Since you'll be making a real deposit with the Outdoor Ed money, yes, post it that way. You can split the deposit between several categories when you enter it and your transaction will match your bank statement during reconciliation. Even better.

That sounds like a great suggestion...I will give it a try in the morning when I am a bit more alert and let you know how it goes!

To eliminate the issue of the "deposit transaction" you suggest in the third paragraph, and to make reconciliation easier, what do you think of this idea? We have two other bank accounts that I am in the process of closing and transferring the funds to our main account (long story on that one!) - I am thinking that when I get the check from the bank and deposit it at our CU, I could log it as a split deposit - part transfer to our general account and part to the outdoor ed accounts - my thinking is that that way the reports I generate will actually match our true bank balances (which I am assuming they won't if I log a deposit that wasn't actually made??). Does this sound like something that would work or am I missing a financial protocol in there?!

Thanks so much for responding...I have only just found the message boards and have discovered a fantastic resource!

Let me take a stab at this, assuming I’ve interpreted your situation accurately. I’m assuming the Outdoor Ed fund is kept in the same bank account as your PTO’s money. First I would create a new Heading and call it something like Outdoor Education Fund. Then I would create 2 separate categories: Class of 2013 and Class of 2014.

I assume you don’t budget planned income for these accounts since they are not in the PTO’s control. You just need a place to “hold” the money that each class raises. The Class of 20xx categories will show up on your BUDGET screen, but I would leave their budget amounts zero. If you assign a budget amount to these categories, you will overstate the amount of income your PTO has to spend –and thus possibly budget to spend the Classes’ money improperly.

Because you carry over money from one fiscal year to the next for each class, I would add two separate deposit transactions, dated the first day of your fiscal year, to allocate the money on hand for each class. For example, if the 5th graders have $700 on hand, then you add a “deposit” transaction for $700, assigned to the Class of 2013 category and date it the first day of your current fiscal year. In the Reference field on the screen, you could enter the word “allocation” to differentiate this transaction from typical deposits. Do the same for the 4th graders. At the end of the month, when you reconcile the bank account, there won’t be any actual bank transaction to match up to your “allocation” transactions, but you need to mark them as cleared in order for your account to reconcile.

Throughout the year, any fundraising money made by each class can be posted to the appropriate class’s category using a normal DEPOSIT transaction.

At the end of the year, write a check to the Middle School for the amount of money in Class of 2013. Post a WITHDRAWAL for that check, assign it to the Class of 2013 category, and the category balance will go to zero. When you roll over to the new fiscal year, the category balances will be reset to zero, but you can reallocate your carried over Class of 2014 money using the same approach I described above. (Plus you’ll need to add a new category for the new 4th graders, Class of 2015).

I tried this in FM and it seems to work. What have I missed?

I am new to the job of Treasurer this year and have signed us up for Finance Manager. So far, so good, but I am curious as to how I should document an accrual item? We have Outdoor Ed accounts for our 4th/5th graders - they earn profits from certain fundraisers, that we (PTO) hold for them until they leave for middle school. At that time, the Treasurer writes a check to the middle school for the amount these kids earned and have to use towards their trip. The money will never balance as a zero, since half the group graduates each year and takes their money, while half the group (4th graders) stay and become 5th graders, with, of course, a new incoming group of 4th graders. Oiy! In the past, the Treasurer hand typed her financial statements for the meetings and put an asterisk at the bottom with the amount listed that is held in reserve. Any ideas from Finance Manager users on how to address this with the program? Thanks!