Missionary Accounts

We have missionary accounts for two missionaries who have returned from their missions. One account has a negative balance and the other account has a positive balance. I was asked by the stake clerk to zero-out these accounts. I clicked around in MLS, but I couldn't find a way to do this. Does anyone know how to zero-out missionary accounts?

Hilohi wrote:Does anyone know how to zero-out missionary accounts?

By transferring money within the Ward Missionary account.

I recommend that you first, print a summary showing the balances of all ward missionary accounts, and also print a detail income and expense report for each of the non-zero balance missionary sub-accounts and discuss them with your bishop. The bishop may want to encourage the supporters of the missionary with a negative balance to fulfill their commitment.

At your bishop's direction, you go into MLS > Finance > Transfers and enter a funds transfer transaction for the appropriate amount to or from the generic Ward Missionary Fund and the appropriate Ward Missionary Sub-Account.

I actually have a question. I am the exec sec trying to help out the new ward clerk and financial clerk. How do you delete missionaries that have completed and returned returned from the donation list of current missionaries serving from the ward to donate to? Paul B.

pjbenton wrote:I actually have a question. I am the exec sec trying to help out the new ward clerk and financial clerk. How do you delete missionaries that have completed and returned returned from the donation list of current missionaries serving from the ward to donate to? Paul B.

Make sure their account balance is 0 (if necessary by transferring funds from or to the top level Ward Missionary Fund account). After 2 or 3 months the account will automatically be removed by CHQ. There is nothing you can do to explicitly remove it.

I am an auditor helping a financial clerk to zero out a negative missionary account. I read that we must move funds from the top level Ward Missionary Fund. but that fund itself is in the negative. What can we do in this situation?

If the "Ward Missionary Fund" is negative, you could ask the stake president (and stake clerk) to transfer funds from the stake missionary fund. Or you could ask ward members to donate funds.

evlarson wrote:I am an auditor helping a financial clerk to zero out a negative missionary account. I read that we must move funds from the top level Ward Missionary Fund. but that fund itself is in the negative. What can we do in this situation?

You can still move funds from the top level account to zero out the negative balance for the missionary who is already home. That reduces the number of accounts with a negative balance.

But then the negative balance in the top level account needs to be rectified.

First, they should make sure they don't have any missionary accounts for missionaries that have come home that have a positive balance. If they do, those funds should be transferred to the top level account.

After that it is really up to the bishop and stake president on how to proceed.

1. If the bishop feels there are missionary families who did not fulfill their commitment but who are capable of doing so, he could counsel with them.
2. If the bishop thinks there are other members who would be capable and willing to donate to the Ward Missionary Fund, he could make a request to them.
3. If the stake has missionary funds at the stake level, the stake could make a transfer to the ward to cover the negative balance.
4. If the stake sees excess funds in other wards in the stake, they could make a request to have the excess transferred to the stake and then transferred on to the ward to cover the balance.

evlarson wrote:I am an auditor helping a financial clerk to zero out a negative missionary account. I read that we must move funds from the top level Ward Missionary Fund. but that fund itself is in the negative. What can we do in this situation?

There is no magic zero button. It's going to take money. Since the ward has none, an appeal to the stake is the next likely source. There might be other wards with an excess that can help out. Failing that, the stake can make some inquiries with the next higher level. But I'm sure someone is going to ask about how it got into this situation and if the family would step up.

One thing to check right away is if the ward got stuck with the missionary payments when the family moved - and they've been paying in their new ward.

In following eblood66's suggested plan of action, we are at the point of doing step 4 "If the stake sees excess funds in other wards in the stake, they could make a request to have the excess transferred to the stake and then transferred on to the ward to cover the balance".
Instead of transferring funds though, we would like a unit with excess funds to write a check directly from their ward missionary fund to the unit having a deficit. The receiving unit would be informed that the check would be credited to the account of the missionary whose account is in the negative. It is our experience that following a paper trail is simpler with the writing of checks.
Thoughts?

jbuhl68 wrote:It is our experience that following a paper trail is simpler with the writing of checks.

Checks might be easier than transfers, but I think transferring to/from the stake makes the purpose and authority clearer. The first ward is transferring their excess, while the second ward is receiving support from the stake. All of that is following written guidelines and an wouldn't even get a second look from an auditor.

If you do a direct transfer, then it become a question of who authorized it and was this due to transferring responsibility of missionary. The stake also sees the transaction in their records so they'll have record of it. Especially the part about a ward needing support so they can keep an eye on that.

Of course, I am assuming that this excess is due to generous donations by members was wasn't an advance payment for a missionary. If it's the latter, the "excess" ward may not have an excess at all.

is there a way for parents of a missionary to see what is in their missionaries account online? also is there a way for family members not in the ward to donate to the missionaries account?

hansejam wrote:is there a way for parents of a missionary to see what is in their missionaries account online?

No. You'll have to ask the ward finance clerk.

hansejam wrote:also is there a way for family members not in the ward to donate to the missionaries account?

See question #2 in the donation faq: https://www.lds.org/help/support/financ ... -Questions