User Support Forum

When viewing posted contributions, some entries are showing that I know are not legitimate. For instance one member’s list of contributions show’s an entry for October 21, 2007, for the amount of 800.00, and another entry for the amount of 125.00 on the same date. I know this cannot be, because this person left the church in August. I’m the only one that does the contribution entry, and I use a check reader. I know we haven’t had any contributions from this person since they left. Another thing that is strange about this is, the Posting Date, Posted By, and Posted Method fields are all blank for the entries in question. All other entries that I know I entered have information in those fields. I use only the Contributions Module, and I do not have anyone set up with pledges, or repeating contributions. Can anyone explain how this mysterious entry could have been made? There are a couple of other members with entries like this too. I have applied all of the latest maintenance releases, and have ran the re-indexing tool. Please help.
Thanks!

Vicki Dady
Rising Sun Church of Christ
6390 Rising Sun Dr.
Pleasant Hill, Ia. 50327
515-265-7393

vickidady wrote:When viewing posted contributions, some entries are showing that I know are not legitimate. For instance one member’s list of contributions show’s an entry for October 21, 2007, for the amount of 800.00, and another entry for the amount of 125.00 on the same date. I know this cannot be, because this person left the church in August. I’m the only one that does the contribution entry, and I use a check reader. I know we haven’t had any contributions from this person since they left. Another thing that is strange about this is, the Posting Date, Posted By, and Posted Method fields are all blank for the entries in question. All other entries that I know I entered have information in those fields. I use only the Contributions Module, and I do not have anyone set up with pledges, or repeating contributions. Can anyone explain how this mysterious entry could have been made? There are a couple of other members with entries like this too. I have applied all of the latest maintenance releases, and have ran the re-indexing tool. Please help.
Thanks!

Vicki Dady
Rising Sun Church of Christ
6390 Rising Sun Dr.
Pleasant Hill, Ia. 50327
515-265-7393

Vicki,

FWIW ... I would check to make sure that the contribution account that is coming up in Powerchurch is the correct account for the giver of the check.

My current church does not have a check reader, but at my old church I remember that if a check was read that was not in the database, the system would default to a different member's account.

We solved this by training our counters to always verify the name on the check with the name on the account displayed.

I'm not sure if this could be the cause of your issue, but I'd definitely take a look at that.

Vicki,

This is something else to consider from what Neil mentioned. At our church we are also a clearinghouse for several different missionaries out of our church. What I noticed is that when churches or individuals use an online bank check, that bank sends out these funds from a single account which has the same routing and account numbers although the funds are from different bank customers.

Since PowerChurch reads it as the last contributor with that bank information entered into the program it can cause incorrect information to be entered. We have also informed our counters to verify the name on the check especially if it is a online check issued by a bank for one of their customers.

Hope this helps!

Thank you for the responses. The mystery has been solved. I discovered that the date on the entries in question had been transposed. What should have been posted with the date of 01/21/2007, was inadvertantly posted as 10/21/2007. That is why I was seeing an entry posted for October for a person that had left the church in August. We use offering envelopes, and our counting team uses them as a check and balance during their process. We save them throughout the year, so I was able to find the error by comparing their evelopes with what was posted in Powerchurch. I'm glad it was something as simple as that!

Vicki Dady
Rising Sun Church of Christ
6390 NE Rising Sun Dr.
Pleasant Hill, Ia. 50327
515-265-7393

NeilZ wrote:My current church does not have a check reader, but at my old church I remember that if a check was read that was not in the database, the system would default to a different member's account.

Just FYI, something was terribly wrong with this behavior!

If you scan a check that is not in the database, you should immediately be prompted to enter the envelope number or lookup the contributor from a list.

Zorak wrote:

NeilZ wrote:My current church does not have a check reader, but at my old church I remember that if a check was read that was not in the database, the system would default to a different member's account.

Just FYI, something was terribly wrong with this behavior!

If you scan a check that is not in the database, you should immediately be prompted to enter the envelope number or lookup the contributor from a list.

Tell me about it .... I haven't checked the behavior in version 10, as the current church does not have a reader, but this was occuring !!

Sounds like you may have had corruption in the table where we store the scanned information / envelope number relation.

Call tech support!