Bishop Storehouse Amounts

[tdhawryluk]

When our bishop gets statements from Bishop's Storehouse detailing dollar amounts of food help recipients have received, he would like to keep track of that just like housing and medical help can be tracked on MLS.
Since we don't write checks for the Storehouse or do not have it withdrawn from our account automatically like missionary payments, it does not show up anywhere.
Short of designing some spreadsheet, anyway to track this using MLS?

[aebrown]

When our bishop gets statements from Bishop's Storehouse detailing dollar amounts of food help recipients have received, he would like to keep track of that just like housing and medical help can be tracked on MLS.
Since we don't write checks for the Storehouse or do not have it withdrawn from our account automatically like missionary payments, it does not show up anywhere.
Short of designing some spreadsheet, anyway to track this using MLS?

Since MLS tracks your actual financial accounts as reflected on your Church Unit Financial Statement, I don't see how Storehouse statements fit in MLS.

It sounds like a perfect application for a separate spreadsheet.

[tdhawryluk]

Any idea why the Storehouse is not paid from fast offering funds?
If a bishop authorized help for food from a local grocery store, I'm pretty sure that would come out of fast offerings.

[aebrown]

Any idea why the Storehouse is not paid from fast offering funds?

No. I'm sure there are good reasons, but I could only speculate.

If a bishop authorized help for food from a local grocery store, I'm pretty sure that would come out of fast offerings.

You're definitely right about that. There is a Fast Offering code specifically for Food.

[ffrsqpilot]

It sounds like a perfect application for a separate spreadsheet.

This is exactly what one of our previous Stake Presidency Councilors did. He built another spreadsheet that we use to show Fast Offering donations, budget spending, missionary donations and spending as well as storehouse usage. It is actually quite a handy little spreadsheet. I use the data from the Stake Financial Summary the Stake President receives and plug in data in the appropriate spots. It helps the Stake Presidency see how each unit in the stake is doing regarding Fast Offering donations and where those Fast Offerings are being used. It shows also how each unit is progressing during the year on their budget spending. It has helped us several times when a unit may have some issues that the Stake Presidency needs to look into.

Jim

[tdhawryluk]

What prompted this question is that my predecessor in finance (before fall 2007) used to track Bishop's
storehouse by doing Expenses - Not a Check- Payee Bishop's Storehouse - Purpose- Assistance Food- Category Fast Offering Food - with the amount. He could then enter the recipient's name.
He says it never interfered with reconciliation each month either.
Was that a previous version of MLS or something? I tried that once at the end of 2007 and it did not work (balance) and the stake clerk said I should not do it that way.

[aebrown]

What prompted this question is that my predecessor in finance (before fall 2007) used to track Bishop's storehouse by doing Expenses - Not a Check- Payee Bishop's Storehouse - Purpose- Assistance Food- Category Fast Offering Food - with the amount. He could then enter the recipient's name.
He says it never interfered with reconciliation each month either.
Was that a previous version of MLS or something? I tried that once at the end of 2007 and it did not work (balance) and the stake clerk said I should not do it that way.

Since Fast Offering expenses are automatically reimbursed, nothing you do in Fast Offerings will affect the balance in your reconciliation. So I don't understand why it wouldn't balance for you. And this aspect of MLS has not changed in the entire time MLS has existed.

Nonetheless, it doesn't seem like a good practice, because that means that during the reconciliation process you would be checking off transactions as Cleared that did not actually appear on your Church Unit Financial Statement. Also, it would mean that reports you would run from MLS regarding Fast Offerings would not accurately reflect your ward's actual FO expenditures.

[tdhawryluk]

Thank you for that explanation. It may have been other issues that caused me to not balance at the time. It was too long ago to remember.