Other: misc

Was this subcatory of AMFA generated by Salt Lake? Why? What would someone use this for? Is it acceptable to simply deactivate this subcategory?

wrigjef wrote:Was this subcatory of AMFA generated by Salt Lake? Why? What would someone use this for? Is it acceptable to simply deactivate this subcategory?

That subcategory must have been generated by your local unit. There is no such official or default category. So it seems like a good idea to deactivate that subcategory, especially since the policy on AMFA is that funds are to be collected and spent for a specific purpose -- and "misc" hardly seems like a specific purpose.

aebrown wrote:That subcategory must have been generated by your local unit. There is no such official or default category. So it seems like a good idea to deactivate that subcategory, especially since the policy on AMFA is that funds are to be collected and spent for a specific purpose -- and "misc" hardly seems like a specific purpose.

Not so sure I necessarily agree with the statement that it must have been generated by your local unit....not saying it didn't but in our stake we ended up with two new subcategories that up to this time no one has been able to explain why they were added (and they definitly were not added by our local unit).

We now have under "AMFA - or Other" the following two categories - Unidentified expenses and Clearing Funds. I called LUS and they were unaware of why they started showing up and said they would ask the programmers. Recently they sent me instructions to download a file to "hopefully clear up those Other Accounts that show up in your MLS system." I followed the instructions and the two extraneous files (my opinion only) still remain.

Called again and their advice was "that if it wasn't hurting anything to go ahead and just leave the two subcaterogies alone". Anyone, anywhere have an idea what these two categories are meant for?

FFRsqpilot wrote:Not so sure I necessarily agree with the statement that it must have been generated by your local unit...

I didn't say that no subcategories of AMFA could ever be generated by CHQ in some way; I just said that "Other: misc" is not one that would have been generated outside the local unit. I still feel comfortable with that statement.

As for the two categories you mentioned (Unidentified expenses and Clearing Funds) those do sound like names that might have originated either at CHQ or locally -- I can't tell which. I certainly can say that in our stake we've never seen either of those categories appear in MLS.

when SLC sends an updated file to 'fix' your finances, there is often a category or two that reappears after being gone for a while. That is why there instructions ask you to print your current view of other, budget and/or ward missionary. Then you fix their fix by making sure the balances are the same after the fix.

If you are wanting to clean up your categories list, you should continue to pursue it with SLC. Otherwise it'll age out as any other category that exists.

JohnShaw wrote:Otherwise it'll age out as any other category that exists.

Are you saying it will go away on it's own? I thought the only way a category would go away is if you deactivated it then it won't be availble for use but will be on reports until lit "ages out".

aebrown wrote:As for the two categories you mentioned (Unidentified expenses and Clearing Funds) those do sound like names that might have originated either at CHQ or locally -- I can't tell which.

During audits it was found that one ward had an account called Other:misc. I'm going to instruct the clerk to zero it out and deactivate it. I also did some audit follow-up with another ward that had an "AMFA:other" account. I have also seen the Unidentified expenses subcategory. As already discussed the other:misc was likely locally done but if Salt Lake is generating ambigious subcategories, we (clerks, audit committees and auditors) really need information about how these are to be used. As directed, our auditors are on the look out for any funds in the other category that are not in a clearly identified subcategory that can be linked to a specific purpose.

I won't expound on how much pain Salt Lake's treatment of interest causes.

wrigjef wrote:Are you saying it will go away on it's own? I thought the only way a category would go away is if you deactivated it then it won't be availble for use but will be on reports until lit "ages out".

If you make sure the balance is zero and you deactivate it, then it won't show up on most reports, as long as that report doesn't report on any transactions in that category. Once the last transaction in that category is older than the retention period, the category will be removed when the fiscal year is closed out.

I'm not sure exactly what happens with an active category with a zero balance and no transactions for the retention period. My assumption has always been that such a category continues to be in MLS, but that it then becomes deletable, just like any other category with no transactions in it. I suppose it's possible it would then be automatically deleted, but that's not my assumption.

wrigjef wrote:I won't expound on how much pain Salt Lake's treatment of interest causes.

I will expound on that (but if anyone wants to talk anymore about it, we'll have to create a new thread): it makes me create exactly two transfers per year (one in June and one in December) to move that interest to another category. Total time spent: about 2 minutes per year.

wrigjef wrote:Was this subcatory of AMFA generated by Salt Lake? Why? What would someone use this for? Is it acceptable to simply deactivate this subcategory?

The title of your post indicates the the category is a subcategory of the Other category. Yet you state that it is a subcategory of AMFA. Which is it? Is it a subcategory of Other or a subcategory of Other:AMFA? It is important to know exactly whether the category is under Other or under Other:AMFA.

Only headquarters can create subcategories of Other. Prior to CUBS local units could create subcategories of Other. Following the transition to CUBS local units can only create subcategories under Other:AMFA. Some of the pre-CUBS subcategories can find their way back into the system when headquarters tries to take care of issues on their end. And as discussed earlier in the thread the only way to have a category that appears under Other removed is for headquarters do it.

If the category is a subcategory of Other:AMFA and it has a green dot next to it and not a red x then you have control as to whether it can be deactivated. Any category under Other:AMFA with a red x is an unusual situation that would require headquarters attention. If the account balance is zero then you can deactivate it. It does not matter who created it.

jdlessley wrote:Which is it? Is it a subcategory of Other or a subcategory of Other:AMFA? It is important to know exactly whether the category is under Other or under Other:AMFA.

Only headquarters can create subcategories of Other.

Sorry. Since, as you point out, we can't create subcategories of Other and Salt Lake creating any would be very unusual, I just always equate AMFA and Other as being the same thing. To be more precise the category in question was "Other:AMFA:other" and the others I mentioned were "Other:AMFA:misc" and "Other:AMFA:Unidentified Expenses". I deeply apologize for the confusion and beg your forgiveness. By the way, I just called Salt Lake about a specific unit issue and asked the question. The brother said that they were not generating Other or AMFA subcategories categories that's only done in Budget

wrigjef wrote:I deeply apologize for the confusion and beg your forgiveness.

No apology necessary. I was just asking the questions to narrow the point of issue so that we can be of assistance in providing direction.

The only other thing to be resolved was whether these subcategories had a green dot or a red x. I suspect they have a green dot and therefore can, and should, be managed to make them comply with policies. This I guess is what your intent was in posting here - to find out if you should manage them appropriately to comply with policies.

While down at the stake center tonight I checked on the computer to see about the two added subcategories which were added under AMFA.
The first one is listed as Other: Unidentified Amounts. The second one is listed as AMFA: Clearing Fund. I went to the Add/Update Categories screen and noted that both of these subcategories are Red X items (which to me connotates that they come from some outside source rather than unit created. The First subcategory is listed exactly as I described under AMFA - Other: Unidentified Amounts. The second one is actually titled CAO/Headquarters Adjustments.

So my question from above post still remains - does anyone know why these were added and what the purpose of them are? When I called LUS about a month ago they had no idea where they came from or what they were intended for. The did send me an email that they were downloading a file to clear the extra categories in Other but it did nothing as the two new categories did not go away.

FFRsqpilot wrote:So my question from above post still remains - does anyone know why these were added and what the purpose of them are? When I called LUS about a month ago they had no idea where they came from or what they were intended for. The did send me an email that they were downloading a file to clear the extra categories in Other but it did nothing as the two new categories did not go away.

I could speculate, but I don't know. And as for LUS, I'm confident that if you find the right person in LUS to talk to, you'd find out the answer. But for somewhat obscure questions like these, it can be difficult to find the right person.

If this were my situation, I'd look into what transactions are in those categories. Do a Income and Expense Report, details by subcategory, for each of those two categories, and specify All for the date range. I'm guessing that the transactions will give you a better clue as to what they are for. Another important question is what the current balance is. If the balance is zero, I'd see it as a minor annoyance; otherwise, it could be complicating your accounting (and a negative balance could be an even bigger problem).

I'd point out that an MLS message is also a good way to go with an obscure point like this. If you are specific enough with your questions and provide good data most LUS will pass it back to the group that can answer the question.

Not to belabor the point - but I think it would have been nice (and still be nice) if a message of some sort was sent out explaining these two new categories found under AMFA. (Apparently our stake isn't the only unit that has had these show up). As Bro Brown suggested, I did go back and take a close look at both these categories. They have been 0 balance since January 2012, but I know they were not included in my MLS subcategories at the beginning of the year - I would have noticed and said something way earlier than a month ago. However, as Bro Brown again suggested - at this time it is just better to leave them alone and look at it as a minor inconvienence.