Expenses from Missionary's WMF subcategory

I have an interesting situation here and I'm wondering what you think.

Our ward was created on February 3rd of this year - a third ward was created from two. We had a full-time missionary enter the MTC on February 6th. He was obviously called while still in the old ward before the new ward was created.

Because this missionary entered the MTC in February, he should have $4000 of expenses - 10 months worth as of today. However only $2400 has been withdrawn from his Ward Missionary Fund subcategory. I am assuming that $2400 is for June-Nov, but is there any way to check and make sure? And what is the likeliest reason for the shortage? I am thinking the prior ward probably got charged the $1600 for Feb-May but I haven't checked with them yet. Both wards are still in the same stake so adjustments should be easy to fix, I would think.

I'd call and check. It's possible that they finally transferred to your ward, but used the wrong cut-off date.

mwgrover wrote:I am assuming that $2400 is for June-Nov, but is there any way to check and make sure?

It's easy to run a Income and Expense Detail Report for that particular subcategory and see all the income and expenses. You'll quickly be able to see exactly what dates the $400 charges were made in that ward. And the same thing can be done in the prior ward.

You could also look at the unit financial statements, but the I&E Detail Report is the easiest way to see it all at one glance.

mwgrover wrote:And what is the likeliest reason for the shortage? I am thinking the prior ward probably got charged the $1600 for Feb-May but I haven't checked with them yet. Both wards are still in the same stake so adjustments should be easy to fix, I would think.

Yes, that's the most likely scenario.

And I am surprised that the other Ward hasn't given you a call and asked you to straighten this out. I know I did when we had a similar situation.

Two follow-on questions. My ward has kind of the opposite problem. We have a missionary that should be under our financial support but we have no WMF subcategory for her. Her parents live in our ward and have been contributing for her support each month, which we have been putting into the Ward General Missionary category. The confusion arose probably because her application was initiated in another ward/stake and then completed in ours. I have read the Wiki page regarding Missionary Finances.

It says that the Bishop of the new ward has to accept responsibility and notify the Administrative Office. Can I as Ward Clerk make the call to Headquarters under his direction?

Which office is he (or am I) to call - Missionary Department: Ward Missionary Fund and Financial Support; or Global Service Center: Missionary Financial Support (Equalization)?

Once we get things straightened out on our end, I will contact the other ward to see how they want to proceed. I, too, am surprised they haven't said anything. It's no problem to write them a check - we have the money.

Thanks

Yet another area where the Wiki was better than what replaced it. I'd call the Missionary Department (801-240-2222 or 800-453-3860 x22222).

You may want to contact the other bishop to let him know what's going on, but I don't think that's necessary for the transfer. The important thing is that the ward receiving the obligation accepts it.

All the write-ups say "bishop" but you can give it a try as a clerk.

idjeeper2 wrote:It says that the Bishop of the new ward has to accept responsibility and notify the Administrative Office. Can I as Ward Clerk make the call to Headquarters under his direction?

It's been a few years, but as a financial clerk I certainly made several such calls to Local Unit Support and changed the financial responsibility for a missionary to our ward. The support agent simply wanted my assurance that the bishop had approved the change.

idjeeper2 wrote:Once we get things straightened out on our end, I will contact the other ward to see how they want to proceed. I, too, am surprised they haven't said anything. It's no problem to write them a check - we have the money.

Whenever I made such changes, there was never a need to write a check. We just told the support agent when the change was to be effective, and the change was made retroactively to that date. Funds were then automatically transferred appropriately.

To bring this to closure, aebrown nailed it. I called Global Support to resolve another finance issue and while talking to the support agent I asked if I could initiate the fix. She had no problem with that. Funny thing was, when she looked up the missionary in question, the change had been made the day before by the other bishop. She then told me it could take up to a month for the account to show up in my system and for the funds to be swept. The account was there this past Sunday, and it has a whopping big negative balance. I can fix that.