Outstanding Check to another Church Unit

Discuss questions around local unit policies for budgeting, reconciling, etc. This forum should not contain specific financial or membership information.
Post Reply
Brook Fowler-p40
New Member
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Feb 21, 2010 7:19 pm
Location: Greenville, SC, USA

Outstanding Check to another Church Unit

#1

Post by Brook Fowler-p40 »

I have an outstanding check written to another ward in our stake. The check can not be located. It was written in 2009. There are special instructions for handling these types of checks, but they appear to be in conflict; I am sure I am missing something. LDS Wiki states:
"You issued a check to another Church unit

If the check was written in a prior budget year:
  • If your unit is in the United States, do not void the check. In February or March of each year, your unit will receive an Outstanding Checks—Annual Report form. List the check on the form and follow instructions on the back of the form. Once the stake sends your report to Church headquarters, it goes through a process that can take several months. During this time, leave the check as outstanding. Once the Church Unit Financial Statement shows the check as cleared, mark it off in your reconciliation as if it cleared the bank."
But, when I "follow the instructions on the back of the form", that is, the Outstanding Checks-Annual Report, its expressly states: "6. Do not report outstanding checks to other Church Units."

I am not sure what to do (if it was written to a non-church unit, I would be okay, or at least I would know what to do). Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
User avatar
aebrown
Community Administrator
Posts: 15153
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:48 pm
Location: Draper, Utah

#2

Post by aebrown »

Brook Fowler wrote:There are special instructions for handling these types of checks, but they appear to be in conflict; I am sure I am missing something.
I don't think you're missing anything; the wiki article Outstanding checks was created from the a PDF file that was uploaded by a Church employee in the Local Unit Support team. You are accurately quoting that article, which says you are to list outstanding checks written to Church units on the Outstanding Checks report. But the Ward.Outstanding.Chks.pdf form very clearly says such checks are not to be listed. That's certainly a contradiction.

The Outstanding Checks form is dated 12/07. I have no way of knowing the date of the PDF which is the source for the wiki article, so I don't know which document might override the other. I personally would lean towards trusting the actual form, which I believe must have gone through more review, but I'd call Local Unit Support to try to resolve the conflict.

Please report back what you find out.
Questions that can benefit the larger community should be asked in a public forum, not a private message.
russellhltn
Community Administrator
Posts: 34422
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:53 pm
Location: U.S.

#3

Post by russellhltn »

Alan_Brown wrote:I have no way of knowing the date of the PDF which is the source for the wiki article
It was created on 2/25/2009, apparently from a Word 2007 document (docx).
Alan_Brown wrote:but I'd call Local Unit Support to try to resolve the conflict.
I agree.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
Brook Fowler-p40
New Member
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Feb 21, 2010 7:19 pm
Location: Greenville, SC, USA

#4

Post by Brook Fowler-p40 »

According to LUS, the instructions on the back of the Outstanding Checks - Annual Report are correct, that is, outstanding checks written to other church units should NOT be listed in the Annual Report. It makes sense, as the only outstanding checks reported are those where we can not get in touch with the payee. Well, if the check is to another church unit we should always be able to get in touch with payee. Also, checks listed on the Annual Report represent "unclaimed" funds turned over to the State. The Church does not want to have to reclaim its own funds from the State. In the end, I was instructed to treat the outstanding check written to another unit as any other outstanding check where I can communicate with the payee.
Post Reply

Return to “Local Unit Finance”