Working with the Ledger

The Ledger Module shows the big picture of the financial records. Use the flexibility of its Fees, Payments Received, and Unapplied Payments grids to filter or group the records to view relevant data and totals.

To view financial records for a single household, use the Household Ledger. To view financial records for a single member, use the Member Window's Fees tab.

The main types of records in the ledger are fees and payments. Having accurate records of purchases and payments helps instill confidence in parents that the program is run well. This section explains the basics of maintaining these records and points to other sections for more details.

Fees

Besides fees for dues, a fee should be created whenever a member receives an item for which payment is expected. Fees for dues, handbooks and uniforms can be automatically created. Fees for items such as bags and replacement books or awards need to be created manually. Fees for awards are generally not necessary since they are given to clubbers free of charge, but if a clubber repeatedly loses his award badges, a Fee record can be created. Fees can be created or opened from the Ledger Module or The Household Ledger.

A fee can be created for any item in the Inventory Module. The fee amount is determined by the item's Sell Price. If the item is not in the Fee Dialog's item list, open the item and click the Club Usage tab. Ensure the item is marked as 'in use' and that it should be displayed as a choice in any Fee list.

Payments

As members pay for dues or purchased items, post the payments and apply the payments to applicable fees. If an over-payment occurs, part of the payment is "unapplied" as a credit on the account. When another Fee record is created, "apply" the unapplied payment amount to the new Fee.

During registration it can be common to receive payments but not have fee records yet. Post the payment in the Household Ledger. It is tracked as an "Unapplied" payment that can be applied later.

Payments can be viewed in the Ledger Module or Household Ledger, but the Household Ledger must be used to create/post payments.

Waiving a Fee

Most Awana programs allow kids to attend who are unable to pay for dues, books or uniforms. Even if a fee is expected to be unpaid, create the fee record anyway so the inventory is maintained as well as accounting for where items were used. Zero-out the household balance by waiving the fee. This helps track expenses the club has to cover and determine how much money is needed for the Scholarship Fund. Totals can be viewed in the Ledger > Fees and Ledger > Payments grid footers.

When a balance is waived, a payment record is created of Type "Waived" with your club name as the Payor. From the Ledger tab's Fees grid, waive a fee by selecting one or more records. Use the Waive button in the toolbar or right click and select Waive from the pop-up menu. Confirm by clicking Yes.

From the Household Ledger, there are two different ways to waive a fee balance:

1.	Select "Waived" as the Payment Type. Check boxes appear in the first column of the Fees grid to select which fee records to waive. As Fees are selected, the Total amount of the waived payment is calculated. When finished, click Post the Payment.

2.	Select the fee record to be waived. Use the Waive Fee button above the grid, or right click and select Waive Fee from the pop-up menu. Confirm by clicking Yes.

Example Scenario

A mother realizes that her child received a new book and says, "If you tell me how much I owe, I'll bring the money next week." You reply, "A book costs $10.00, but let me check your balance." Since you are in the Check-in Module, you type a few characters of the clubber's last name in the Search field and then press Enter. This hides all other names in the grid except for her child(ren). In the Status bar below the grid, you check the Household Balance which shows $6.00. You click the link to open their Household Ledger for more details. You explain that she paid extra when she paid for a uniform. (The unapplied payment of $4.00 was then applied to the book fee.) Using the button in the toolbar, you print a Household Account Statement for her to take home as a reminder.

She is a bit surprised and impressed that you keep such accurate records and decides to make a payment of $10. The next week her daughter turns in the money with the Account Statement which has a note to donate the extra money to the scholarship fund. You open the Household Ledger, post a payment for $10.00, and apply it to the book fee.This results in a $4.00 unapplied payment. Since you know this is a donation and you want to zero the Household balance, you click the Fees tab and click New Fee to open the Fee dialog. You type "donation" as the Item Number and press Enter. Then you enter $4.00 as the Amount and click Save and Close. Under the Unapplied Payment tab you select the record and click Use the Payment Amount then click Post the Payment. This results in the $4.00 payment being applied to the $4.00 "Donation" Fee and thus a zero household balance.

Then in the Donations Module, you create a new donation for $4.00 and use "Scholarship Fund" as the Purpose/Fund. As you click OK, you say a quick prayer, thanking God for families who can afford to help support your church's Awana ministry, then focus on your next task!

Future functionality will eliminate this last step of creating a new record under the Donations Module, as this will be done automatically when you create the Fee record representing a "Donation" and post a payment to it.