When do expenses post?

I'm just wondering when do purchases (Checks written from MLS) post? For example, if I enter an expense into MLS from Budget on Dec 31, does it come out of this years budget (when I enter it) or does it come out of next years budget (when the check is cashed or deposited by the recipient on Jan 1 or later?) This may not be as important now that balances roll over, but I would still like to spend down our ward budget at the end of the year. If there are any compelling reasons as to why this is advisable or not, I would be happy to hear them.
Thanks,
Alan

It used to be that each year the church would post a "cutoff" date and time. For example, in 2009 is was noon MST on Dec 30th. Any check entered in MLS and submitted to CHQ before the cutoff went towards the prior year's expenses. And of course, anything after the cutoff went to the following year's. It didn't matter at all when the check was actually cashed.

With the new accounting system, I'm not sure they still use a cutoff date.

Expenses typically post within hours, but there are some occasions where I've seen it take a couple days.

With MLS 3.4.1 we can see the status of each disbursement. With a status of 'issued' CHQ has debited it to the unit, or posted it. When the status is 'cleared' it has been processed by the bank. Logic tells me that the important date would be when we see 'issued' since the book keeping is done at CHQ. A status of 'sent' will be displayed after MLS sends the data but a status of 'issued' or 'cleared' has not been received as of the last send/receive. The Oct 2011 MLS 3.4.1 Changes message (MLS message) states

Posting typically occurs in the Church headquarters database within hours after MLS transmits transactions. If the transmission is delayed, however, posting may follow on a subsequent day.

That posting would appear as 'issued' in MLS a few hours later after a subsequent send/receive.

I haven't tested this but I suspect that on Monday after a send/receive on Sunday, if the send/receive went through on Sunday, a status change should be noted in MLS.