Stake Budget Question

I was asked a question receintly that I was not sure of so thought I would ask some of the smart helpful people here. If I run a budget report for the stake I have a fairly large unallocated amount. Is this amount before or after funds are pushed out to wards? We did do checks for the first quarter but have the percentages entered and ward budgets are now "pushed" automatically. On that screen I can see a total being pushed to the wards but does that amount get taken from the unallocated amount on the other screen? We are just trying to determine what funds are available.

Also if the unallocated funds are available, I'm assuming they can just be drawn from the budget allocations category. We have some consecration type efforts that should take place in the stake if funds are available for example a few units have ward missionary deficiencies and the Stake would like to help if we can. Also there are some wards with other account overdrafts that have been researched back to legitimate problems that have been allowed to be carried over from year to year that we would like to help clear up if funds are available and policy allows.

wrigjef wrote:I was asked a question receintly that I was not sure of so thought I would ask some of the smart helpful people here. If I run a budget report for the stake I have a fairly large unallocated amount. Is this amount before or after funds are pushed out to wards? We did do checks for the first quarter but have the percentages entered and ward budgets are now "pushed" automatically. On that screen I can see a total being pushed to the wards but does that amount get taken from the unallocated amount on the other screen? We are just trying to determine what funds are available.

All you see on the budget report in stake MLS is the money that actually hits the stake account. If you have set up automatic budget allocations for the wards, then that money goes straight to them from CHQ -- the stake never sees it in MLS. So what you are seeing on that report is simply whatever percentage the stake takes of the allocation.

The unallocated amount is simply the total budget funds available less the total budgeted amounts set up in Edit Budget.

wrigjef wrote:Also if the unallocated funds are available, I'm assuming they can just be drawn from the budget allocations category. We have some consecration type efforts that should take place in the stake if funds are available for example a few units have ward missionary deficiencies and the Stake would like to help if we can. Also there are some wards with other account overdrafts that have been researched back to legitimate problems that have been allowed to be carried over from year to year that we would like to help clear up if funds are available and policy allows.

The unallocated funds are available to be spent as the stake president directs. As for your specific questions:

1. If there are ward missionary fund deficiencies, I'd first recommend that you look at other wards and see if they have a surplus in their ward missionary funds. If so, the stake can facilitate moving that surplus money to help with deficiencies in other wards. I don't know of a policy against moving budget funds into the ward missionary category, but the opposite direction is certainly a no-no. It doesn't feel quite right to me; it feels better to fund the ward missionary effort from donations to the ward missionary fund, and priesthood leaders can ask for more donations throughout the stake to cover shortages. But that is just my personal opinion.
2. We are specifically instructed to cover deficits in Other with Budget funds (assuming all other appropriate steps have been taken to collect committed but uncollected payments, and making sure the accounting is correct). And the stake controls overall distribution of budget funds. So it's entirely appropriate for the stake to use budget funds to help wards with deficits in Other, if that's what the stake president wants to do.

aebrown wrote:I don't know of a policy against moving budget funds into the ward missionary category, but [...] It doesn't feel quite right to me; it feels better to fund the ward missionary effort from donations to the ward missionary fund, and priesthood leaders can ask for more donations throughout the stake to cover shortages. But that is just my personal opinion.

I agree with that one. Moving Budget to Ward Missionary doesn't feel right.

Thanks for the replies. Our first course of action (and to the point only course of action) is indeed having the Stake President talk to Bishops about contributing excess missionary funds to the stake then we redistribute those funds as needed. Our stake is also taking a recommendation from our regional audit trainer and clearing out "other" accounts as not to have balance forwards that carry into 2012. In cases where excess other funds are no longer need for their designated purpose and the funds can't be returned, the concerned auxiliaries are being asked if they would consider using the funds as a donation to the missionary fund.

wrigjef wrote:In cases where excess other funds are no longer need for their designated purpose and the funds can't be returned, the concerned auxiliaries are being asked if they would consider using the funds as a donation to the missionary fund.

If the funds are not needed for their designated purpose, and the funds can't be returned, then I don't see how the concerned auxiliaries have any say at all in the matter. It's not "their money" in any way; they are completely unable to use the funds for any other purpose, since by policy those funds may only be used for the designated purpose and you just said that this is impossible. So there's no reason to ask their opinion (although it would certainly be courteous to notify them). Regardless of what they may think, those surplus funds must be dealt with and moved to a better purpose than just sitting in the account.

I also wonder if it can be justified to use such funds for the ward missionary fund. On the "Other" category training lesson, slide 24 identifies only one thing to do with excess funds that cannot be returned or used for the specified purpose:

clear the funds by printing a check from the “Other” subcategory, payable to Corporation of the President.

Looking back at past threads I recall the reason I think it may be OK to use excess AMFA funds
that no longer can be used for their purposes (purpose no longer exists)
and can't be returned (contributing member has moved)
to help satisfy a ward missionary deficit.

In an earlier thread about the interest Salt Lake puts into AMFA, several individuals indicated that putting those funds in Ward Missionary was appropriate.

wrigjef wrote:Looking back at past threads I recall the reason I think it may be OK to use excess AMFA funds
that no longer can be used for their purposes (purpose no longer exists)
and can't be returned (contributing member has moved)
to help satisfy a ward missionary deficit.

In an earlier thread about the interest Salt Lake puts into AMFA, several individuals indicated that putting those funds in Ward Missionary was appropriate.

It seems appropriate to put the interest in Ward Missionary, since that is what had been done automatically for several years, prior to CUBS -- the interest accrued on all funds (both Other and Ward Missionary in those days) was automatically added to Ward Missionary. So putting interest in Ward Missionary is just a continuation of the earlier practice.

That seems to me to be quite a different case from other AMFA funds that cannot be returned or used for the designated purpose.

aebrown wrote:The unallocated amount is simply the total budget funds available less the total budgeted amounts set up in Edit Budget.



[/LIST]

Follow-up question as one of the wards is having an unassigned question. If an unassigned ballance appears on the budget report, where are these funds and how can they be dispursed? My guess was that they were in the Budget Allocations category but the ballance does not show up there. Is that were we draw from in the event that we need these funds? I don't want to send budget allocations into a negetive ballance

Could it be as simple as adding the the allocated amount in a subcategory?

wrigjef wrote:Could it be as simple as adding the the allocated amount in a subcategory?

Yes, that is correct. The unallocated amount should appear as a positive "Difference" on the View/Edit Budget screen. Allocating that "Difference" to any subcategory or split among subcategories will bring the "Difference" to zero.

Of course this is done on the ward MLS.

Thanks. Will the unassigned funds go away at the end of the year?

wrigjef wrote:Thanks. Will the unassigned funds go away at the end of the year?

No budget funds go away at the end of the year, at least not in total. Individual subcategories are reset to zero, but the local unit still retains the budget funds into the new year. This is unaffected by any figures you put in Edit Budget.