Xfer Budget Subcat Funds

We have some money in our Young Men/Young Women/Primary budgets that need to be transferred to their respective camp budgets for Summer 2016 so SLC doesn't suck the leftovers out of their budgets. I attempted to do this with the transfer screen, but it will only allow me to transfer from Budget:Allocations to Budget:Allocations. How can we move the moneys from one subcategory to a new sub-subcategory?

The subcategories in the budget are just a local convention to keep track of how funds are spent, and to help organizations plan. They can't be used to protect funds.

It may vary in different stakes, but in our stake each unit retains the funds they have at the end of the year. The stake then either reduces the size of the first allocation to the ward to account for any excess, or they ask the wards to return any excess as a transfer or check. The area may do the same thing if they feel the stake has an excess. There may be an ability for headquarters to actually transfer out of your account, but that isn't how it normally happens for us.

If you were planning to keep the funds for the next year, the bishop should discuss that with the stake president. If the stake president agrees with the plan, the stake then can request back or withhold less.

I believe the default is that all leftover funds are kept. But talk with the stake about the plan. Note that the leftover will not carry over in the actual budget. Budget funds, yes, but the budget (plan) itself won't show it. You'll have to adjust the allocation to show it.

The only way I know of to "protect" those funds is to transfer to "Other" - probably via a check. Which might not be a bad idea. It will show what you're doing with the excess and will carry over as a "balance forward" without adjusting the budget - which will default to the same numbers for 2017 and could cause problems.

russellhltn wrote:The only way I know of to "protect" those funds is to transfer to "Other" - probably via a check.

That would not protect the funds any more than leaving them in the Budget category, and it would not be in accordance with guidelines for using the Other category.

Work with your stake leaders to identify how much of your unused Budget allowance will be used for youth activities in the new year. You can even set up another sub-account under Budget to keep track of it.

Excess budget funds do not automatically revert back to the stake. The stake does set the policy, but even so, the ward has to write a check or transfer the money back to the stake if there is going to be a return of budget allowance funds.

lajackson wrote:

russellhltn wrote:The only way I know of to "protect" those funds is to transfer to "Other" - probably via a check.

That would not protect the funds any more than leaving them in the Budget category, and it would not be in accordance with guidelines for using the Other category.

While unusual, I'm not sure as it's wrong. There is a difference between the way the two categories carry over. "Other" is just a straight balance - just like a check book. While budget funds carry over, I don't think they're reflected in the budget allowance. That has to be adjusted to reflect any carry over. The problem there is the budget allowance for the following year defaults to the prior year's budget allowance - which would be confusing for the leadership. They'd have to "cut" some programs to fit within the budget allocation. By using Other, you'd bypass that problem - as well as showing that the carried over funds were used for the specified purpose.

I suppose another way to do it is to add a new line item for the camp - carry over budget. That way you can adjust the budget allocation each year and keep track of what was carry over and what wasn't.

russellhltn wrote:The problem there is the budget allowance for the following year defaults to the prior year's budget allowance

That's not true. Budgets start at zero at the beginning of each year. Any carry-over amount is added to your estimated total budget allocation for the year to provide the total available amount to allocate out to the different budget categories. You then have to manually decide on and enter budget amounts for each of those categories.

Having said that, it can be useful to use a separate category to track expenses from a previous year (we called it "Prior Year Expense"). We did that sometimes. In other cases we had organizations who were under budget one year and wanted to carry it over to the next year for a particular activity. In that case we charged the organization budget for prior year expenses so they didn't get a "bonus" by carrying something over and then having a prior year expense come up and get hidden in a different category (effectively giving them a bigger carry over than they should have had).

Ultimately, there should be communication about budgets both from organizations on what their needs are (as aebrown has highlighted) and from the bishopric/clerks about what budget was approved and what special circumstances apply.

Just to clarify: Just a few years ago the budget was a "use it or lose it" deal. If you had, say $1,000 "unspent" on December 31st it just disappeared. But that is not the case anymore. Anyone who remembers how much trouble it was to get as close to spending every penny (without going over) by December 31st at 11:59PM may still think they need to worry about it. But… no. That money stays with the ward unless and until the Stake takes it away. And let's hope they'll talk to the Bishop to get his side of the story before doing that.

Thanks - we have these excess funds as a result of a fund raiser for YM/YW/Primary. The Stake President has already said that we keep the funds, but what is said doesn't always override the automatic processes! I'll take it up with the Stake Clerk to make sure it's left alone.

socker_dad wrote:Thanks - we have these excess funds as a result of a fund raiser for YM/YW/Primary.

In that case, you should be aware of the following:

• Fund raisers are permitted ONLY for an annual camp. (See Handbook 2: 13.2)
• Fund raising money should not be added to the budget, but placed in an "Other" account dedicated to that event.
• "Other" accounts carry over automatically.

Now, it's possible that has happened - and since the budget was relieved of the annual camp, that you had an excess - but I thought it should be mentioned.