How to consolidate "Other" accounts?

I was recently asked by my Stake President to attend another ward and help them out with their clerk duties. I’m tackling the finances first, and the “Other “ account needs help. They have 14 sub accounts in other (several duplicates), with the total balance of $250. The sub-accounts have balances from ranging from -$2500 to + $1900. (yes, you read that right, negative $2500 ) The bishop has asked me to delete all the sub accounts, and just leave one account for the scout camp (where the $250 belongs)
So, how do I do this? Is there an easy way to consolidate these accounts within MLS, or do I have to write 14 checks, carefully calculated the amounts to get each sub-account to zero? And then once they are all zero, how do I delete them permanently? The bishop understands how they got into this situation (not important for this discussion), and he wants them all gone so it does not happen again.
Thanks
Danny

surf40 wrote:I was recently asked by my Stake President to attend another ward and help them out with their clerk duties. I’m tackling the finances first, and the “Other “ account needs help. They have 14 sub accounts in other (several duplicates), with the total balance of $250. The sub-accounts have balances from ranging from -$2500 to + $1900. (yes, you read that right, negative $2500 ) The bishop has asked me to delete all the sub accounts, and just leave one account for the scout camp (where the $250 belongs)
So, how do I do this? Is there an easy way to consolidate these accounts within MLS, or do I have to write 14 checks, carefully calculated the amounts to get each sub-account to zero? And then once they are all zero, how do I delete them permanently? The bishop understands how they got into this situation (not important for this discussion), and he wants them all gone so it does not happen again.
Thanks
Danny

Use the transfer function and transfer enough from/to the parent AMFA acct to zero out each acct. Then transfer $250 to the scout account. No checks needed. Afterwards, deactivate each acct.

Thanks for the info. What does AMFA stand for?

The new name for other, Authorized member financed activities (might be slightly off). The Other accounts now have that at the start.

allenjpl wrote:Use the transfer function and transfer enough from/to the parent AMFA acct to zero out each acct. Then transfer $250 to the scout account. No checks needed. Afterwards, deactivate each acct.

Without any further investigation as to how the categories got to the state they are in could result in actions being taken that are not in accordance with Church policies and procedures. Recategorizing expenses that were debited to the wrong category is more appropriate than to transfering funds. Simply transferring funds from one AMFA category to another does not address the original error and may not be in accordance with the policies and procedures regarding Other:AMFA categories.

surf40 wrote:The bishop understands how they got into this situation (not important for this discussion), and he wants them all gone so it does not happen again.

How they got to that situation can have an impact on how you resolve the categories. It may not be important for us to know, but it does determine whether Church policies and procedures are followed. Excess funds collected for one AMFA (Authorized Member Financed Activity) cannot be used to reduce the deficit of another. Funds can only be used for the purpose in which they were intended.

The correct procedure to follow to resolve the category balances is to find out what the purpose of each category was, how much was collected for the purpose, and how much was disbursed to cover the expenses of the purpose.

For example, if $2,000 was collected for Scout summer camp but the expenses disbursed from the category was $2,200, then there is a deficit. This deficit cannot be cleared by transferring funds from another category, say a temple trip, that had an excess.

If, however, the category imbalances were due to bookkeeping errors such as the expenses for one category being expensed/debited to another category then recategorization of the expenses is appropriate.

More details about understanding the policies and procedures of the Other:AMFA categories can be found in the wiki article Other category.