05 - QBLOG for the month of May 2009

Colossians 3:23 -

Whatever you do , work at it with all of your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.

TO: Interested QBloggers                                                             FROM: Jim Bramer, Auditor-CPA


RE: May 2009 edition of QBLOG                                                  FILE: qblog/May09

         This "Blogger" like endeavor allows Jim Bee to share some personal comments/thoughts as to the use of Intuit's QuickBooks (QBs) by Christ-Centered Entities - especially to maintain Spending Controls and to do Ministry Fund Accounting. To me, Christ-Centered Entities especially include: Evangelical Churches, Mission Organizations, Christian Schools, Christian Camps/Retreats plus some of this involve Families in their pursuit of Righteous Personal Finance.
           We have closely followed the QBs products since their beginning and believe they are tremendous tools in doing "Ministry Fund Accounting."    Please go to 0601 and read our foundational Online document on this topic.   When you Click Here   you will find more resources about QBs as used by Ministries. Then please go to 0199 where we share how we coach a Ministry along these lines.
           Please go HERE for more information about this QBLOG endeavor.
           If you would like to receive this monthly during the first week of the subsequent month, please join the following Yahoo Group:   ---- http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/qbunch/ .    Caution --- the non www.bcidot.org web links that I reference herein do NOT necessarily imply my endorsement. Further, if any of these links do not work, let us know which one at Jim@bcidot.org.
           We trust you find the following QBLOG content helpful.

===========================================================================

(01) Something from the "Past"

        The plan is to update you with something that has happened in the "Past" as to the use of QBs software for Ministries. Usually this means that I will share a dialog that I have had at some time with one of you Onliners or my current perspective of my earlier writings

                                              ============================================================================

FROM Onliner:

   Please direct me to some general QBs installation helps; especially regarding the initial bank reconciliation procedure or steps that follow.

TO Onliner:

          Your stated situation is a little hazy, but let's see if both of us can relate to the following hypothetical set of facts:

You have an older version of QBs Pro in place;

You started with good year end closing numbers of the previous year end;

This included the Bank Reconciliation (BREC) at the end of the preceding fiscal year end.

You posted checks and deposits for the new year for any number of months;

BUT you have NOT Bank reconciled the QB dollars to the dollars appearing on the respective Bank Statements.

FROM Onliner:

   Sounds about like what happened. What now?
    Also when our CPA prepared our year financials, he did not take the info from QBs ... he was provided with paper documents only. Would it be desirable to reconstruct the previous year?

TO ONLINER:

                A probable "If it were me" solution includes:

   Check off the previous fiscal year's outstanding checks/deposits in transit .... or be sure that such numbers "carried forward before the initial use of QBs" were clean.

   After that, simply be sure that the running QB Bank Balance at the end of month equals the applicable month end Bank Statement balance. See 0687 for more details. Check each item off within QB's Bank Rec system and mirror the Bank Statement activity, or content, to the transactions within the QB Bank Account. During these interim months be sure that the Month End QB running Bank balance and Month End Bank Statement Balance are the same. If something legitimate shows up on said Bank Statements that you did not previously know about and record, then post as a Bank Charge or Credit of that month and proceed.

Then post the current month's activity including what you know has not cleared the bank.

When the next Bank Statement comes, you should have the info to appropriately BREC for the current month end and in the future.

     We also recommend the above process when a Onliner has to input into QBs for a whole bunch of back months at the same time. Identify the deposits and checks (provide Chart of Accts info in advance) on the Bank Statement itself so you can input to QB directly therefrom. See Q-Tips comments below.
    Along these lines, you might also find of interest the overall "After the Fact - ATF" processes using the Internet for weekly Bank Statement and/or Plastic Statement information processing as set forth within the following links:

http://www.bcidot.org/all/0175-99.html http://www.bcidot.org/all/0105-06.html   http://www.bcidot.org/chu/5109-99.html

  ========================================================================

(02) Something from the "Present"

        I also want to share something that is a "Present"   issue on the overall topic of using QBs software at Christ-Centered Entities. Usually this means that I will either edit one of my writings or a dialog that I have had some one of you Onliners.

========================================================================

From: Onliner:

    We are a 300 member congregation that has been using Quicken as an "accounting package" for quite some time. I came on as Board Finance chair last fall, and have been pushing for a change ever since.   Due to financial constraints, we didn't have the option of a more expensive package that will actually handle fund accounting without jumping through a lot of hoops. So we chose QB Pro 2009 (QBs) and I now have to develop a chart of accounts and system that can be managed by administrative staff who have very little accounting background.

To Onliner:

        Thank you for joining QBunch Forum (ask me for details of what this is) - I trust you find it a helpful resource. Is there some way that I can help ? I am interested to learning more details of your relationship with QBs. Do you understand my posture re using QBs for DonaMail (Donation and Mailing) purposes?

          What do you think of the following QBs provided sample Internals?

01 – Photo --                                  ---    www.bcidot.org/qbsam/0700-07.html
02 - Video – GPFund (single)   ---    www.bcidot.org/qbsam/0701-07.html
03 - Video – SPFunds (plural) ---    www.bcidot.org/qbsam/0704-07.html

From Onliner:

   Thank you for the above information -- this is very helpful.   I' have also digested your information at both www.bcidot.org/all/0041-01.html and www.bcidot.org/qbb/0601-06.html . The thing that concerns me the most about Method 1 is the system of entries made at year-end, beginning on the next year to roll the SPFund balances forward in the classes.

To Onliner:

            Interestingly, I just spend the earlier part of today going through this MUST BE ZERO process as described within www.bcidot.org/qbb/0659-02.html with a QBs user of some six years.    And yes it takes some doing but it serves the applicable Fund Accounting purpose and www.bcidot.org/all/0041-01.html objectives via the QBs product and provide the needed internals per the above samples.

From Onliner:

    This 0659-02 process creates a year-end balance sheet that ultimately shows the SPFund balances as zero, which makes it impossible to do a comparative balance sheet.

To Onliner

            Be happy to dialog more with you about restricting the year end dates in such a way to accommodate this unique way of working with the QB Class feature and the fiscal year end. Of course, the above 0659-02 process applies at the end of the first year and thereafter as you use the QBs overall product.

From Onliner:

    So, I'm leaning toward just creating classes for each of our 15 - 20 SPFunds, along with an equity account for each one, and not making those entries to bring the balances forward into the classes. This will make it more difficult to report on the balances in each fund, so it's a trade-off. This is why I didn't want to use QB - too much "to crow-bar" to make it work for a church.

To Onliner:

        I am biased, of course, but Method One within the above 0601-06 web page has proven to be a good answer to meeting the following objectives:     www.rpfin.org/all/SevenGoals.html

======================================================================

(03) This Month's "Q-TIP "

     And finally, I want to share some 'how to" suggestions, or tips, that I trust you will find helpful as you use QBs software at Christ-Centered Entities.

======================================================================

     This month's Q-TIP topic is sort of a follow-up on the above dialog as it has to do with playing 'catch-up' when you start to use QBs much earlier in your fiscal year. Let's say you are on a fiscal year that starts April 1, 2008 and it is now mid July 2008 and you have structured your "Chart of Accounts".
     We generally recommend that you assign "Chart of Accounts" (Hopefully you have numbered your "Chart of Accounts" like what we have suggested when you GO HERE)   codes on your April, May and June 2009 bank statements and enter them via the QBs deposit and check areas directly from your coded Bank Statement. The QBs Bank account balances for these months, of course, must agree with the bank statements. Somewhat like the ATF aspects of what we talk about re the eFINFAX system.
   Then you discover what checks and deposits that you have not yet entered into the QBs system and process them in the respective deposit and check areas accordingly after you get caught up.

       ABOUT US   | OUR PURPOSE   | TABLE OF CONTENTS | SPECIFIC SEARCH MATTERS | HELP DETAILS | FUND ACCTG VIA COMPUTERS | GLOSSARY

Click Here for information about earlier QBLOGs - or contact me via Jim@bcidot.org

This document was updated last on: June 04, 2010