The annual budget should be set up at the beginning of the year. It projects what the ward or branch expects to receive in budget funds by quarter for the entire year. As you actually receive the quarterly funds then adjustments should be made to the quarterly amounts in the annual budget. If done correctly everything will balance and continue to do so as you receive new funds during the year and make adjustments to the sub-categories. The sub-categories for the organizations and quorum do not receive transfers but can be adjusted by you as directed by your bishop or branch president. For more training, check with your ward clerk or stake clerk or stake financial clerk.artbkl wrote: Mon Nov 13, 2023 9:16 am I'm a newer Financial Clerk, but can't find out how to transfer the money that comes in for our quarterly budget from the church into the proper Auxiliary accounts where expenses occured. The prior clerk didn't know how to do it either. Thank You
One of the things that I think is confusing is the word "budget" is used for different things. There's "budget" as in the "spending plan", and then there's "budget" as a account.artbkl wrote: Mon Nov 13, 2023 9:16 am I'm a newer Financial Clerk, but can't find out how to transfer the money that comes in for our quarterly budget from the church into the proper Auxiliary accounts where expenses occured. The prior clerk didn't know how to do it either. Thank You
That adds a level of possible confusion and is not congruent with the way things are labeled in LCR finance. The various sub-categories are indeed labeled as budget and that is the title everyone with access to the available funds sees.russellhltn wrote: Mon Nov 13, 2023 2:08 pmOne of the things that I think is confusing is the word "budget" is used for different things. There's "budget" as in the "spending plan", and then there's "budget" as a account.artbkl wrote: Mon Nov 13, 2023 9:16 am I'm a newer Financial Clerk, but can't find out how to transfer the money that comes in for our quarterly budget from the church into the proper Auxiliary accounts where expenses occured. The prior clerk didn't know how to do it either. Thank You
My understanding is the wards get funds to cover the operations. Typically, they just sit where deposited. The Auxiliaries should be working from their "spending plan", tracking expenses from the plan and not from any account balance. As long as the total of all spending plans doesn't exceed what you expect to get in the way of funds, you should be OK.
I don't know how it's labeled in LCR, but in the Handbook there's "34.6.1 - Stake and Ward Budgets" which is the "spending plan" and "34.6.2 - Budget Allowance" which is actual dollars in the ward's account.garystroble wrote: Mon Nov 13, 2023 2:14 pm That adds a level of possible confusion and is not congruent with the way things are labeled in LCR finance. The various sub-categories are indeed labeled as budget and that is the title everyone with access to the available funds sees.
Yes, and the leaders can follow their spending plan by looking at their budget which is what LCR calls it. 34.6.1 does not mention spending plan either which was my original point. Adding another way to say it may be confusing for those looking at the board whose primary language is not English. We should also add the bishop or branch president to who watches the overall and individual organization/quorum spending ultimately. By the way, LCR tracks the expenses for the organizations, formerly known as auxiliaries. Organization presidency members have access to that information in LCR.russellhltn wrote: Mon Nov 13, 2023 4:25 pmI don't know how it's labeled in LCR, but in the Handbook there's "34.6.1 - Stake and Ward Budgets" which is the "spending plan" and "34.6.2 - Budget Allowance" which is actual dollars in the ward's account.garystroble wrote: Mon Nov 13, 2023 2:14 pm That adds a level of possible confusion and is not congruent with the way things are labeled in LCR finance. The various sub-categories are indeed labeled as budget and that is the title everyone with access to the available funds sees.
I was of the belief that leaders normally see how their spending aligned with the spending plan and it's generally the clerks that make sure the ward collective isn't going to overdraft the account.
Great explanation!jdlessley wrote: Mon Nov 13, 2023 6:25 pm The Help Center article Prepare Stake and Ward Budgets has good information for new clerks. This information should be supplemented by hands-on training from the stake clerk or assistant stake clerk - finance.
The last section of the article, Prepare Annual Budget, is important to addressing the OP's issue. When the annual budget is prepared there is no need to be concerned with what happens to the quarterly allocation that the unit receives because the Prepare Annual Budget quarterly amount entered will transform from what was estimated to actual. Also the Budget Summary tab will show the information needed to assess and evaluate how well the ward is doing in following the budget plan. There is no need to transfer a quarterly unit allocation to unit organizations since that has already been effectively done when the Prepare Annual Budget tab was filled out.
At this time of the year your unit organizations should submit their estimates of their 2024 budget allocation requests. Those requested amounts can be entered in the Prepare Annual Budget tab. From there you can see what adjustments need to be made to organization budgets and other budget categories to make the overall ward budget balance.
Estimating quarterly ward allocations is another topic. But, in short, you can look at this year's quarterly budget allocation statements found at Budget > Reports > Budget to see how the past quarterly allocations were computed. You should already have a good estimate of the 2024 quarter 1 allocation estimate based on the 2023 3rd quarterly report found at LCR > Reports > Quarterly Report.
When I see questions like what is asked in the OP I get the impression that the previous clerk did not complete the ward budget at LCR > Finance > Budget > Prepare Annual Budget tab. The good news is that the budget can be updated on the Prepare Annual Budget tab at any time to keep the budget within the bounds of funds received into the unit budget, or more correctly budget allocations.