Help me understand the allocation process

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cougs
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Help me understand the allocation process

#1

Post by cougs »

I'm the new finance clerk in a new ward in a newly organized stake and I'm a little fuzzy on the details of budget allocations. We're all new to our callings so we're learning a lot along the way. Some questions:

How is my budget allocation received from the stake? From reading around in other threads it seems like I should either have gotten a check from the stake, or I should see the budget amount show up somewhere in MLS. But our stake clerk says no, we don't get a check, and nothing will show up in MLS, the funds are "just there".

Looking around through MLS I see no indication anywhere of funds received from the stake--nothing in Messages, not on Income & Expense Report, not on Financial Statements, not in View/Edit Budget, etc. So do I just go into View/Edit Budget myself, and manually enter the budget amount at the bottom in "Budget allocation"? If so, do I enter the yearly or quarterly budget amount? And then divy up that amount in the budget categories listed above?

Sorry for my vague questions, thank you for any insight.
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aebrown
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#2

Post by aebrown »

cougs wrote:I'm the new finance clerk in a new ward in a newly organized stake and I'm a little fuzzy on the details of budget allocations. We're all new to our callings so we're learning a lot along the way. Some questions:

cougs wrote:How is my budget allocation received from the stake? From reading around in other threads it seems like I should either have gotten a check from the stake, or I should see the budget amount show up somewhere in MLS. But our stake clerk says no, we don't get a check, and nothing will show up in MLS, the funds are "just there".

The funds are not "just there"; I think your stake clerk is confused, or you have misunderstood what he is saying. If you can't see the a positive balance for the Budget category (and all its subcategories) on an Income and Expense Report, then you don't have those funds. For 2010, you should have received a check from the stake for whatever your budget balance was at the time of the CUBS conversion. Some stakes chose to adjust that amount (so it wouldn't match your pre-CUBS budget balance), but you still should have received something from the stake, assuming you had not spent your entire 2010 budget allowance by that point. The instructions were to deposit such a check into Budget:Budget Allocations, but it sounds like that didn't happen.

Beginning in 2011, you should most likely receive a budget allocation at the beginning of each quarter. The stake specifies what percentage of the budget sent from CHQ will go to your ward (the stake retains the remainder). I say "most likely" because it is possible for the stake to specify 0%, in which case you won't receive any budget allocation automatically. But in any case, you should have received an MLS message in early December telling you what amount to expect in January.

This budget allocation is an automatic transfer from CHQ that shows up in MLS in the Budget:Budget Allocations category. You should be able to run an Income and Expense Report (choose Details by Subcategory, then pick Budget:Budget Allocations for the category) and see that transfer. If you can't see that transfer, then you either received nothing because the stake kept 100%, or there is something very wrong and you or your stake financial clerk needs to contact Local Unit Support.
cougs wrote:Looking around through MLS I see no indication anywhere of funds received from the stake--nothing in Messages, not on Income & Expense Report, not on Financial Statements, not in View/Edit Budget, etc. So do I just go into View/Edit Budget myself, and manually enter the budget amount at the bottom in "Budget allocation"? If so, do I enter the yearly or quarterly budget amount? And then divy up that amount in the budget categories listed above?

You need to verify that you actually have received the funds. Look in the Finance Statements section to see notices of the quarterly allocation.

But the budgeting process is somewhat distinct from the actual funds. Prior to the start of each year, you should work with the bishop to determine an annual budget. The total number will be based on your estimate of your four quarterly budget allocations. Then the bishop works with the auxiliaries to determine needs and weighs those needs against the anticipated available funds. Once those numbers are determined, you enter annual budget figures in View/Edit Budget.
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russellhltn
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#3

Post by russellhltn »

aebrown wrote:Beginning in 2011, you should most likely receive a budget allocation at the beginning of each quarter.

What if his ward is so new they didn't turn in a 3Q 2010 report?

cougs, the "normal" process won't happen until a quarter after you turn in a Quarterly Report. If 1Q 2011 is your first report, then it won't happen until the 3Q 2011 funds are delivered.

Usually when a new unit is organized, the new unit gets a check from the old unit(s) that the membership was split from. But I wouldn't rule out a different process when an entire stake is organized, especially if it's in a rapidly growing area where 3Q headcount doesn't reflect the current situation.
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lajackson
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#4

Post by lajackson »

RussellHltn wrote:What if his ward is so new they didn't turn in a 3Q 2010 report?

The stake clerk should still have been able to explain what happened.

We are a relatively new stake (October). For the 4th quarter, the former stake received the budget allocation for everyone. The former stake clerk worked with the new stake clerk to determine how the money should be allocated, and then cut checks to all of the affected wards in both the former and new stakes. (He could have cut a check to the new stake, and the new stake could have sent checks to the wards, but the new stake was not set up in MLS to do any of that.)

The 1st Q 2011 allowance was based on the 3Q 2010 quarterly report. For the 1st quarter 2011 allocation, the new stake allowed the automatic system to allocate funds to most of the stake. In the same month the new stake was created, two wards were divided into three. So one of the new wards was not on the quarterly report that was used for the budget allocation this quarter. So the new stake retained the allocation for the two wards that were divided and then sent checks to the three wards based on their share of the membership.

For the 2nd quarter 2011, the new stake should be able to use the automatic allocation system for every unit, because everyone was on the 4Q 2010 report that will be used for the 2Q 2011 allocation.

The process is:
Quarterly Report used to calculate allocation to stake.
A. If stake has properly set up MLS, each unit receives a portion of the allocation. The stake retains the rest.
B. If the stake has not set up MLS, or has told CHQ not to send any allocation to the individual units, the stake receives all of the stake allocation and should then cut checks to each of the units for the unit allocations.

Since CUBS, this all results in balances going into and out of the Budget Allocation area of MLS.
cougs
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#5

Post by cougs »

Thanks everybody for your help, the stake is going to cut us a check tomorrow. Can somebody remind me how to enter that allocation donation in MLS?
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aebrown
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#6

Post by aebrown »

cougs wrote:Thanks everybody for your help, the stake is going to cut us a check tomorrow. Can somebody remind me how to enter that allocation donation in MLS?
Process the check in a regular donation batch. The donor would be the stake. The category is Budget:Budget Allocations (click on the blue Budget link as you process that donation slip and then select Budget Allocations as the subcategory).
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