Quarterly vs. Monthly Reports

Discuss basic duties of stake and ward clerks, including where to begin.
crislapi
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#11

Post by crislapi »

davesudweeks wrote:I have found that you can update the Quarterly report until the month ends. For example, if you find out on the 20th of the month that there were 3 more families Home Taught than you had reported, you can open the Quarterly Report, update the specific numbers, and save it again. It will re-transmit on the next send-receive. (Note, however, that I do not know if this affects the Budget distribution or if that is based on whatever is transmitted by the 15th.)
You can edit any of the quarterly reports in your drop down menu (in the QR screen) at any time, even old ones that have already been submitted. If you save changes to a report, it will be re-transmitted the next time you send/receive.

If you happen to change numbers that are used in calculating your budget, then yes, the corresponding budget distribution will be updated to correspond with the latest information. Budget distributions are based on numbers from the quarterly report submitted 2 quarters previously (i.e. the Q4 disbursement (Oct) is based on numbers submitted in the Q2 report (Jun)).
kisaac
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#12

Post by kisaac »

cbradford wrote:This puts a strain on all of the organizations who typically don't have their information gathered until the middle of the month.
It seems that the "counting month" could well have been the first or the second month, but the third month of each quarter is the one that was chosen. I doubt that giving us any longer to compile our stats would make them come in a more timely manner, however. I guess I'm suggesting that leaving the date for the quarterlies due the 15 of the month after the end of the quarter, but moving the counting month to the second month, would merely give us 45 days to procrastinate compiling the report rather than 15.
aebrown wrote:we just have to organize ourselves as well as possible
In my experience, this is the key. How long really does it take to gather the numbers? Once the month ends, data generation is complete.

Either you made the visit or you didn't, and now it's just a matter of the "return and report." Collecting and tabulating...make the phone calls or knock on a door and ask, count the rolls. The time factor comes from waiting to do those things. Why can my Primary Secretary call me on the Sunday afternoon of the last sunday of the quarter with her numbers, yet the young men's sec. takes several weeks to tabulate attendance for far less people? It's organization and preparation, maybe even experience or willpower.
davesudweeks wrote:The other thing I have found useful is to print out the list of individuals to be counted and provide that to the each organization. It uses a few more sheets of paper, but in the interest of making it easier they can just check-off the members who have attended in their organization and turn it back in for me to count.
I started doing this as well. It really does help.
jpjones~ogr
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#13

Post by jpjones~ogr »

I've found many excuses for not getting numbers in on-time, and most seem to still be valid (family problems, lack of understanding, personal health, undeveloped talents, etc,... - been there, done that). I even caused delays until I understood that all fields have to have a number (even a zero) before the report could be seen by the stake. As an old ward clerk (I didn't know Moses personally) I'm very familiar with report schedules, and still lose track when I'm busy with church, personal, or work projects. etc,.. etc,.. as Yul Brynner (King & I) might say. Having a bit later deadline would make quarterlies somewhat less stressful for most secretaries I've known. Even new stake clerks could benefit. Currently I promote the 10th of the month, and I understand that our ward is regularly one of the first two to finish quarterlies, and I know how late I generally am.

Twice a year General Conference confuses most secretaries sense of timing, so my report tends to be a little later in April and October. Also, most secretaries are relatively new to their position (1, 2, 3 years). Production of a magic number or two every three months can take a bit of time and effort to make habitual. My biggest delays are persistently from male run adult organizations (go figure). Currently our HT number is way low because I'm waiting for data from our brand spankin' new EQ President. He's a great guy, and we talked today after not seeing each other for a time.

My relatively new stake clerk initially was very concerned about hitting the deadlines. We talked, he read, and after struggling with late reporting from most wards in the stake, he accepted that church quarterlies really don't carry the same personal threat as professional endeavors. We both agree that we need to promptly report solid data, and so we continue to guide and persuade those we try to lead.

I very much enjoy being able to serve as clerk. I've been told by a few normally reliable folk that I'll probably keep doing it 'till I get it right. So be it. I hope I help my secretaries feel comfortable while learning their duties.

Sorry for waxing philosophical. Hope the ideas help.
russellhltn
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#14

Post by russellhltn »

jpjonesxyz wrote:My relatively new stake clerk initially was very concerned about hitting the deadlines. We talked, he read, and after struggling with late reporting from most wards in the stake, he accepted that church quarterlies really don't carry the same personal threat as professional endeavors.

True, but some of those numbers do impact the ward budget. No quarterly, no money.
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aebrown
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#15

Post by aebrown »

RussellHltn wrote:True, but some of those numbers do impact the ward budget. No quarterly, no money.
However, the deadline that affects money is considerably later. I'm certainly not advocating delaying past the 15th of the first month of the quarter, because priesthood leaders need the information to be timely in their ministry, which is the most important purpose of the reported data. Yet the fact is that budget allocation deadline is over two months later, at the end of the quarter -- from a purely monetary standpoint, that's the absolute deadline.
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jwtaber
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#16

Post by jwtaber »

Two of the four quarters are followed by General Conference. In our case we had Stake Conference the following week, and so as of last night four of the sixteen units in my stake still hadn't submitted the quarterly report. Why it isn't pushed for the quorums and auxiliaries to turn in what they can (e.g. attendance rolls) to the ward clerk on the last Sunday of the quarter? (At least one ward in my stake does that . . . )
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