Reconciliation Other Category

I'm having trouble reconciling. Here's the problem:

1) MLS says that my Other category is -$170.00

2) The Church Unit Financial Statement says that my Other category's ending balance is $40.65.

What could be causing this? Is there an easy way to fix this?

Thanks!

noctufaber wrote:I'm having trouble reconciling. Here's the problem:

1) MLS says that my Other category is -$170.00

2) The Church Unit Financial Statement says that my Other category's ending balance is $40.65.

What could be causing this? Is there an easy way to fix this?

The wiki has a helpful article titled Reconciliation, and links to additional articles at the bottom of that article.

But as for your specific situation, check the following:

1. Did the previous month reconcile just fine? If so, the problem is most likely in the month you are reconciling.
2. When you say the Other category's ending balance is $40.65, are you talking about the adjusted balance? There may well be outstanding checks or Temporary Items that would cause the MLS balance and the CUFS ending balance to be different, but they still can reconcile.
3. Did you check off each check properly on the Reconcile step? Make sure you visit the Deposits, Expenses, and Transfers tabs and check off every item that appears on the CUFS (and don't check off any item that has not cleared).
4. Did you enter the correct ending balance? Sometimes clerks erroneously enter the number from the Net Funds Available line, rather than the Ending Balance line.
5. Have you printed the reconciliation report, and reviewed the Outstanding Checks listed to see if they match the checks that are not checked off on the Reconcile step's Expenses tab?

noctufaber wrote:What could be causing this? Is there an easy way to fix this?

Biggest question was asked by Alan_Brown - did the previous month reconcile correctly?

When I have encountered this problem, it is most often due to some transaction that showed up in the Miscellaneous section of the financial statement that was never entered in MLS. Most often, this is an NFS check. That, however, doesn't seem to be your problem because the MLS balance is lower than the statement balance. Is there an outstanding Temporary item you can now clear? Did a correction for an NFS check show up?

Another option, what month are you reconciling? If it is May, any expenses entered on May 31st (Sunday) did not show up on the May statement. When the last day of the month falls on a Sunday, it appears in the next month's statement. Uncheck those expenses.

Does the total ($210.65) remind you of any expense? Go to view/update expenses, sort by amount, and see if there is an expense that matches. Hopefully these get your started.

Fixing the problem is usually easy. Finding it, however, is often the hard part.

The "other" category is the bane of my existence. I hate the "other" category almost as much as church basketball.

Now my reconciliation efforts are causing things to go the wrong direction. My other category balance has jumped by $3,000.00 because of a returned check/donation that was (I believe) entered twice. I have no clue how to reverse this. I believe my reconciliation problem I mentioned earlier is also caused by multiple erroneous postings to the "other" category that I can't figure out how to reverse.

I am so irritated by this that I can't think straight about it. Does HQ have any remote assistance software like WebEx that they can use to help me out?

Did I mention that I HATE the "other" category? :mad::mad:

noctufaber wrote:I believe my reconciliation problem I mentioned earlier is also caused by multiple erroneous postings to the "other" category that I can't figure out how to reverse.

I am so irritated by this that I can't think straight about it. Does HQ have any remote assistance software like WebEx that they can use to help me out?

I know it can be frustrating, but as I always tell the clerks I help with reconciliation, the information is all there. Everything you need to reconcile either appears in MLS or on a CUFS or both. So a patient, systematic approach will always succeed.

But it's always good to ask for help. Your first resource should be your stake clerk or stake financial clerk. They will have good experience and can actually look at your statements and computer to help. In many stakes an auditor will also be a helpful resource. I've helped many clerks with reconciliation (I'm the stake financial clerk) and working together we have been able to reconcile 100% of the time.

In the vast majority of cases, with the help of your stake resources, you will be able to solve the problem. If not, it is possible to set up an appointment with a reconciliation expert from the Church Finance department. You would call Local Unit Support to set up this appointment, but only if the other resources are unable to help.

noctufaber - I totally feel your pain..... that is exactly what happened to me!!!

When I was first called as a Clerk, one of the first things I did was look at finances... our Other account was a mess. Missionary was totally messed up. I had to back track for years... 5 to be exact. I finally found the last issue in the very initial transfer when the unit was created. It was about 3 months worth of work, and pretty frustrating, but out of it came some very good training (I first had to train the stake, so they could then train the other units) Also, the Lord's money is being put to better use as well (Missionary funds).

The satisfaction, however, was well worth it in the end.

Hang in there!