MLS - Two transfer related questions

[ashtonhsmith]

Our Stake has recently started using transfers with greater frequency, and I have noticed two things that need to be fixed with Transfers (to be inline with the way check payments within a Stake work).

1. Our Stake refunded money to our Ward for YW Camp due to some cancellations. This money was sent to our Ward using the Transfer feature. That money ended up in the generic top level "Other" account (which should never contain funds), and MLS won't let me directly change that destination for the money in the transfer. So, I now have money in an account that doesn't have a specific designation and should never carry a balance.

I realize that the Stake doesn't have visibility into our local Other accounts, but MLS should really let me categorize that incoming transfer money into the proper other account directly. The manual workaround is to write a check with that money and do a deposit into the correct amount. But, this defeats on of the purposed of using a transfer (having to manually create a check and deposit it). From an auditing perspective, the concept of changing the destination account on my end in MLS could require two MLS authentication accounts (like creating a transfer does). We shouldn't be creating extra manual tasks on the receiving side of a transfer, it's defeats the point of the transfer.

2. When paying another organization in your Stake (like paying the Stake for YW Camp), this can be done via a check or transfer. In some cases, the payment is due from the Ward before all of the fees are collected (thus the local Other account doesn't have enough funds for payment). There are two ways to deal that with that lack of funds. One is to let that designated Other account go into a temporary negative balance (in anticipation of future payments removing the negative balance), or the second option is to pay all of the funds currently in the designated Other account, and the rest from that organizations budget account. In this dual budget category case, the expectation is that when the Other account later receives the money lacking, the previous payment can be modified to adjust the category mix, eventually taking no money from YW budget. Example - Other YW Camp account has $500 in it, but the payment due to the Stake is $600, make a payment of $500 from Other YW Camp, and $100 from YW budget (with the YW president and Bishop's approval), once the additional $100 is collected in Other YW Camp, the previously issued check can be modified in MLS to take $600 out of Other UW Camp, and zero out of YW budget (not changing the payment total, just the mix of categories it was paid from).

Both of these payment scenarios work when using a physical check issued for payment, but the 2nd option (changing the category mix after the payments are received) isn't possible using a transfer because the categories on a Transfer can't be changed after transmission. A Transfer created by a unit to pay another unit in the Stake should allow you to change the category mix after the fact (sometimes months later) using MLS (the same way checks allow). In this scenario, Transfers become an unavailable form of payment because the budget categories for these member funded Other accounts can't be adjusted later. For auditing purposes, changing these category mixes on a previous transfer could require two MLS logins (like creation does).

[eblood66]

I agree that it would be helpful if transfers could be recategorized. But the decision makers will probably not see your post here so you should also submit this using the Feedback link in LCR. I doubt a change would be made to MLS but they might include this when moving finance functions to LCR.

The manual workaround is to write a check with that money and do a deposit into the correct amount.

You can do a transfer between the top level Other account and the specific sub-account without writing a check. The audit trail isn't quite as clean but since there are few transactions in the top level 'other' account follow the transfer trail isn't hard to follow. An intra-category transfer doesn't require the authorization of two people either.

[ashtonhsmith]

Thanks, I'll have to re-check that (last time I tried it wasn't possible).

[eblood66]

Thanks, I'll have to re-check that (last time I tried it wasn't possible).

Transferring within the Other account (or at least Other:AMFA account) and it's sub-accounts has been possible for a long time. Transferring between different top level groups (budget to Other or vice versa) has not been possible and I don't think it is now either.

[BStodd]

I realize that the Stake doesn't have visibility into our local Other accounts, but MLS should really let me categorize that incoming transfer money into the proper other account directly.

Actually, the Stake does have visibility into your local Other accounts, but in MLS when the Stake initiates a transfer from their Other account the only destination at the Ward level available is 'Authorized Member-Financed Activities'. Seems like you can only transfer budget to budget and other to other at the highest destination level.