Spending restricted money

[debbieg]

I know this has been discussed in umpteen threads, but I still don't think I'm doing my transactions coorectly when spending restricted money. Here are the accounts I have for one restricted fund:

Temp. Restr. Asset 3215-103
Temp. Restr. Income 4215-103
Release from restriction 4815-103
Releasesd from restriction 4999-000

I'm not sure if this was needed, but I also have an expense account 7030-103

Whenever we receive donations for this fund, we credit the income account: 4215-103.

When money is spent, I know you do a release which creates the transaction:
DB 4815-103
CR 4999-000

the other part I was doing as:
CR 1110-000 (checking account)
DB 7030-103

I'm not sure that the last part is correct. It seems like I got that recommendation from Tech Support but I'm not sure. The online knowledge base has this about restricted funds:

"These additional debit and credit lines affect accounts in the income account number range. One of these accounts is called the release account and the other is called the released from restrictions account. Each donor restriction will have its own unique release account. It is debited and the released from restrictions account is credited when you spend restricted money, but more on all this later."

that makes it sound like I should be crediting the release account 4815-103 instead of my checking account.
Do I not need that expense account at all? Is this going to be obvious on financial reports to show what came in and what ws spent from restricted funds?
HELP!
Debbie

ps. PC Online, version 11

[Zorak]

Everything looks fine in what you have listed.

The expense account is optional in the setup. Really, you can use any expense account that accurately represents what you spent the money on. All expenses affect the balance sheet accounts the same way, since they all close to unrestricted equity.

[debbieg]

But I'm not seeing what i would expect in the monthly financial reports. Maybe I'm running the wrong things. IF I run a Trial Balance, I don't see any change in the current balance of that asset and money has come in and gone out. Income and Expense report shows the money that has come in and gone out but no reflection of what the current balance is. I've even run the Sub-account report and it doesn't appear correct at all. It shows the same amount coming out of the release and the expense account so the total appears to be doubled.
what transaction triggers the change to the asset balance?
I just don't feel like things are tying together.
Debbie

[Zorak]

Take a look at the Changes In Equity report - Does it show correct amounts in each column?

[debbieg]

OK....the "Changes in Equity" report looks promising. Is that the right one to run??

[debbieg]

LOL.....You must have been posting your message at the same time that I posted mine. I did not see your answer until just now.
Yes, the balances that i got look correct.
Thanks

[debbieg]

A related question....when you are entering a transaction and press the "release funds" button, it asks you how much you want to release. Will it notify you if you ask it to release more than is present in the restricted account?
Debbie

[JohnDMeyers]

I just tried it.

When I wrote a check for more than the amount left in the restriction, and then clicked on RELEASE RESTRICTED FUNDS, the screen did not warn me that I was about to release more than was left in the restricted funds.

So, the answer is, you have to look before you set up the payment.

The place to look is on the balance sheet. If you follow all the steps correctly, the equity account you created under Temporarily Restricted Net Assets will tell you the amount remaining.

[JohnDMeyers]

Also, going back to your question about the 7030-103 account.

You will need either an expense account (like the one you have), or an asset account (when your purchase is for something like choir robes, as in the documented example).

What triggers the release of temporarily restricted money is the purchase of something. So you will make your purchase like this:

CR 01-1110-000
DB 01-7030-103

and then do your release:

DB 4815-103
CR 4999-000

So, you are doing everything correctly.