Allocating Funds Between GL Line Items

by Amber
(Texas)

Hi! I have purchased your books and spreadsheet.

This is what I have setup and have been using for our small church for the past several months.

My church has not had any type of accounting/bookkeeping processes in place prior to me taking over, only record keeping and simple reconciliation of accounts.

I have used your guide to set up a chart of accounts and have five funds that we operate from. All has been going well, however as we near year end and begin to think about creating a budget for next year I have a few questions.

First, throughout the year our church members vote to budget a specific amount for the purchase of something or a project. For example, we did some remodeling and revamping this year. A budget was voted on for the committee in charge of this.

For my GL I wanted to move the funds from our General Fund to the Building Fund. However, I ran into the issue of which line items do I use to show this?

I simply have General Fund Contributions (where all undesignated funds go), Building Fund Contributions, Youth Fund Contributions, etc. in the Income section of the COA and the usual type of expense accounts much like your example.

How do I show this without messing up the Budgeted to Actual numbers; without making this look like more income received?

Another example, it has been discussed to budget a certain dollar amount or percentage every month to the Benevolence Mission and possibly others. How would I move these funds from the General Fund to the Missions/Outreach Fund without again showing this as a contribution or income received?

I hope that I have sense with my explanation and questions. Thank you for any advice!