A couple of questions...

[peabodyumc]

still trying to get things pulled together to go live January 1 and trying to wrap my brain around all this accounting stuff (and I have been treasurer for the past 7 years!!).

Okay -- I have one general checking, one youth fund checking acct., one youth savings acct. and one SS class savings. Currently, I have the checking accts. in fund 01 as well as the youth savings in fund 01 (I don't think at this point I need a second fund unless someone sees a reason why I might). I have yet to add the SS class.

The youth funds are dormant right now as we are in between active youth groups. So I am not dealing with those accts at the moment.

In my general acct. in my old program, I currently have a "general fund" which are the monies I use to pay utilities, payroll, programming expenses etc. Also, in the checking acct. are the monies of the Chancel Choir, the Outreach Comm. who raises their own funds, the handbell choir, etc. I am confused how and where to show these "accts." in PC. Currently I have a bill sitting on my desk for handbell music. I will write that check from the general checking acct. and take it from the "handbell acct." so their funds decrease on my balance sheet. I could be currently doing things incorrectly but the program I am using is just horrible and took 18 mo. to finally get to where I didn't have to explain all the indiscrepancies to the board. I want this set up to be much smoother and correct.

The second part of this is that I read in one of the posts on this forum but now cannot find that somehow I could start in the midst of a financial year without putting all transactions in the system -- I believe I read that I could just put the totals from say, November 30, of the different line items and then start tracking individual transactions as of Dec. 1. Is that what I would do to start the first of the year as well. My expenses would start at zero but my Outreach Comm has money in its fund, my chancel choir has money, etc.

I have read the book as well as the doc on the CD but still feel like I don't have a 100% grasp on the subject. Oh and we are a small church -- no accountant to ask. Any assistance anyone can provide would be wonderful. I am starting to get nervous realizing that I have slightly over 2 weeks to get fully operational. Thanks!!

Laurie

[peabodyumc]

Okay -- I decided to call PC and start my 90 days tech support. James did a great job helping me decipher sub-accounts and start making sense out of some of this. I think I can move forward on my chart of accounts as well as entering information through 11/30 and try entering transactions as of 12/1. Thanks for all the help thus far!

Laurie