Interest in Other Account

I've noticed that we are now receiving interest in our Other account as well as in out Ward Missionary account. Since this account is a pass-thru account, it has always been the practice to have a zero balance at the end of the year. What are we supposed to do with this excess?

elbarto00 wrote:I've noticed that we are now receiving interest in our Other account as well as in out Ward Missionary account. Since this account is a pass-thru account, it has always been the practice to have a zero balance at the end of the year. What are we supposed to do with this excess?

It's a good question. I have posed that question to Local Unit Support, but have not yet received an answer.

Posting interest to that account seems contrary to the general guideline for the Other account that all funds in that category should be received for a specific purpose and spent for that specific purpose.

Prior to the CUBS transition, all interest was posted to Ward Missionary, regardless of the category of the funds on which the interest was based. That still seems like the best way to handle it, but now we're stuck with these amounts accruing in the Other category.

If anyone hears an official response, please post it here.

Alan_Brown wrote:Prior to the CUBS transition, all interest was posted to Ward Missionary, regardless of the category of the funds on which the interest was based. That still seems like the best way to handle it, but now we're stuck with these amounts accruing in the Other category.

For the various amounts held short-term in Other, it seems reasonable to transfer to Ward Missionary. But I can think of one exception to make a case for until official instructions are given. That being the Boy Scouts' fundraiser money that is held for our troop in Other. This doesn't necessarily zero at the end of each year, so interest is continually paid on their balance. Since it's the Scout's money, it would be seem proper to let them keep their portion of the interest.

86Bengal wrote:For the various amounts held short-term in Other, it seems reasonable to transfer to Ward Missionary.

I'd agree, if only it were possible to simply transfer money to Ward Missionary. But you have to write a check to your unit and deposit in a donation batch. That's quite a hassle to clean up a few dollars of interest.

86Bengal wrote:But I can think of one exception to make a case for until official instructions are given. That being the Boy Scouts' fundraiser money that is held for our troop in Other. This doesn't necessarily zero at the end of each year, so interest is continually paid on their balance. Since it's the Scout's money, it would be seem proper to let them keep their portion of the interest.

I actually asked this exact question a week ago in an MLS message and received the reply today. The answer was a one line statement that I should allocate the interest within the Other category wherever seemed appropriate. In your situation, that certainly could fit your proposal regarding the fundraiser money. There's nothing quite so obvious at our stake level, but we'll do our best.

Alan_Brown wrote:I'd agree, if only it were possible to simply transfer money to Ward Missionary. But you have to write a check to your unit and deposit in a donation batch. That's quite a hassle to clean up a few dollars of interest.

Is WM an exception to the general rule, then? With MLS 3.2.3, it became possible to transfers across major categories, a function particularly useful during the CUBS changeover. You can also make transfers from more than one category with destinations in more than one category. You just break it down, like we've always done with expense checks from multiple categories.

LVAllen wrote:Is WM an exception to the general rule, then? With MLS 3.2.3, it became possible to transfers across major categories, a function particularly useful during the CUBS changeover.

I wasn't aware of that change, and I haven't seen it myself. That certainly was not mentioned in the MLS 3.2.3 Release Notes, and MLS 3.2.3 and 3.2.4 don't work that way with the test data. But there are occasionally some things that work differently with live data, and especially with CUBS (which can't be simulated with the test data).

I'll have to check that out the next time I'm at the church working on live data.

Alan_Brown wrote:

LVAllen wrote:Is WM an exception to the general rule, then? With MLS 3.2.3, it became possible to transfers across major categories, a function particularly useful during the CUBS changeover.

I wasn't aware of that change, and I haven't seen it myself. That certainly was not mentioned in the MLS 3.2.3 Release Notes, and MLS 3.2.3 and 3.2.4 don't work that way with the test data. But there are occasionally some things that work differently with live data, and especially with CUBS (which can't be simulated with the test data).

I'll have to check that out the next time I'm at the church working on live data.

Indeed, as near as I can tell, nothing has changed in this regard. It is still impossible to transfer funds across major categories. Once you have selected the category for the transfer source (left side), you can only pick subcategories of that same major category for the destination (right side).

I'd be fascinated to hear how anything other than that is possible.

LVAllen wrote:You can also make transfers from more than one category with destinations in more than one category. You just break it down, like we've always done with expense checks from multiple categories.

That's been possible for a long time (at least since MLS 3.0, and I think long before that). But it is good to remember how handy it can be in some cases.