Release of new budget funds

I am a new ward clerk. So all of this is new to me and I am trying to learn as I go.

When does new budget funds go into the ward account? The reason I ask is because girls camp took about the last chunk of the budget, and I am wondering when we get new funds so I can pay some bills/reimbursements to members who paid for items for various activities. When I asked a stake clerk, he could not give me an answer, stating that the money just comes. He then told me that the church will not bounce any checks so go ahead and pay for the items, but I feel that it is wrong and that I want to make sure the budget is balanced and not have a negative balance. I know the church will not bounce any checks, but still I feel the right thing to do is to wait, but I hate to make members wait to get reimbursed.

Thank you in advance.

Budget funds are distributed at the beginning of each quarter. About one month before the start of the quarter you should receive a document in your Financial Statements section which indicates the amount of the next distribution.

Although keeping the total budget in the black is desirable (and if it goes negative you may get a message from CHQ about it) if doing so causes hardship to a member I would make the payment anyway (with the bishop's approval of course).

"Budget funds are distributed at the beginning of each quarter." What months are the beginning of each quarter?

January, April, July, and October. The budget comes from the quarterly reports (so make sure they're sent in!), albeit with a 1-quarter lag. That is, your attendance figures in December (representing 4th Quarter of the previous year) will affect your budget disbursement in April.

allenjpl wrote:January, April, July, and October. The budget comes from the quarterly reports (so make sure they're sent in!), albeit with a 1-quarter lag. That is, your attendance figures in December (representing 4th Quarter of the previous year) will affect your budget disbursement in April.

So, when I log in, will the quarterly reports be one of those urgent tasks that I might get a message when I log in? I just got in the calling a short time ago so I do not know if the previous clerk already submitted it prior to my arrival.

dandshall2 wrote:So, when I log in, will the quarterly reports be one of those urgent tasks that I might get a message when I log in? I just got in the calling a short time ago so I do not know if the previous clerk already submitted it prior to my arrival.

No, it doesn't show up as an urgent task. But you can go to LCR (https://clerk.lds.org) and select Reports > Quarterly Report. If the report has been submitted for the 2nd quarter it will tell you so. If not, that's where you enter the numbers and submit it.

Thank you. I looked and the 2nd quarter had not yet been completed. So I got with the Bishopric to get this completed.

You do need to turn that in, but it won't affect you until October. What's the status of the 1st quarter report? If that wasn't turned in, no money in July.

Login to LCR https://clerk.lds.org, then click on Finance, and a new Finance tab will appear in your browser.

If you click on Overview, then Income and Expense Details, you should be able to see exactly when your standard budget allocation for Q3 2016 is deposited into your ward budget. You should at least be able to see the allocation for Q1 on 07 Jan 2016, and the allocation for Q2 on 07 Apr 2016.

Click Reports, then Budget. You should see something like:

Name Report Date
Projected Quarterly Budget Allowance Q3 2016 01 Jun 2016
Quarterly Budget Allowance Q2 2016 01 Apr 2016
Projected Quarterly Budget Allowance Q2 2016 01 Mar 2016
Quarterly Budget Allowance Q1 2016 01 Jan 2016

Click on the link for "Projected Quarterly Budget Allowance Q3 2016 01 Jun 2016" and you will see the message that tells you exactly how much will be distributed to your ward. This distribution should be released today (July 7th). However, holidays and General Conferences may delay the transfer.
The message says, "Your budget allowance is based on current unit percentages provided to Church headquarters by your parent unit president. This amount is
also based on attendance and membership information from the March 31 2016 Quarterly Report." That report was due on April 15th.

russellhltn wrote:You do need to turn that in, but it won't affect you until October. What's the status of the 1st quarter report? If that wasn't turned in, no money in July.

The 1st quarter was turned in, thank goodness.

drepouille wrote:Login to LCR https://clerk.lds.org, then click on Finance, and a new Finance tab will appear in your browser.

If you click on Overview, then Income and Expense Details, you should be able to see exactly when your standard budget allocation for Q3 2016 is deposited into your ward budget. You should at least be able to see the allocation for Q1 on 07 Jan 2016, and the allocation for Q2 on 07 Apr 2016.

Click Reports, then Budget. You should see something like:

Name Report Date
Projected Quarterly Budget Allowance Q3 2016 01 Jun 2016
Quarterly Budget Allowance Q2 2016 01 Apr 2016
Projected Quarterly Budget Allowance Q2 2016 01 Mar 2016
Quarterly Budget Allowance Q1 2016 01 Jan 2016

Click on the link for "Projected Quarterly Budget Allowance Q3 2016 01 Jun 2016" and you will see the message that tells you exactly how much will be distributed to your ward. This distribution should be released today (July 7th). However, holidays and General Conferences may delay the transfer.
The message says, "Your budget allowance is based on current unit percentages provided to Church headquarters by your parent unit president. This amount is
also based on attendance and membership information from the March 31 2016 Quarterly Report." That report was due on April 15th.

So the 7th is normally the date of the release of funds. That is good to know. I checked this morning, but no deposit yet, but at least I know I will not need to wait a whole month before I can reimburse members.

Thank you all.

"Your budget allowance is based on current unit percentages provided to Church headquarters by your parent unit president." If your ward is chronically short of budget funds, your bishop can ask the stake president to change the unit percentages for your budget funds. The budget funds are split between the stake and the ward, and the stake president decides what percentage should flow to the ward level.

Your OP said, "girls camp took about the last chunk of the budget." I suppose that means that your YW Camp fund-raiser did not raise enough funds to pay for all your YW to go to camp. The YW budget is only used for YW Camp when insufficient funds are raised. It may also be true that the amount required by your stake for each YW is excessive. That is another thing your bishop can discuss with the stake president.

drepouille wrote:The YW budget is only used for YW Camp when insufficient funds are raised.

Actually, it's the other way around. A fundraiser is held if the budget is insufficient to cover the youth camps. I suspect op's problem is cash flow. The youth camps represent the biggest single expense, but it falls midyear before all the funds are received.

Either way about the idea of fundraising, I do not think that our ward does any fundraising (that I know of). I know the counselors of the bishopric talked maybe in the future we should do some fundraising to help off set the costs. I agree with the statement that youth camps represent the biggest single expense.

Just as a note, if I was someone looking for a reimbursement and a clerk told me they didn't have funds to do it, that wouldn't be acceptable to me. This sounds like a ward that REALLY, REALLY needs some training on budgeting and spending.

johnshaw wrote:Just as a note, if I was someone looking for a reimbursement and a clerk told me they didn't have funds to do it, that wouldn't be acceptable to me. This sounds like a ward that REALLY, REALLY needs some training on budgeting and spending.

I understand your thought/opinion on that note. If that happens on a regular basis, I agree that the Bishopric will need to tighten budget belt up for all involved (mind you I just got called into the calling about 2-3 weeks ago). But for girls camp (the single largest expenditure), my Bishop paid for not only our girls, but also for some girls that were not our ward boundaries because the other Bishops in the stake did not want to pay for them. So it did take some extra from our budget, but at least this happened at the end (last week) of the budget period and the girls who might be investigating the church got to experience girls camp.

dandshall2 wrote:

johnshaw wrote:Just as a note, if I was someone looking for a reimbursement and a clerk told me they didn't have funds to do it, that wouldn't be acceptable to me. This sounds like a ward that REALLY, REALLY needs some training on budgeting and spending.

I understand your thought/opinion on that note. If that happens on a regular basis, I agree that the Bishopric will need to tighten budget belt up for all involved (mind you I just got called into the calling about 2-3 weeks ago). But for girls camp (the single largest expenditure), my Bishop paid for not only our girls, but also for some girls that were not our ward boundaries because the other Bishops in the stake did not want to pay for them. So it did take some extra from our budget, but at least this happened at the end (last week) of the budget period and the girls who might be investigating the church got to experience girls camp.

There's nothing wrong with the bishop making decisions to spend funds in ways that create testimony-building experiences, especially for youth. Personally, I'd be wary of spending my ward's funds on behalf of youth living in other wards without involving the stake president, but I don't know enough details to make any specific judgment in that regard.

But all that aside, I think JohnShaw's point was (and I agree with him) that it's not right to withhold reimbursement from members just to avoid a temporary negative balance. If members as part of their calling expend money as directed by their leaders (ultimately authorized by the bishop), then they deserve to be reimbursed promptly. The checks will clear, even if they lead to a negative balance, and new budget funds will eventually arrive to replenish the budget balance. If procedures need to be adjusted and training needs to be given, then by all means, learn from your experiences and do better next time. But don't make the members wait for their reimbursement just because the ward didn't manage finances optimally.