What to do if an expense for 2015 is submitted in 2016?

[Vaccano]

Say the young men submit a reimbursement request in 2016, but it was for an activity that was budgeted for and happened in 2015.

Is there a way to apply that to 2015?

Or will it come out of the young men's budget for 2016?

Or is there something else that we can do? (Like apply it to a "last year" category?$

[russellhltn]

The short answer is that it comes out of the 2016 budget. There's no way around that.

[aebrown]

Or will it come out of the young men's budget for 2016?

Or is there something else that we can do? (Like apply it to a "last year" category?$

As was mentioned, if you write the check in 2016, it will apply to the 2016 budget; there's no way to apply it to 2015. However, if it was budgeted for in 2015 but not paid for in 2015, then that means there will be a surplus in the Budget category carried forward from 2015 to 2016. That surplus can then be used to increase the YM budget for 2016.

For example, suppose the YM budget is $1000 for 2015 and is intended to also be $1000 for 2016, but $400 was not spent in 2015 because a $400 reimbursement check for a 2015 activity was not cut until 2016. An option would be to increase the 2016 YM budget to be $1400, so that when the $400 is charged against the 2016 budget, there will still be $1000 left for the activities planned for 2016.

[russellhltn]

For example, suppose the YM budget is $1000 for 2015 and is intended to also be $1000 for 2016, but $400 was not spent in 2015 because a $400 reimbursement check for a 2015 activity was not cut until 2016. An option would be to increase the 2016 YM budget to be $1400, so that when the $400 is charged against the 2016 budget, there will still be $1000 left for the activities planned for 2016.

The problem comes when you do the budget for 2017, it will default to $1400 for the WM. They may need to be "cut" to fit back into the budget the ward gets from the stake. Even more confusing if there's a leadership change between now and then and no one remembers why the WM got $1400 instead of $1000.

So perhaps a better plan is to have a "carry over" line item it can be charged against. Any carryover allocation items would be the obvious place to adjust any new budget allocation.

[aebrown]

For example, suppose the YM budget is $1000 for 2015 and is intended to also be $1000 for 2016, but $400 was not spent in 2015 because a $400 reimbursement check for a 2015 activity was not cut until 2016. An option would be to increase the 2016 YM budget to be $1400, so that when the $400 is charged against the 2016 budget, there will still be $1000 left for the activities planned for 2016.

The problem comes when you do the budget for 2017, it will default to $1400 for the WM. They may need to be "cut" to fit back into the budget the ward gets from the stake. Even more confusing if there's a leadership change between now and then and no one remembers why the WM got $1400 instead of $1000.

That's only a problem if the ward does baseline budgeting, which is a horrible idea for many reasons. There should never be an assumption that the expenses will be the same every year -- rather, organizations should follow the guidance in Handbook 1, 14.7.1, which states that organizations are to estimate their detailed budget needs each year. Nowhere does it state that organizations should just start by assuming they'll spend the same amount they spent the year before.

So perhaps a better plan is to have a "carry over" line item it can be charged against. Any carryover allocation items would be the obvious place to adjust any new budget allocation.

If the ward does follow the questionable practice of doing baseline budgeting, then that's a reasonable suggestion.