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Fund Accounting

With fund accounting, you can keep track of several separate charts of accounts within the program. Each chart of accounts is referred to as a fund.

For the following examples, we have two sets of financial books or charts of accounts: one for Parish Fund and one for School Fund.

Using Multiple Retained Earnings Accounts

If you want to use multiple Retained Earnings accounts, complete both of these steps:
  • On the File menu in your PDS program, click Setup > Initial Setup. On the General tab, select Yes to allow multiple retained earnings and prior year fund balances.
  • On the Other Information tab, click Chart of Accounts. Verify the Retained Earnings account is added to all Income and Expense accounts for each fund.

Incorporating Fund Codes

There are two ways you can number the funds in the chart of accounts.

Separate Code Ranges

For example, you can designate accounts 1000–5000 for Parish Fund, and accounts 6000–10000 for School Fund.

Add a Fund Code to Your Account Numbers

This distinguishes between each fund. The code should be easy to identify. In the example below, the Parish Fund code is 01 and the School Fund code is 02:

Account DescriptionAccount CodeParish Fund AccountsSchool Fund Accounts
Cash101001-101002-1010
FICA Tax Withheld151001-151002-1510
Retained Earnings171001-171002-1710
Building Fund203801-203802-2038

While it's common to attach the fund code at the beginning of your account numbers, there are many ways you can identify funds.
Tip: You can consolidate printed reports using fund codes.

Handling Transactions that Cross Funds

If you use fund accounting, you may cross funds deliberately or accidentally. Crossing funds means you debited one chart of accounts and credited another. In Ledger, you have options for handling transactions that cross funds.

On the File menu in your PDS program, click Setup > Initial Setup. Click the Fund Accounting tab. View more about these options.
CAUTION: Make sure the Retained Earnings account is added to all Income and Expense accounts for each fund.