Quarterly Report: record all primary-aged children attended or just the ones on the roll?

Due to several factors (including some record errors), the number of member Primary children who attended Primary the month of the recent Quarterly Report exceeded the number of children who were on the rolls at the end of the month. The Quarterly Report does not allow me to enter a number greater than the number of children who were on the rolls, though, so this brings up the question:

For Primary attendance for the Quarterly Report, should I only include the number of children on the rolls who attended Primary, or should I include the number of all children who attended Primary?

I also recognize that this question applies to RS, EQ, HP, YM, and YW, and I'm interested to know if the answer is the same for all the quorums and auxiliaries.

If you click on the "Potential" number, it will bring up a list of the children that potentially could be counted. These are the only children that should be counted for the quarterly report. You should not be counting children who are not members of your ward (whether visitors or no record due to other factors such as record errors). You should count the number of children from the Potential list who attended at least one Sunday Primary meeting in the last month of the quarter.

This is not the "exact" same answer for the other quorums or auxiliaries. For example, we count full time missionaries in the Priesthood and Relief Society organizations even though they are not currently in "our" ward. We have their records and we know they are attending as appropriate for their mission. Same for stake leaders who are away on their stake assignments - we count them as present.

We don't count any of these in the Sacrament meeting attendance - that number is simply the average number of individuals present: member, nonmember, visitor, etc.

joshuajohnwallace wrote:For Primary attendance for the Quarterly Report, should I only include the number of children on the rolls who attended Primary, or should I include the number of all children who attended Primary?

I think the question is why someone isn't on the rolls. With the exception of sacrament meeting attendance, you're only to record those who are members of the ward.

Now, in the case of primary, there is a situation we need to be on the lookout for. It's possible a "child of record" for the child was never created. Simply being recorded on the parent's record is not sufficient. An individual record must be created for the child in order for them to show up on the rolls. Common issues are a blessing that didn't create a record and convert families (the mission office will create the records only for all those baptized. The ward has to create the records of all those too young to be baptized). See Handbook 1: 13.6.2 for permissions required before creating the record.

Then of course, there are those who have moved into the ward, but their records were never requested.

Other possibilities are children of divorced parents who alternate wards and children of part member families that do not have permission to create the record.

So, in summery, you're only to count those who are on the rolls. But you should check into those who are missing to see if any action needs to be taken.

Note that the quarterly report only asks you to report the number of children ages 3 through 11 years (as of 1 January) attending Primary.

My Primary president and secretary were both surprised that we don't count children under the age of 3. After all, the Primary budget is used to buy snacks for children in the nursery.

I'm seeing a lot of answers that basically say:

"Only record those you have records for."

Does anyone have a source for this? The Quarterly Report itself doesn't say this.

joshuajohnwallace wrote:I'm seeing a lot of answers that basically say:

"Only record those you have records for."

Does anyone have a source for this? The Quarterly Report itself doesn't say this.

At the top of the page in LCR for the quarterly report it says "The 'Actual,' 'Potential,' and 'Percent' information shown on the Ward and Branch Quarterly Report is based on information from the membership records assigned to your ward or branch at the end of the quarter.". In addition the list of potential candidates for each line lists only members with records in the ward. Also the Help Center article on the Quarterly Report says to "Count only those who appear on the ward rolls, not visitors". Taken together I think the only possible interpretation is to only count those with records in the ward.

The exception, of course, is sacrament meeting attendance which doesn't have a potential number in the Quarterly Report on LCR and where the Help Center article explicitly says to count those in attendance whether they are members, non-members or visitors.

If the new LCR-printed rolls are like the old ones printed from MLS, the instructions are printed there. I remember that being a "Trivial Pursuit for clerks" discussion. <grin>

russellhltn wrote:If the new LCR-printed rolls are like the old ones printed from MLS, the instructions are printed there. I remember that being a "Trivial Pursuit for clerks" discussion. <grin>

They've updated the wording and now I think it's even more specific than it was before. For example, the YM rolls include this sentence: "Only those for whom the ward or branch has a membership record are to be counted as attending."

Quarterly Report: record all primary-aged children attended or just the ones on the roll?

The answer to THIS question is actually neither. For the quarterly report, you should only count members whose membership record is in your ward on the last day of the quarter. The "Potential" number is based on this calculation.

You do not count all Primary-aged children because you would be counting members of other wards who visited your ward during the last month of the quarter. You cannot base your count on the printed roll, since the printed roll may include people who shouldn't be counted. These include out-of-unit members, whose membership records are in a different ward but are also listed on your printed rolls, and unbaptized members of record. (There used to be an indicator on the printed roll that indicated which members were out-of-unit members or unbaptized members of record, but that has been removed from the printed roll.)

To gather together all of the information that indicates you should only count records in your ward:

• LCR Quarterly report page: "The 'Actual,' 'Potential,' and 'Percent' information shown on the Ward and Branch Quarterly Report is based on information from the membership records assigned to your ward or branch at the end of the quarter."
• LCR Quarterly report detail page for members who moved out of the unit after the report period ended: "This member’s record is no longer assigned to your unit."
• Attendance roll: "Only those for whom the ward or branch has a membership record are to be counted as attending."
• LCR Organization member lists: "Unbaptized member of record age 9 and over and those baptized but not confirmed are not included in unit statistics or Quarterly Reports."
• LCR Organization member lists: "Out-of-unit members are not included in unit statistics or the Quarterly Report."
• Quarterly Report page at help.lds.org: "Count only those who appear on the ward rolls, not visitors."

All right, thanks to everybody! These posts answer all my questions.

The handbook seems to contradict the answers above. As of January 2022, it says: 33.5.1.1 “Sunday Quorum and Organization Meetings. Attendance is recorded each week by quorum and organization secretaries and advisers. Youth leaders may also assist in recording attendance. The count is the number attending the meeting in-person or by streaming, including visitors.” The last sentence says to include visitors (people whose records are not in the ward), but LCR doesn’t seem to comply with this, since you can only record attendance for people you have records for. Unless I’m missing something?

This was a really old thread and the handbook changes are very recent. For 2021 Q4 it would be the old way. My guess is that for 2022 Q1 things will be done differently.

As jonesrk said, the changes in the General Handbook will be effective for 2022-Q1. For 2021-Q4, only count the children on the roll.