R account

We payed our chartering fees to the BSA and the church sent us a letter to use the "R" account. What is the "R" account?

farwest wrote:We payed our chartering fees to the BSA and the church sent us a letter to use the "R" account. What is the "R" account?

I have a vague recollection that there was a mechanism that sounded like that "R account" in the old FIS.

However, in MLS, the proper procedure for paying any chartering or scout registration fees as follows:

1. Such expenses can only be paid by the stake (not by the wards)
2. The stake writes a normal MLS check, but makes sure that the category is "Other:Scout Registration"
3. When the check clears, the Church detects that this special category was used, and automatically reimburses the stake for the expense.

My guess is that you wrote the check from some other subcategory that is not automatically reimbursed, and the Church noticed this and was attempting (using this rather unclear language) to let you know that you used the wrong category on the check.

Alan is right. The stake pays the scout registration fees for all the units within the stake. As for the "R" account, this is the second time I've heard this term and like Alan, I believe it is a hold over from the old MIS system. The "R" account (my guess) is the "Other" account, and specifically the category to pay scout registration is a subcategory under "Other" titled "Scout Registration" or similar such name. Each stake should have this listed as part of their on going "Other" account along with Stake/Ward Phone bills, etc which are automatically paid by the Church rather than the stake although the stake writes the check.

Jim

Must have been something specific to the stake FIS, since I sure don't remember it at the ward level.

Perhaps "R" stood for "Reimbursement"?

The only one I knew of was a numerical "Code" that was used for authorized computer repairs.

Okay, okay....FIS not MIS.

The "R" account may well have been a stake FIS item as I don't remember it either in our ward account. But this is the second time I have heard it and strange as it may seem the other time had to do with the scout registration as well. When I became the stake clerk one of the first items I ended up dealing with was the scout registration. Since I was new to the stake account I called Salt Lake and I believe they mentioned something about the "R" account.

In anycase, the bottom line is Scout Registration is paid out of the Other account from a sub category titled "Scout Registration". The actual payment comes from Salt Lake to the local council rather than being debited against the stake even though they write the check.

The stake has several other accounts that are reimbursable from CHQ. These include authorized computer repairs, telephone bill payments, scout rechartering, missionary host family, etc. There is a code associated with these accounts that trigger the withdrawl and transfer. These categories are included as part of the stake installation of MLS, and the wards don't have it.

There are special codes embedded within these other accounts that trigger the transfer. For this reason you can't just create an other account and name it "Scouting Reimbursement" and expect to have CHQ do a transfer.

As I recall, the (R) code is only for scout rechartering. I think the (T) code is for ward and stake telephone. I don't recall what the other codes are right off.

bragado wrote:The stake has several other accounts that are reimbursable from CHQ. These include authorized computer repairs, telephone bill payments, scout rechartering, missionary host family, etc. There is a code associated with these accounts that trigger the withdrawl and transfer. These categories are included as part of the stake installation of MLS, and the wards don't have it.

There are special codes embedded within these other accounts that trigger the transfer. For this reason you can't just create an other account and name it "Scouting Reimbursement" and expect to have CHQ do a transfer.

As I recall, the (R) code is only for scout rechartering. I think the (T) code is for ward and stake telephone. I don't recall what the other codes are right off.

This brings up a good point. When I took over as stake clerk many of the categories Bragado mentions were already on the stake computer - I didn't add them. However it wasn't until early this year that our stake began participating in having the missionaries live with member families. Thus we pay each family that has missionaries a small amount to cover utility increases etc which is paid out of "Missionary Host Family" subcategory. I didn't think about it much at the time but when I went to pay the first installment the subcategory was there in the computer. I wonder if it was a "hidden category" that was remotely activated by Salt Lake, or the next time I did a send/receive it was added by Salt Lake. I don't think I put the category in - at least as far as I remember.

However, Bragado is right, you can't just add a category and expect Salt Lake to pick up the tab. Interesting how this all works.

Pilotfly wrote:This brings up a good point. When I took over as stake clerk many of the categories Bragado mentions were already on the stake computer - I didn't add them. However it wasn't until early this year that our stake began participating in having the missionaries live with member families. Thus we pay each family that has missionaries a small amount to cover utility increases etc which is paid out of "Missionary Host Family" subcategory. I didn't think about it much at the time but when I went to pay the first installment the subcategory was there in the computer. I wonder if it was a "hidden category" that was remotely activated by Salt Lake, or the next time I did a send/receive it was added by Salt Lake. I don't think I put the category in - at least as far as I remember.

However, Bragado is right, you can't just add a category and expect Salt Lake to pick up the tab. Interesting how this all works.

You're right that the Missionary Host Family subcategory has not always been there. Since it is a relatively new program (newer than MLS), it seems clear that it was added as an update to the database during some Send/Receive.