A couple of questions

I did a search but couldn't find an answer that I was needing specifically, so here goes.

As the ward clerk I've been trying to figure out how to make a budget category for Cub/Scouts under Budgets to put funds in, but I can only seem to do it in the Budget: Allocations category. I want it to be able to be seen in the Budget report where we can distribute funds to and be able to increase or decrease as needed. Part of my problem is that over the years people have put in many different sub categories under Budget: Allocations and now its a mess with some of the categories having money in them when they shouldn't. An example is cubs and scouts have multiple categories with money in each one that I would like to put under one category and get rid of the rest , just not sure how to get the money out of them and then delete the category.

I hope one can understand what I'm trying to say here.

The other question is the missionary's have found a inactive member that was part of my ward years ago but I can't seem to find her records anywhere in our Stake, I'm wondering if her records have been sent to Salt Lake under the address unknown file. How does one go about asking Salt Lake if they may have their records?

Thanks for any help in advance

BY1624 wrote:I did a search but couldn't find an answer that I was needing specifically, so here goes.

As the ward clerk I've been trying to figure out how to make a budget category for Cub/Scouts under Budgets to put funds in, but I can only seem to do it in the Budget: Allocations category. I want it to be able to be seen in the Budget report where we can distribute funds to and be able to increase or decrease as needed. Part of my problem is that over the years people have put in many different sub categories under Budget: Allocations and now its a mess with some of the categories having money in them when they shouldn't. An example is cubs and scouts have multiple categories with money in each one that I would like to put under one category and get rid of the rest , just not sure how to get the money out of them and then delete the category.

It sounds like you've got a bit of a mess there.

First, you shouldn't ever create any sub-subcategories under Budget:Allocations. That category is only for the budget allocation that comes quarterly from headquarters.

All subcategories should be created under one of the other budget categories. For example, we put Cub Scouts under the Budget:Primary category. We put Scouts under Budget:Young Men.

Once you've created categories in the correct place you'll want to transfer funds from subcategories under Budget:Allocations so that they are zeroed out. You won't be able to delete the categories but you can set them to inactive once they have a zero balance.

From the sound of it though, you probably need some more hands on help than can be done here. You should probably see if your stake clerk or stake financial clerk can come and help you straighten things out.

BY1624 wrote:The other question is the missionary's have found a inactive member that was part of my ward years ago but I can't seem to find her records anywhere in our Stake, I'm wondering if her records have been sent to Salt Lake under the address unknown file. How does one go about asking Salt Lake if they may have their records?

If she is residing in your ward then you should just request her records. It doesn't matter where they are assigned currently. The best way to do that nowadays is using Leader and Clerk Resources. But you will need her full name and birthdate to make the request.

Thanks for the quick reply.

So what is the best way to zero out any sub-subcategories under Budget:Allocations?

The record issue seems to be a little more complex as she is in our ward boundries but she has no record that I can find from our ward nor any of the other wards in our stake. So even with her name and birthday I would still need to know where to ask for her records wouldn't I?

BY1624 wrote:So what is the best way to zero out any sub-subcategories under Budget:Allocations?

Well, if there were only a few transaction in those sub-subcategories then I'd recommend going to each one and changing the category until they have all be changed. But it sounds like there may be many transactions. In that case, it would be best just to use Finance > Enter Transfers to move any existing balance to the new category.

BY1624 wrote:The record issue seems to be a little more complex as she is in our ward boundries but she has no record that I can find from our ward nor any of the other wards in our stake. So even with her name and birthday I would still need to know where to ask for her records wouldn't I?

No. Given a name and birthdate you can request the records regardless of where they are currently assigned. Records aren't actually transferred between units. All records are actually kept at CHQ all the time. Records are only assigned to units. When they are assigned a copy of the record will be downloaded to MLS but the original stays at CHQ. So you can always request a record without knowing where it is currently because CHQ just looks in it's database.

thanks again for the quick reply, one last question I tried to transfer the money out but it worked for one category but not the other, then when I went to try it again it doubled the amount in there, so at this point not sure if I should touch it anymore. Any clues you might have as to why it did this?

BY1624 wrote:thanks again for the quick reply, one last question I tried to transfer the money out but it worked for one category but not the other, then when I went to try it again it doubled the amount in there, so at this point not sure if I should touch it anymore. Any clues you might have as to why it did this?

You must have had the transfer direction wrong. If the category you're trying to zero has a negative balance then you need to transfer funds FROM the NEW account TO the OLD account. If the old category has a positive balance then you need to transfer from the old account to the new account.

Thanks for all your help

BY1624 wrote:Thanks for all your help

I did several "backwards" transfers at first until I finally got the hang of it. I just doubled the amount and transferred the other direction to fix each one of them, providing an "I got it backwards" note for the transfer reason. The Auditors enjoy using it as an enduring example of imperfection with its possible solution.