User Support Forum

Hello,

I am new to PowerChurch (v. 10.4). In the previous church software that I used, I was able to have all of our accounts in one Accounting Fund. I could separate the different funds or restrictions using different equity numbers (3100 for general, 3200 for building, etc.) I could then print out an overall report showing the activity in each of those funds very similar to the "Accounting Fund Balances" report on the PowerChurch menu. I would, of course, give a detailed report on the General Fund, but I could give a detail on any other fund, as well. That way the church leaders could keep up with how every restricted account was being disbursed.

Is there any way I can mimic that scenario in PowerChurch without having to create a separate chart of accounts (01-, 02-, etc.) for every restriction that our church has, for example, Hurricane Relief?

Tom

Tom Hebert wrote:Hello,

I am new to PowerChurch (v. 10.4). In the previous church software that I used, I was able to have all of our accounts in one Accounting Fund. I could separate the different funds or restrictions using different equity numbers (3100 for general, 3200 for building, etc.) I could then print out an overall report showing the activity in each of those funds very similar to the "Accounting Fund Balances" report on the PowerChurch menu. I would, of course, give a detailed report on the General Fund, but I could give a detail on any other fund, as well. That way the church leaders could keep up with how every restricted account was being disbursed.

Is there any way I can mimic that scenario in PowerChurch without having to create a separate chart of accounts (01-, 02-, etc.) for every restriction that our church has, for example, Hurricane Relief?

Tom

Have you looked at the built-in Account Activity report. It allows you to get a report on all activities on individual accounts.

Tom Hebert wrote:In the previous church software that I used, I was able to have all of our accounts in one Accounting Fund. I could separate the different funds or restrictions using different equity numbers (3100 for general, 3200 for building, etc.) I could then print out an overall report showing the activity in each of those funds very similar to the "Accounting Fund Balances" report on the PowerChurch menu. I would, of course, give a detailed report on the General Fund, but I could give a detail on any other fund, as well. That way the church leaders could keep up with how every restricted account was being disbursed.

Is there any way I can mimic that scenario in PowerChurch without having to create a separate chart of accounts (01-, 02-, etc.) for every restriction that our church has, for example, Hurricane Relief?

I'm quite certain you can do the same thing in PC+. If I remember correctly (always open to question ), any time you modify the chart of accounts (under the Fund Accounting menu) to add a new account (whether restricted or not), you have the opportunity to specify the equity account, so that your new account can close to an existing equity account or to a new one that you establish during the process for setting up your new account.

This is how I set up restricted accounts, in particular designated memorial accounts. Then I use the Changes in Equity report each month to track movement in and out of the restricted accounts. (There may be a better report I should be using, but this works for me! )

Hope this helps.

Eden

Thank you for your help, Neil and Eden. After looking at the reports again, I think maybe the "Changes in Equity" report could be used although it doesn't have a column for transfers from one fund to another. That would be neither an income or an expense.

Overall it seems more flexible to have all my church funds (including general) in one chart of accounts as long as PowerChurch can keep up with the type of equity account it is and the funds are properly linked to income and expenses.

Tom

Setting up a separate chart of accounts can be as simple or complex as you would like. I have several funds that have only one income and one expense account in them. So don't be intimidated by the process of setting up separate funds.

What about bank accounts? Does each Accounting Fund have to have it's own bank account or can they be shared? How does that work?

They can all use the same bank account. Fund 1 would be account 01-1110, Fund 2 would be 02-1110 and so on. The bank account number is 1110 and the first 2 digits designate the fund number. When you reconcile it would just be to the 1110 account which combines all of the funds together. But when you do fund reports the reports only display the data for each fund.

Don't know how clear this is, but I hope it is helpful.

Yes, that helps. Thanks.