for all funds having an account 4102 regardless of the name of the account. The number is the key. The reason for this is it allows you to see account 4102 in total or just for a fund.

To fix your problem, I would recommend you create a spreadsheet where the column is the fund and the rows are the account number and description. This will allow you to easily see your chart of accounts and ensure the account numbers are consistent amoung all funds.

Then you can move the account amounts with a journal entry. I would do each fund with a separate entry and document your changes as you go. When finished you, there should be no change to your balance sheet accounts for to the total of your income and expense accounts if you have numbered those correctly. You will then be able to run income statements that allow you to see 4102 with a consistent account description in total, for a single fund, or group of funds.

[Zaphod]

That's exactly how it's designed to work. The idea is that different funds may have similar income and expenses. For instance, if you have an expense for "Flowers," in your General Fund, that might be flowers for the sanctuary. For the Building Fund, it might be flowers for landscaping. For your Memorial Fund, it might be flowers for gravesites. At some point you may want to know, "how much have we spent on flowers overall." You can then run an Income and Expense statement where all the funds are consolidated into one to see that information.

If the accounts aren't equivalent in each fund, then you'll get the kinds of issues you're seeing. If this is the case you can either run the reports for an individual fund (lots of dead trees) or you can fix your Chart of Accounts to consolidate properly.

FYI - Version 9 will strictly enforce this consolidation.