Re: Handling religious organization 'earmarked' funds and in-kind contributions

[Maf. King]

Hi Anita,

That sounds right to me - unless anyone knows of an automated way to do this 
in a more recent GC - last time I started a new year empty boo was probably 
still in the GC 2.2.x days, and there's been a lot of changes to GC since 
then!

Maf.


On Thursday, 25 May 2017 13:07:25 BST Anita Graves wrote:
> Maf, I have already created an account summary of the previous file, so have
> the balances forward to enter in the new one and don’t mind using the
> Equity:Opening Balances account, but I also have separate asset subaccounts
> under that for cash, bank account (current), etc.
> 
> I will then manually enter the balances in these accounts in my new file.
> 
> Is that right? Thanks for your help!
> 

-- 


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Re: Handling religious organization 'earmarked' funds and in-kind contributions

[Anita Graves]

Maf, I have already created an account summary of the previous file, so have 
the balances forward to enter in the new one and don’t mind using the 
Equity:Opening Balances account, but I also have separate asset subaccounts 
under that for cash, bank account (current), etc.

I will then manually enter the balances in these accounts in my new file. 

Is that right? Thanks for your help!

Anita
> On 25 May 2017, at 3:03 PM, Maf. King  wrote:
> 
> Hi Anita,
> 
> sorry if I missed your point.
> 
> It is quite a few years since I started a new year with an empty file, but 
> IIRC, the only way to carry account balances forward is to manually create 
> the 
> transactions to Equity:Opening Balances in the new, blank file.
> 
> So all your asset & liability accounts (well, the ones carrying forward any 
> balance)would have an transaction to Equity:Opening Balances at the start of 
> the year - but you have to create them yourself.  Normally, the income and 
> expense accounts wouldn't carry a balance.
> 
> suggest an account summary report from the close of the last year's books 
> would help here!
> 
> Thinking about it, instead of Equity:OpeningBalances you could use an account 
> called something like Equity:BalancesForward if it makes it clearer!
> 
> HTH,
> Maf.
> 
> 
> 
> On Thursday, 25 May 2017 12:35:26 BST Anita Graves wrote:
>> Yes, Maf.  If you read my latest message, I think I got that.  But, as I
>> explained, I didn’t know how to carry forward balances in the asset
>> accounts when I opened the new file.  I just exported the account tree and
>> that was all….
>> 
>> Anita
>> 
>>> On 25 May 2017, at 2:32 PM, Maf. King  wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hi Anita.
>>> 
>>> why would you expect a change in the opening balance account?
>>> 
>>> At the start of the year, you have some money (say €100), which shows up
>>> in an asset account as you say, transferred from Equity:OpeningBalances.
>>> 
>>> You spend most of the money - so asset drops to €14, and expenses:whatever
>>> is up to €86
>>> 
>>> Your donor is happy to "unrestrict" the little bit of leftover, so asset
>>> goes to zero and Bank or Cash goes up by €14
>>> 
>>> Your opening balance was, is, and will always be €100. It is a fixed point
>>> in time - on April 1st (or whenever the year started) - not a running
>>> balance.
>>> 
>>> HTH,
>>> Maf.
>>> 
>>> On Thursday, 25 May 2017 12:11:07 BST Anita Graves wrote:
 Now, the money has been spent, except for about Euro 14 which I have
 returned to the cash account.  The asset account for the balance forward
 was decreased to zero, and the expense accounts reflect the accurate
 transactions.
 
 Problem:  There was no corresponding reduction in the Equity:Opening
 Balances account.  Why?  Why not?  How can I fix that??  I don’t know how
 to carry forward balances from one file to the next (i.e., from one year
 to
 the next.  I opened a new file for a new year by exporting the account
 tree
 and started with 0 balances in every account.
> 
> 
> -- 
> Maf. King
> PGP Key fingerprint = 8D68 A91F 733B 2C1F 43B7  2B7C E591 E8E1 0DE7 C542
> 
> 
> 

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Re: Handling religious organization 'earmarked' funds and in-kind contributions

[Maf. King]

Hi Anita,

sorry if I missed your point.

It is quite a few years since I started a new year with an empty file, but 
IIRC, the only way to carry account balances forward is to manually create the 
transactions to Equity:Opening Balances in the new, blank file.

So all your asset & liability accounts (well, the ones carrying forward any 
balance)would have an transaction to Equity:Opening Balances at the start of 
the year - but you have to create them yourself.  Normally, the income and 
expense accounts wouldn't carry a balance.

 suggest an account summary report from the close of the last year's books 
would help here!

Thinking about it, instead of Equity:OpeningBalances you could use an account 
called something like Equity:BalancesForward if it makes it clearer!

HTH,
Maf.



On Thursday, 25 May 2017 12:35:26 BST Anita Graves wrote:
> Yes, Maf.  If you read my latest message, I think I got that.  But, as I
> explained, I didn’t know how to carry forward balances in the asset
> accounts when I opened the new file.  I just exported the account tree and
> that was all….
> 
> Anita
> 
> > On 25 May 2017, at 2:32 PM, Maf. King  wrote:
> > 
> > Hi Anita.
> > 
> > why would you expect a change in the opening balance account?
> > 
> > At the start of the year, you have some money (say €100), which shows up
> > in an asset account as you say, transferred from Equity:OpeningBalances.
> > 
> > You spend most of the money - so asset drops to €14, and expenses:whatever
> > is up to €86
> > 
> > Your donor is happy to "unrestrict" the little bit of leftover, so asset
> > goes to zero and Bank or Cash goes up by €14
> > 
> > Your opening balance was, is, and will always be €100. It is a fixed point
> > in time - on April 1st (or whenever the year started) - not a running
> > balance.
> > 
> > HTH,
> > Maf.
> > 
> > On Thursday, 25 May 2017 12:11:07 BST Anita Graves wrote:
> >> Now, the money has been spent, except for about Euro 14 which I have
> >> returned to the cash account.  The asset account for the balance forward
> >> was decreased to zero, and the expense accounts reflect the accurate
> >> transactions.
> >> 
> >> Problem:  There was no corresponding reduction in the Equity:Opening
> >> Balances account.  Why?  Why not?  How can I fix that??  I don’t know how
> >> to carry forward balances from one file to the next (i.e., from one year
> >> to
> >> the next.  I opened a new file for a new year by exporting the account
> >> tree
> >> and started with 0 balances in every account.


-- 
Maf. King
PGP Key fingerprint = 8D68 A91F 733B 2C1F 43B7  2B7C E591 E8E1 0DE7 C542



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Re: Handling religious organization 'earmarked' funds and in-kind contributions

[Maf. King]

Hi Anita.

why would you expect a change in the opening balance account?

At the start of the year, you have some money (say €100), which shows up in an 
asset account as you say, transferred from Equity:OpeningBalances.

You spend most of the money - so asset drops to €14, and expenses:whatever is 
up to €86

Your donor is happy to "unrestrict" the little bit of leftover, so asset goes 
to zero and Bank or Cash goes up by €14

Your opening balance was, is, and will always be €100. It is a fixed point in 
time - on April 1st (or whenever the year started) - not a running balance.

HTH,
Maf.


On Thursday, 25 May 2017 12:11:07 BST Anita Graves wrote:

> 
> Now, the money has been spent, except for about Euro 14 which I have
> returned to the cash account.  The asset account for the balance forward
> was decreased to zero, and the expense accounts reflect the accurate
> transactions.
> 
> Problem:  There was no corresponding reduction in the Equity:Opening
> Balances account.  Why?  Why not?  How can I fix that??  I don’t know how
> to carry forward balances from one file to the next (i.e., from one year to
> the next.  I opened a new file for a new year by exporting the account tree
> and started with 0 balances in every account.
> 



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Re: Handling religious organization 'earmarked' funds and in-kind contributions

[Anita Graves]

Hi again, folks!  This message is about ‘earmarked’ funds for the religious 
organization for which I keep the accounts.  It is a corporation without share 
capital but not a non-profit corporation.  We are in Cyprus and the laws here 
are similar to British laws.  We do pay taxes, but we have not ever had any 
contributions from our own members who ask for tax exemption for their 
contributions.  We are not a tax-exempt entity.  We are a Limited (Ltd) 
corporation.

Our books are simple, and I am learning.  

During last year, there was a cash advance given to one of our members for some 
expenses. In our parlance, that is ‘earmarked’ funds.  At the end of the year, 
there was a balance still outstanding in that cash advance.  When I opened the 
new accounts for this year, I did not know how to carry forward balances.  
Therefore, I took the advice of Maf. (below) and entered the balance in the 
Assets:Advance payment account, but obviously the debit/credit called for me to 
put the amount somewhere else, and it was recorded in the Equity:Opening 
Balances account.

Now, the money has been spent, except for about Euro 14 which I have returned 
to the cash account.  The asset account for the balance forward was decreased 
to zero, and the expense accounts reflect the accurate transactions.
 
Problem:  There was no corresponding reduction in the Equity:Opening Balances 
account.  Why?  Why not?  How can I fix that??  I don’t know how to carry 
forward balances from one file to the next (i.e., from one year to the next.  I 
opened a new file for a new year by exporting the account tree and started with 
0 balances in every account.

Thanks for help!
Anita

> On 18 May 2017, at 5:50 PM, Anita Graves  wrote:
> 
> Yes, you are right…I forgot to cc the list and I will do so by forwarding our 
> exchange of emails to the list and ask Mike Novak to take a look at my 
> questions.
> 
> By the way, we have a cultural issue:  You apparently are British, and I am 
> American, so that’s why I didn’t get the ‘widget’.
> 
> Thanks for your help!
> 
> Anita
> 
>> On 18 May 2017, at 5:46 PM, Maf. King  wrote:
>> 
>> Hi Anita.
>> 
>> There are others on the list who are more familiar with Church & charity 
>> accounting and earmarked donations.  (Mike Novak springs to mind), which is 
>> precisely why replies should be kept on-list.
>> 
>> This sort of thing has come up before.
>> 
>> I think so.
>> 
>> The asset accounts would probably be best as sub-accounts of your bank, if 
>> all 
>> the "reserved" funds are held within the same physical bank account(s)
>> 
>> So
>> 
>> Asset:Bank:Reserved:Project1
>> Asset:Bank:Reserved:Project2
>> etc.
>> 
>> (when you reconcile, check the "include sub-accounts" box)
>> 
>> Then as you close the books (I think you said you had closed the books & 
>> started a new file), just carry the balances of each account forward and 
>> make 
>> the expense payments from thos reserved "pots" as needed.
>> 
>> Should work.
>> 
>> Cheers,
>> Maf.
>> 
>> 
>> On Thursday, 18 May 2017 15:35:16 BST you wrote:
>>> Well, let’s begin all over because I am getting the idea that another
>>> question I have is linked to this same one we have been talking about:
>>> 
>>> I am the treasurer for a religious organization and we have some funds that
>>> are ‘earmarked’.  That’s what we call them.  And that means that people
>>> contribute funds for a specific purpose and that has to be somehow shown
>>> against our assets so that those funds which are earmarked cannot be spent
>>> for anything else.
>>> 
>>> Therefore, I am trying to be insightful here and if I understand the
>>> principle you evoke, I could open Asset subaccounts (child accounts) for
>>> each of the individual earmarked funds and treat them in the same way by
>>> expending them into the expense accounts that are related.
>>> 
>>> And, in the case of funds that are carried over from one GC year to the
>>> next, the balances in the asset subaccounts that have not yet been
>>> expended, could be then entered in the new year’s asset subaccount as a
>>> balance forward, and spent against the corresponding expense account.
>>> 
>>> Please tell me if this is the same thing basically as my previous question
>>> in which the expense is ‘prepaid’ as you say….
 On 18 May 2017, at 4:58 PM, Maf. King  wrote:
 
 Hi Anita.
 
 I guess widget is english slang - maybe this will help:
 https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/widget
 
 But forget widgets.  Henceforth, I'll assume that your pre-paid expense is
 for curtains.  Maybe it is macadamia nuts. It really doesn't matter!
 
 When the money left you bank last year, you book a transaction into
 Assets:PrePaymentToAliceForCurtains - so the bank balance goes down by
 £600
 and there is a matching increase in that asset account.
 
 When Alice sends the new curtains, you transfer the money