Can I start fresh with the reconciliation?

Discuss questions around local unit policies for budgeting, reconciling, etc. This forum should not contain specific financial or membership information.
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clarkdz-p40
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Can I start fresh with the reconciliation?

#1

Post by clarkdz-p40 »

I'm an assistant stake clerk, whose job is to help the wards when they have problems with MLS. I working with a ward that has never done the financial reconciliation since MLS started. It is blank blank going back to 2005.
There is no way they will be able to find all the "other" and "Missionary" numbers to put in there to bring it up to date.

Is there anyway to zero it out and start fresh? If there isn't, then this ward will never be able to use MLS to reconcile the monthly report, and they will always be failing their audits.

(and don't ask me how they got to this pint, I don't know, and am just here to clean up the mess.)

Danny
lajackson
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#2

Post by lajackson »

In this situation, I think I would reconcile them starting at December 2007, then move forward from there. It would be as if they just recently got the computer and moved onto MLS.
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Mikerowaved
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#3

Post by Mikerowaved »

And when you get it sorted out, I think a heart-to-heart PPI with the Stake auditors would be long overdue. :o
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lajackson
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#4

Post by lajackson »

Because Danny said "they will always be failing their audits", I think the auditors may have been auditing ok, but we have trained our auditors to help the units after the audit.

I audited a branch several years ago that totally failed the audit. When we were finished with the audit, I turned around and provided lengthy training on what they should have been doing. I helped the branch leaders answer all of the audit findings and taught them proper procedures.

They passed their next audit with flying colors.
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Mikerowaved
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#5

Post by Mikerowaved »

lajackson wrote:Because Danny said "they will always be failing their audits", I think the auditors may have been auditing ok, but we have trained our auditors to help the units after the audit.

I audited a branch several years ago that totally failed the audit. When we were finished with the audit, I turned around and provided lengthy training on what they should have been doing. I helped the branch leaders answer all of the audit findings and taught them proper procedures.

They passed their next audit with flying colors.
I wasn't sure if he meant past or future audits. Either way, I like your approach to handling similar situations.
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clerker-p40
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#6

Post by clerker-p40 »

lajackson wrote:In this situation, I think I would reconcile them starting at December 2007, then move forward from there. It would be as if they just recently got the computer and moved onto MLS.

It's not a good idea to force balances in December 2007. You should force balances starting in January 2005 if you are in the United States and January 2003 if you are in Canada. You should re-reconcile each month and come forward. The reason why you should not force balances in December 2007 is because you assume that the statement is correct by doing this. This will not take into account all the category adjustments in MLS that were never called in. There could be NSF checks waiting to be refunded to your other account. There could also be expenses and deposits put in the wrong category. Most likely that would be the case if the clerk at the time wasn't knowledgeable in financial procedures.
If you are a ward or branch clerk, please contact the stake for help. If you are the stake clerk, please contact HQ for assistance. Church HQ can set up a reconcile appointment. They will look at the reconciles and force balances and take you a few months forward so you can reconcile without having to worry about prior errors.
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