August 2022 statement Local balance wrong

Discuss questions around local unit policies for budgeting, reconciling, etc. This forum should not contain specific financial or membership information.
Post Reply
garystroble
Senior Member
Posts: 744
Joined: Thu Oct 20, 2016 4:34 pm
Location: near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States

August 2022 statement Local balance wrong

#1

Post by garystroble »

Statement balance on Local appears wrong, as it was transferred to budget per instructions and shows in budget. Don't know how it can show in both places. This is a HQ statement issue.

I have contacted the GSC on this via the on-line form from contact us.
garystroble
Senior Member
Posts: 744
Joined: Thu Oct 20, 2016 4:34 pm
Location: near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States

Re: August 2022 statement Local balance wrong

#2

Post by garystroble »

garystroble wrote: Thu Sep 01, 2022 11:43 am Statement balance on Local appears wrong, as it was transferred to budget per instructions and shows in budget. Don't know how it can show in both places. This is a HQ statement issue.

I have contacted the GSC on this via the on-line form from contact us.
I received an email reply from the GSC/D: "The amount showing under Local for the August Financial Statement is referring to the amount it (sic) was available during August. It won't show on the September's financial statement anymore. If it continues to show, please let us know."

This is not possible as we transferred the money from Local to Budget on 4 Aug 2022. Not sure what is going on at HQ with this, but it is obvious they are not taking any responsibility for what is not generally accepted accounting practices. Our 31 Aug 2022 ending balance in Local was zero, but the August statement shows the same balance in Local which we transferred to Budget 27 days prior to month end. This same transferred amount is showing on the August statement as adding to the August ending balance in Budget.
pmichelsen
New Member
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Sep 25, 2021 1:05 pm

Re: August 2022 statement Local balance wrong

#3

Post by pmichelsen »

Our ward is having the same problem. None of the transactions to "Local" categories that were made during the month of August are showing up in the August Statement, with the result that the Statement has the wrong ending balances.
I have a ticket with GSD and got a similar reply from them about the "Local" funds being transferred September 1st. Today I sent them additional screen captures showing the transactions that are missing from the Statement. Those captures also show that no transactions happened September 1st (because there was nothing left to transfer).
eblood66
Senior Member
Posts: 3907
Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2007 9:17 am
Location: Cumming, GA, USA

Re: August 2022 statement Local balance wrong

#4

Post by eblood66 »

Our statement shows the same thing. This is obviously a problem on their side and not anything we've done wrong. Since the Local category shouldn't show up in future statements I expect it isn't something they will try to fix. The Income and Expense Summary and Detail pages show the correct information so there isn't an underlying problem with the financials--it's just the statement. So I wouldn't worry about it.
garystroble
Senior Member
Posts: 744
Joined: Thu Oct 20, 2016 4:34 pm
Location: near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States

Re: August 2022 statement Local balance wrong

#5

Post by garystroble »

Headquarters should be held to the same auditing standards we are in the units. Putting out incorrect statements is a significant audit exception. Whoever audits them should be concerned.
pmichelsen
New Member
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Sep 25, 2021 1:05 pm

Re: August 2022 statement Local balance wrong

#6

Post by pmichelsen »

"So I wouldn't worry about it."
Except we're being asked to essentially sign the statement, saying it's accurate. It isn't. And I've told our Bishop not to sign it off either until this gets resolved. We can "click" sign the other sections though.
But I agree that the statement is the only issue here. The accounting in LCR itself is all correct in this regard.
garystroble
Senior Member
Posts: 744
Joined: Thu Oct 20, 2016 4:34 pm
Location: near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States

Re: August 2022 statement Local balance wrong

#7

Post by garystroble »

pmichelsen wrote: Thu Sep 08, 2022 10:30 am "So I wouldn't worry about it."
Except we're being asked to essentially sign the statement, saying it's accurate. It isn't. And I've told our Bishop not to sign it off either until this gets resolved. We can "click" sign the other sections though.
But I agree that the statement is the only issue here. The accounting in LCR itself is all correct in this regard.
Before we signed ours, I put in a note about the issue and that it is a headquarters problem. With a similar note, it should be ok to sign. If we don't sign it then we would have an audit exception come year end. It is extremely unlikely headquarters will correct the August statements.

It's pretty obvious that whoever made the decision and/or did the programming to allow these transfers from Local to Budget did not take into account what this would do to the August statements.
eblood66
Senior Member
Posts: 3907
Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2007 9:17 am
Location: Cumming, GA, USA

Re: August 2022 statement Local balance wrong

#8

Post by eblood66 »

garystroble wrote: Thu Sep 08, 2022 10:41 amBefore we signed ours, I put in a note about the issue and that it is a headquarters problem. With a similar note, it should be ok to sign.
I agree. A note is a good idea and is what I did when I reviewed ours. In mine I indicated that the Income Expense Report shows the correct information and it's only the statement that is wrong.
pmichelsen
New Member
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Sep 25, 2021 1:05 pm

Re: August 2022 statement Local balance wrong

#9

Post by pmichelsen »

Today's reply from GSD is that all will be updated in the September statement, and that as long as we verify that the transfers did occur correctly, we should approve the August statement.
So it sounds like GSD is sort of acknowledging the problem and promising to fix it for September. So that's what I'll add to my comments in the statement.
Incidentally, the Budget side of the transfers from Local to Budget are correctly reflected in the August statement. So those funds are getting counted in both Balances.
Thanks
Post Reply

Return to “Local Unit Finance”