Some items you would want to address might include:
- Ward Missionary subcategories. As I visit various wards in our stake, I often see remaining balances in the subcategories for missionaries (e.g., "Ward Missionary:Elder Joseph Smith") who returned long ago. You should zero out these subcategories by transferring money to or from the parent Ward Missionary category. It's essential that these subcategories have a zero balance as you begin the new year. You should also make these subcategories inactive.
- Do the same thing for any Other subcategories that are no longer needed. However, zeroing these categories can be a bit trickier. Negative balances for Other subcategories that will not have any more activity are usually corrected by writing a check from Budget funds. Positive balances should generally be zeroed by returning unused funds to the donors. See the training lesson Understanding and Using the "Other" Category for details.
- Cancel donations related to returned checks, and clean up any other temporary reconciling items so that your December reconciliation will be as clean as possible.
- Contact payees of any old (more than 3 months or so) outstanding checks. Encourage them to cash the checks, and replace any lost checks, to avoid the escheating process.
- Review the previous audit to make sure you have corrected exceptions and that you are ready in every way for the upcoming audit.