Other: Member Financed Activities

I've been asked by the state to ensure there are no balances remaining in the "Other" Category of our budget. However, when I attempt to move these funds to miscellaneous, it only allows me to move them to another "Other" category. Has anyone experienced this and how can I correct it? I've thought of writing a check from this account and then depositing it into another account, but I'm reluctant to do so. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Brother Jerry Manor
YSA 13 Ward, YSA 1st Stake

First, a couple of questions to try to clarify the situation:

1) Is it the state or stake that is instructing you to clear out "Other" balances? (I'm guessing a typo, and "stake" was intended.)

2) Are these balances in a _BUDGET_ category named "Other"? Or, are they really in _OTHER_, which is an entirely separate world from budget. Funds in _BUDGET_ come from Church headquarters via the budget allowance program. Unless procedures/practices have changed since I was stake finance clerk, except for charitable donations for the humanitarian fund and similar subcategories, funds in _OTHER_ are supposed to be pass-through funds for YW camp, scout camp, and similar activities. Any money in _OTHER_ should be there for a specific purpose, and there should be a clearly defined plan/method for that money to be spent or otherwise eliminated from the account.

Now, a suggestion:

The wall to keep _OTHER_ funds out of _BUDGET_ is deliberate and should not be circumvented in a casual manner. If I were a newly called ward/branch finance clerk with such a situation, I would do do the best I could to find out where those funds came from and where they are/were supposed to go. Then, I would study the handbooks and other training materials to learn current procedures and practices. Finally, if I needed further clarification about what to do, I would ask the stake finance clerk and/or stake clerk for guidance.

Hope that helps.

Most of the policies about how to handle funds in the other:: authorized member financed activities subcategories are in the help center article The "Other" Category.

I'd question anyone that says that "Other" has to be zeroed by the end of the year. It's true that each event in "other" needs to come to a conclusion at some point and zeroed out. The funds are to be gathered for a specific purpose and once completed, it's done. But that doesn't necessarily translate to "zero by the end of the year" if you're gathering funds for the next event. But if you have an event like "YM Camp - 2015" with a balance, yeah, you do need to do something about it to zero it.

Note that the OP is from a YSA ward. I can't imagine a reason for a YSA ward to keep funds in an Other:AMFA subcategory from year to year. The YSA stake probably wants its YSA wards to clean up their stale accounts.

drepouille wrote:Note that the OP is from a YSA ward. I can't imagine a reason for a YSA ward to keep funds in an Other:AMFA subcategory from year to year.

Point taken. Off hand, I don't recall any Other:AMFA in my old YSA ward when I was ward clerk, much less ones that went from year to year. They probably don't have the usual YM/YW camps and generally everyone pays for their own YSA conference.

drepouille wrote:The YSA stake probably wants its YSA wards to clean up their stale accounts.

Certainly a possibility. And if that's the case, and there's a good chance that the only option available is to send the funds to CHQ. If it's stale, refunding may not be a viable option. Moving it to "Budget" is most likely NOT an option according to guidelines (unless that's where it came from in the first place.)

How does one add a category "Member Finance Activities" in "other?"

crhatch1 wrote:How does one add a category "Member Finance Activities" in "other?"

An "authorized member financed activities" should be there as part of "other". It is under that AMFA that you can create individual sub-categories for specific activities.

If you don't have "authorized member financed activities", then I'd call support.

crhatch1 wrote:How does one add a category "Member Finance Activities" in "other?"

You do this in MLS, not in LCR Finance (unless you are running a beta version of LCR Finance).

Each January, you need to set up your budget categories and manage your Other:AMFA subcategories in MLS.