Tech Forum

What kinds of things do we need to "reconcile" on a monthly basis now that missionary transfers, etc. are automatically taken from the correct missionary account.

Changing the Church Distribution transfers to the appropriate category is on thing I can think of.

What other things should we be looking for in the monthly "reconcile?" Is it now simplified to the point where it is almost unnecessary? What gotchas should we be looking for?

-Greg

Greg4BYU wrote:What kinds of things do we need to "reconcile" on a monthly basis now that missionary transfers, etc. are automatically taken from the correct missionary account.

There is no more "reconciliation", although I would be very leery of anything on the statement and check it out thoroughly, at least until there is some comfort level that financial things are back to normal. [grin]

There is a list of action items on the statement. Those are the things you need to follow up on. It will mostly be outstanding checks, but could also be balances, deposit shortages, etc. I'd watch the trend plots and keep the bishop informed of Budget status, Ward Missionary income vs expenses and Other. Make sure those missionaries your ward is supporting are correct.

The reconciliation as it used to be is intentionally gone.

Need to include Distribution orders and any FHC film orders that may be coming in... they need to be moved into a correct category. The new Monthly non-reconciliation, item follow-up statement assessment time seems a good time to make sure this is taken care of.

And don't forget that the new financial statement still needs to be signed. The place for the signature used to be on the reconciliation form, which no longer exists. But there is a place on the financial statement itself for the financial clerk and the bishop or stake president to sign, indicating that it has been reviewed and followed up on.

I am not sure what to do either. Most all of my action items are checks or deposits that have not cleared but were entered in MLS near the end of the month. Other than calling the bank to see if they cleared, I don't know what to do.

Perhaps the action item list can contain items that are over 2 weeks old or from the previous month.
If I have a check on the Oct stmt and it shows up on the Nov stmt too, I know I need to act.
Also, I have several items that cancel out based on the dates and dollar amounts so I don't think they need to be listed as action items.

What do y'all do for your action items and what kind of things are you seeing listed?

ralitaco wrote:I am not sure what to do either. Most all of my action items are checks or deposits that have not cleared but were entered in MLS near the end of the month. Other than calling the bank to see if they cleared, I don't know what to do.

Perhaps the action item list can contain items that are over 2 weeks old or from the previous month.
If I have a check on the Oct stmt and it shows up on the Nov stmt too, I know I need to act.
Also, I have several items that cancel out based on the dates and dollar amounts so I don't think they need to be listed as action items.

What do y'all do for your action items and what kind of things are you seeing listed?

The old CUFS also listed outstanding checks. It's something to be aware of, but I wouldn't really start taking action until you feel the payee has forgotten about or lost the check. For me, that is about two months.

Today in reviewing I noticed one of my wards had overdrawn their Other account. They has miscategorized a budget check as Other, so that was simple.

Another ward had just gone negative in their Ward Missionary. Looking at the trend plot, it was apparent they've been heading towards negative for the last year. I spoke with the bishop about encouraging the members to donate to Ward Missionary and suggested he discuss with the stake president other options if the ward could not cover the cost.

I have a ton of outstanding transactions from recategorizing my expenses. I'm ignoring them for now. I contacted LUS and they threatened sending down the CUBS conversion file again. I declined the offer. I'll wait until the programming catches up.