Voided Checks and reconcilation

First, I want to thank everyone for all the useful information in this forum. I've been a clerk for about 7 months, and it's been a goldmine.

This is a situation that I haven't seen before, and I couldn't find any information on:

The ward issued three checks. Later, because of issues with the payee, we voided them out and combined then into a single check, notating the reason in the appropriate location. Now it's time to reconcile the budget.

Since the checks are issued in one month, but voided in another, we have an outstanding transfer that creates a non-zero amount. Basically, the CUFS says we received a HQ transfer to cover the checks, but in MLS, the check amounts are $0.00 because they've been voided out. So we have a positive balance in that particular category.

We just got another CUFS, and the new one shows the voided checks.

So do I create a temporary transaction for the month in which the checks were issued so that everyone zeroes out, and then remove it for the newest month? I don't want to carry over a nonzero balance, even if it gets fixed in the next month's CUFS. Any ideas?

LVAllen wrote:The ward issued three checks. Later, because of issues with the payee, we voided them out and combined then into a single check, notating the reason in the appropriate location. Now it's time to reconcile the budget.

Since the checks are issued in one month, but voided in another, we have an outstanding transfer that creates a non-zero amount. Basically, the CUFS says we received a HQ transfer to cover the checks, but in MLS, the check amounts are $0.00 because they've been voided out. So we have a positive balance in that particular category.

We just got another CUFS, and the new one shows the voided checks.

So do I create a temporary transaction for the month in which the checks were issued so that everyone zeroes out, and then remove it for the newest month? I don't want to carry over a nonzero balance, even if it gets fixed in the next month's CUFS. Any ideas?

Yes, you would create a Temporary Item for the reconciliation of the month in which the checks were issued. That's exactly what a Temporary Item is for -- an adjustment that will show up on a future CUFS.

Then when you reconcile the month for which the transfer shows up on the CUFS, you check off the Temporary Item, which then goes away and everything should balance just fine.

You might find the Reconciliation article on the wiki helpful.

Okay, I'll go ahead and put in a temporary item. In the Wiki, though, it says that I should include a specific reference number. Would I reference the voided check numbers, and include the date they were voided? That would provide an easy audit trail.

LVAllen wrote:Okay, I'll go ahead and put in a temporary item. In the Wiki, though, it says that I should include a specific reference number. Would I reference the voided check numbers, and include the date they were voided? That would provide an easy audit trail.

Yes, that's the right course of action -- using the voided check numbers as your reference numbers on the Temporary Items ties them together nicely.

Don't forget to check off the voided checks in the month that they show on the finance statement, the amounts will show as zero, but the still need to be checked off (as you would a cleared check) otherwise, you will be out the amounts.