Customizing Budget Categories

[bjtwede]

Our stake would like to change the categories for the budget but it's not clear how much control we have. Any help with the following questions is greatly appreciated!

1. Can a top-level category be created or inactivated/deleted? The help center seems to indicate that they are "global standard subcategories" so I assume they are permanent and required but wanted to check if that's correct. For example, our stake has top-level categories for "Elders Quorum", "High Priests", "FSY", etc. that we'd prefer to inactivate (adding some as sub-categories elsewhere).

2. Can sub-categories be moved between top-level categories? Previous clerks put a huge list of sub-categories under "Miscellaneous" and we'd prefer to move them to better top-level categories. If they can't be moved I assume we should just inactivate them and create new sub-categories where we'd like them to be.

[jknacnud]

I have these same questions today as well.

[jdlessley]

Can a top-level category be created or inactivated/deleted?

No, those are default categories created by headquarters and are not available for management at the local level. Of course the funds allocated to those categories are definitely managed at the local level.

Can sub-categories be moved between top-level categories?

Technically, no. The ability to create subcategories is there for managing the funds of the parent category. Your assumption about inactivating the subcategories as needed and creating subcategories as needed is correct. Just remember that deactivation requires the balance for the subcategory to be zero. The deactivated subcategories will remain visible in the Budget > Manage Categories tab for the retention period (year of last transaction activity plus 3 years in the U.S.) but not in the Budget Summary or Prepare Annual Budget tabs.