Tech Forum

Old budget categories (> 8 years since last use) are still appearing in the budget category list. While they can be deactivated, the delete button is permanently grayed out. Having to scroll through all of these obsolete categories is kind of a nuisance. Is there a way to delete them? The records involved have long been destroyed under the current year + three rule.

Similar issue with the missionary accounts. People who returned years ago, married, had children and moved out of the ward are still showing up as options when creating the income/expense reports. Is there any way to reduce that list from the 10 entries currently available on the {Details by subcategory} and {Summary by subcategory} lists to the two who are actually still out on missions?

aclawson wrote:. . . missionary accounts.

You get rid of missionary subaccounts by zeroing the balance and then waiting a month or two. If the balance is zero and they are no longer serving, the subaccounts will go away automatically.

Missionary categories should definitely disappear within a month or two of both the missionary being home and the account having a zero balance. Do the missionary categories show up in the Donation tools for members to donate to or just in MLS? If the later than it's probably a problem in MLS, your database or the sync process. But regardless, if the missionary has been home for a while and the balance has been 0 for a few months then you'll probably need to contact support.

I can't really say for budget categories. My current ward is less than 3 years old and when I was clerk in another ward it was before CUBS (and only a year or so after) so things worked differently. But I'd probably suggest contacting support as well. But they may decide not to do anything if it's a bug in MLS since everything is moving to LCR.

The accounts were zeroed out long ago and continue to show a zero balance.

They have dropped off the active list, but are still appearing as possible accounts to query or to transfer balances to/from.

We have a bunch that were zeroed out some time ago and were marked "inactive." In my experience, marking an account "inactive" takes is off the selection list for adding deposits or recording expenses to that account. I have never seen any of them "drop off the active list" on their own - I had to go to the list of accounts in MLS and un-check the active box for each one I wanted to make inactive.

If memory serves, they stay in MLS through the data retention periods of any deposits or expenses in them and then self-delete after that if they are zero and inactive. For the US, that would be about 4 years past the most recent activity in the account.

To: All,
I ran into this in my last ward and am running into it now. I believe you have to call Church Headquarters to have all former missionary accounts removed from your Unit financial statements and online donations after you zero the balances.
Sincerely,
Jason Daily
Financial Clerk
Foxboro Ward
Blackstone Valley Stake, Massachusetts.