Missionary Accounts

I have two questions related to missionary accounts in MLS:

1. How do I view the amount that has been put in a particular missionary's account, perhaps even print that out.

2. We have an elder who will be needing financial assistance and our ward missionary fund account has plenty of money in it, but how to we take the $400 from the ward missionary account and allocate it to the individual missionary's account in MLS?

Thank you,

Brad

Since posting this, I found the way to access the account amounts through the income and expense report. So my first question I was able to answer myself.

bhead wrote:How do I view the amount that has been put in a particular missionary's account, perhaps even print that out.

Go to Finance | Finance Reports | Income and Expense Report. Select Details by Subcategory in the upper right of the page and scroll down to the bottom of the category list to find the missionary account you need and select it. Click the Print button to print the report. Note this report should not be given to the family or individuals providing financial assistance as it may contributions from others. These other financial contributions are protected by privacy and may not be disclosed to anyone other than those making the contribution. If you need a printout of contributions made by the family or individuals providing financial support then you can print out a donor statement (Tithing and Other Offerings statement).

bhead wrote:We have an elder who will be needing financial assistance and our ward missionary fund account has plenty of money in it, but how to we take the $400 from the ward missionary account and allocate it to the individual missionary's account in MLS?

Transfer the funds from the parent Ward Missionary category to the specific missionary's account. Go to Finance | Enter Transfers. Enter a comment describing the reason for making the transfer such as "financial assistance", select "Ward Missionary Fund" in the left (transfer from) category box along with the amount, and select the missionary's account in the right (transfer to) category box with the corresponding amount. Do a send/receive to send the transfer to headquarters.

bhead wrote: 2. We have an elder who will be needing financial assistance and our ward missionary fund account has plenty of money in it, but how to we take the $400 from the ward missionary account and allocate it to the individual missionary's account in MLS?

Just create a transfer from the top level ward missionary fund category to the sub-category for the specific missionary. If the ward is providing all support or a specific amount each month then you can make a monthly transfer. If the amount of the ward's assistance is uncertain you can wait and transfer the appropriate amounts at other intervals. You can have a negative balance in a specific missionary category as long as the total of all ward missionary categories is positive.

In all the years I have done this, I have never "transferred" money into a particular Missionaries account, since Salt Lake just takes it out of the "Ward Missionary Fund". The divisions for individual Missionaries are just for the Ward's record keeping. SLC really doesn't care. If you don't do any moving of money around, you can keep an accurate accounting of just how much each Missionary has had contributed to his Mission, and if he returns home without enough being contributed to "his" account, then it is the Bishop's decision whether to talk to the family about it.

waynecooke wrote:In all the years I have done this, I have never "transferred" money into a particular Missionaries account, since Salt Lake just takes it out of the "Ward Missionary Fund". The divisions for individual Missionaries are just for the Ward's record keeping. SLC really doesn't care. If you don't do any moving of money around, you can keep an accurate accounting of just how much each Missionary has had contributed to his Mission, and if he returns home without enough being contributed to "his" account, then it is the Bishop's decision whether to talk to the family about it.

Actually that's what I've generally done as well and basically for that reason. But even so, at the end of the mission if there is a deficit you'll want to make a transfer to zero out the specific missionary category so that you can inactivate it.

But in all those cases the family was trying to provide at least some support. For a missionary without any family support I would probably make monthly transfers. The main advantage being that you can more easily see how much unspecified missionary funds you have as a ward.

eblood66 wrote:

waynecooke wrote:For a missionary without any family support I would probably make monthly transfers.

In the case of unsupported missionaries, I think I'd transfer the bulk of the Ward Missionary account (up to the amount needed to fund the mission) to avoid anyone asking for the "excess".

waynecooke wrote:In all the years I have done this, I have never "transferred" money into a particular Missionaries account, since Salt Lake just takes it out of the "Ward Missionary Fund".

I disagree. With CUBS the subcategories for each full time missionary are created in the system and funds are deducted from the subcategories. So your record keeping would make you look really lazy or irresponsible now when the reports show the ward mission fund with tons of excess funds and all of the subcategories with massive deficits. It doesn't take any more effort to deposit the donations in a subcategory on an ongoing basis than to zero out the subcategory at the end of a mission after putting the deposits into what would now be considered the wrong place. How does an Auditor react to seeing ward missionary subcategories with massive deficits?

By the same token: I have a family that cannot always afford their son's payment. But they have come to me and told me that "eventually" they will catch it up. He has been home a year and still has $500.00 or so outstanding. They have been paying $50.00 per month all year. I have talked to them several times and told them that I could cover it with excess ward mission funds. They insist it is something they want to do to fulfill their obligations.

So. I agree that deficits in individual missionary subcategories may look bad to an auditor, but in some cases it is justified. It allows us to keep track of what is owed rather than the family who often times don't know without pulling up a bunch of past bank records.

As to the "unfunded" missionary, one never knows when an aunt or uncle that is well to do is going to find out somewhere along the way and step up and pay for the mission. The more I think about it the more I agree that waiting until the end of the mission to reconcile it may be best. Or perhaps at the end of each calendar year when we decide if there are excess funds that can be sent along to the General Mission fund.

russellhltn wrote:

eblood66 wrote:

waynecooke wrote:For a missionary without any family support I would probably make monthly transfers.

In the case of unsupported missionaries, I think I'd transfer the bulk of the Ward Missionary account (up to the amount needed to fund the mission) to avoid anyone asking for the "excess".

Does the stake see the individual category balances or just the summary of all ward missionary categories? If the latter, then this won't help. I know that pre-CUBS the stake only saw the summary but I'm not sure what the situation is now.

TinMan wrote:As to the "unfunded" missionary, one never knows when an aunt or uncle that is well to do is going to find out somewhere along the way and step up and pay for the mission. The more I think about it the more I agree that waiting until the end of the mission to reconcile it may be best. Or perhaps at the end of each calendar year when we decide if there are excess funds that can be sent along to the General Mission fund.

Personally, I don't have strong opinions about whether zero'ing the account in such a situation should be done monthly, annually or at the end as long it gets zeroed after all expected debits and credits have occurred. But in the case of the occasional aunt or uncle payment, those could easily be taken into account each month as they occur. Without some one who is committed to paying as much as they can, I don't see an advantage of maintaining a negative balance. On the other handle, I don't see a big problem with waiting until the end to reconcile as long as the situation is taken into account before sending on excess funds.

TinMan wrote:By the same token: I have a family that cannot always afford their son's payment. But they have come to me and told me that "eventually" they will catch it up. He has been home a year and still has $500.00 or so outstanding. They have been paying $50.00 per month all year. I have talked to them several times and told them that I could cover it with excess ward mission funds. They insist it is something they want to do to fulfill their obligations.

So. I agree that deficits in individual missionary subcategories may look bad to an auditor, but in some cases it is justified. It allows us to keep track of what is owed rather than the family who often times don't know without pulling up a bunch of past bank records.

While I see no big problems in doing this as it makes it easy to know the remaining balance if desired. However, for accounting purposes I would much rather transfer the balance from the parent category and close out the account. One less account to worry about.

To the parents if they really are concerned then I would give them the balance and let them keep track of the balance for their own peace and mind instructing them to just put it into the ward mission account, at the same time helping them to see the need for continued support of other missionaries in the ward.

TinMan wrote:As to the "unfunded" missionary, one never knows when an aunt or uncle that is well to do is going to find out somewhere along the way and step up and pay for the mission. The more I think about it the more I agree that waiting until the end of the mission to reconcile it may be best. Or perhaps at the end of each calendar year when we decide if there are excess funds that can be sent along to the General Mission fund.

I would do a monthly transfer bringing the account to zero. That way if the well to do relative steps up there is no problems. If at the end of the mission the missionaries account shows a positive balance then all you need to do is transfer the balance back to the main ward mission account.

Gary_Miller wrote:To the parents if they really are concerned then I would give them the balance and let them keep track of the balance for their own peace and mind instructing them to just put it into the ward mission account, at the same time helping them to see the need for continued support of other missionaries in the ward.

Agreed. When the ward "covers" the monthly payment instead of the missionary's family covering the expense, it is not considered a "loan" to the family any more than Fast Offering assistance is considered some sort of loan that the recipient needs to repay. On paper, the responsibility for a missionary's financial support is on the church (with the ward paying a certain amount each month). If a family is donating consistently (sometimes a little early and sometimes a little late) then that's another story. But if the family simply couldn't keep up then, when a mission ends, the family is free to donate to the ward mission account to help others in need. Frankly, their missionary's mission has been paid for and the subcategory needs to reflect that this whole thing is finished.

eblood66 wrote: Does the stake see the individual category balances or just the summary of all ward missionary categories? If the latter, then this won't help. I know that pre-CUBS the stake only saw the summary but I'm not sure what the situation is now.

I would presume that the auditor is entitled to see any financial records... so I want them to be as accurate as possible and not raise any unnecessary red flags. I don't want to have to give a verbal excuse for any of the records. I'd rather have the records speak for themselves.

mrrad wrote:

eblood66 wrote: Does the stake see the individual category balances or just the summary of all ward missionary categories? If the latter, then this won't help. I know that pre-CUBS the stake only saw the summary but I'm not sure what the situation is now.

I would presume that the auditor is entitled to see any financial records... so I want them to be as accurate as possible and not raise any unnecessary red flags. I don't want to have to give a verbal excuse for any of the records. I'd rather have the records speak for themselves.

As far as I know auditors aren't concerned with the status of individual missionary accounts and they don't have anything to do with whether a ward has 'excess' missionary funds that should be remitted to the stake. That's something for the stake clerks and stake presidency to be concerned with.

As for whether it is more accurate to pre-transfer, transfer each month or to transfer at the end for a missionary without family support, I don't think there is a clear answer. Regardless of how it's handled, those involved need to know the situation and the financial records alone won't tell you that.

My point was, if you're trying to avoid having the stake ask for excess funds (that aren't really there) and have to explain the situation, then it won't matter if the stake is just looking at the total ward missionary fund balance. They'll still ask and you'll still have to explain.

I examine the combined monthly financial report, which shows both each ward's missionary fund and the individual missionary accounts. I only ask for excess funds from a ward if they are holding more than is needed to fund all their missionaries for more than 90 days. If I see a positive balance for a certain missionary, I assume it is a pre-paid account, and I don't mess with it.

drepouille wrote:I examine the combined monthly financial report, which shows both each ward's missionary fund and the individual missionary accounts. I only ask for excess funds from a ward if they are holding more than is needed to fund all their missionaries for more than 90 days. If I see a positive balance for a certain missionary, I assume it is a pre-paid account, and I don't mess with it.

But don't you need to subtract the prepaid amount from the total in the Ward Mission Fund to see if there really is an excess?

I sure am glad that our Stake has other things to worry about than to come looking each month at each Ward/Branch to see if they have more than 90 days on hand.

waynecooke wrote:I sure am glad that our Stake has other things to worry about than to come looking each month at each Ward/Branch to see if they have more than 90 days on hand.

The stake does have a responsibility to make sure that missionary funds are being used wisely. With all the needs of the many new missionaries, it would be a pity to have thousands of dollars sitting unused in various ward missionary accounts, when those funds could be blessing the lives of needy missionaries.

That said, in our stake we review the missionary accounts only once per year. There's enough hassle in doing an accurate analysis, writing checks from the wards to the stake, depositing those checks in the stake account, and writing a stake check to CHQ, that our stake president has determined that this should be done annually.

My signature on the monthly consolidated financial statement signifies that I have reviewed it, so I review it, line by line, each month. If I find exceptions or items that need attention, I contact the ward clerk and call it to his attention.

I know some stake presidents, bishops, and their clerks sign the monthly statements to satisfy auditing requirements, but do not actually read the statements or take corrective actions.

I have been the stake clerk for 12 months now. When I was called, both the area seventy and the stake president asked me to send excess missionary funds to the general fund, and I did so last Spring. Since then, I have seen no need for further transfers, but I have informed all ward clerks that the stake is ready and willing to transfer money to them to support their missionaries as needed.

Another question. I have been on the Wiki, reading about Missionary Accounts, and came up with this instruction:

"Contributions to the ward missionary fund that have not been used when a missionary is released should be kept in the ward missionary fund and used as needed. Never refund missionary contributions to a donor."

The fact that the funds cannot be refunded is consistent with the policy with all donated funds. However, I was under the impression, that in that kind of situation, the funds could be transferred to any "Tax deductible" category. I have not had that situation come up, but was I in error in my understanding?

I believe there is latitude for you to reopen the donation batch and reclassify recent donations as tithing, rather than donations to a particular missionary account.

waynecooke wrote:Another question. I have been on the Wiki, reading about Missionary Accounts, and came up with this instruction:

"Contributions to the ward missionary fund that have not been used when a missionary is released should be kept in the ward missionary fund and used as needed. Never refund missionary contributions to a donor."

The fact that the funds cannot be refunded is consistent with the policy with all donated funds. However, I was under the impression, that in that kind of situation, the funds could be transferred to any "Tax deductible" category. I have not had that situation come up, but was I in error in my understanding?

I had this happen with some of our senor couples. All we did was discuss with them the options and let them decide. Its really easy to do. You just change the donation to another category. Make sure you change the paper copy of the donation slip as well.

We had this happen with a senior couple in our ward recently as well. He requested transferring the excess funds to the mission accounts of a few grandchildren that were out right now. We checked with SLC and they said such a transfer would be fine so we cut checks to three other wards out of his WMF account.

Where can I go to view my missionary's account balance? I've used the search engine and read the FAQs but don't see that anywhere.

alishaburt wrote:Where can I go to view my missionary's account balance? I've used the search engine and read the FAQs but don't see that anywhere.

There is no way to do that online. You need to ask your ward clerk. That's the only way to get your balance.