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Volunteer Treasurer
Level 3

Tracking Multiple Funds within one Bank account

Hello,

 

Our church needs to track multiple funds within one bank account. I can see multiple ways to do this, and I'd like some advice on which way is best. 

 

The funds we're tracking include money held in reserve for an employee that will be paid at a later date. Another fund is money earmarked by our Board to give to people who request help with travel costs to attend events and services. Both these funds decrease periodically as money is paid out. They increase annually when the Board earmarks more money for the travel fund, and monthly in the case of the employee fund. 

So one way to track this would be to create liability accounts for each fund. I like the way this shows up as a liability line on the Balance Sheet. This is better than where it's been showing up as a sub-account of the Bank account under Assets. My question about this is if it's legit to take the opening balance for this fund from an equity account. We report all previous years net income and our opening equity on one line, so I can take it from opening equity. QB won't let me use the Retained Earnings or Net Revenue lines in equity to fund the new liability account, that's why I used opening balance equity.

 

The other way to do this would be to use classes, but I'm not sure if that's appropriate here. 

 

As always, thanks in advance for any guidance you can provide. 

Solved
Best answer November 29, 2020

Best Answers
Charies_M
Moderator

Tracking Multiple Funds within one Bank account

Good day, Volunteer Treasurer.

 

I'm here to bring clarifications to your concern about ways of handling multiple funds within one bank account. Both methods you've mentioned are acceptable.

 

For your first option which is to create a liability account for each of the funds, you can use the Opening Balance to fund the liability account you created.

 

  1. Go to the Gear icon, then select Chart of Accounts.
  2. Select New to create a new account.
  3. From the Account Type dropdown menu, select the type of account you want to use (Non-current liabilities or Current liabilities).
  4. Fill in the necessary information. Click Save and close.

You can refer to this article for instructions on how to create a liability account in QBO: Add an account to your chart of accounts in QuickBooks Online.

 

For your second option, I'm leaving these articles handy to become more familiar with how class tracking works in QBO:

 

You may also want to review the transactions by running reports by class.

 

Be sure to get back to me if you have follow-up questions. I'm always happy to help. Have a good day!

View solution in original post

15 Comments 15
Charies_M
Moderator

Tracking Multiple Funds within one Bank account

Good day, Volunteer Treasurer.

 

I'm here to bring clarifications to your concern about ways of handling multiple funds within one bank account. Both methods you've mentioned are acceptable.

 

For your first option which is to create a liability account for each of the funds, you can use the Opening Balance to fund the liability account you created.

 

  1. Go to the Gear icon, then select Chart of Accounts.
  2. Select New to create a new account.
  3. From the Account Type dropdown menu, select the type of account you want to use (Non-current liabilities or Current liabilities).
  4. Fill in the necessary information. Click Save and close.

You can refer to this article for instructions on how to create a liability account in QBO: Add an account to your chart of accounts in QuickBooks Online.

 

For your second option, I'm leaving these articles handy to become more familiar with how class tracking works in QBO:

 

You may also want to review the transactions by running reports by class.

 

Be sure to get back to me if you have follow-up questions. I'm always happy to help. Have a good day!

Volunteer Treasurer
Level 3

Tracking Multiple Funds within one Bank account

Hi Charles_M 

 

Thanks for the clear instructions. That's helpful. I'm still curious to hear from people with more experience that I have about the pros and cons of both methods

annmarie63
Level 2

Tracking Multiple Funds within one Bank account

Hi Volunteer Treasurer

I am in the same situation basically but in a school setting attempting to manage fund raiser revenue/expenses for various clubs and extracirrular activites.  We have one checking account but within that one checking account we have many clubs with their own funds that I need to track and report separately on.  I am curious as to how you ended up setting up your system and any other tips you may?  Thanks in advance - School Treasurer

JonpriL
Moderator

Tracking Multiple Funds within one Bank account

Hello @annmarie63,

 

While waiting for the response about the setup used by @Volunteer Treasurer, let me offer help and share how you can manage your funds in one bank account.

 

First off, let's start creating a parent and sub-account which will help you track and report funds for each club under a checking account. I'll show you how.

 

  1. Go to Accounting.
  2. Select Chart of Accounts.
  3. Click New.
  4. Under Account Type, select Bank.
  5. On the Detail Type menu, choose Checking.
  6. Enter the name of your new account. Be it the name of any of your clubs.
  7. Put a checkmark on the Is sub-account selection.
  8. Select your existing checking account on the menu.
  9. Click Save and close.

 

In addition, here's a couple of articles you can read to learn more about your parent and sub-account setup:

 

 

From here. you can pull up any of your financial reports and use this link for the steps in customizing its data so you can focus only on reviewing your checking accounts: Customize reports in QuickBooks Online.

 

Lastly, I've also included this reference helpful with the steps needed to identify how stable is your business's financial status: Create and Manage Reports in QuickBooks Online.

 

You can always leave a comment below if you have follow-up questions with this or start a new thread if you have any other concerns. I'll be here to lend a hand. Stay safe!

gman256
Level 1

Tracking Multiple Funds within one Bank account

We also are looking into this - Are these options of tracking multiple funds available in QuickBook Pro Desktop versions?

 

gman256
Level 1

Tracking Multiple Funds within one Bank account

We too are looking and wondering if QuickBooks handles multiple funds within one Account.

I see these options/answers but are these options included in the QuickBooks Pro Desktop versions?

The internet in our are is almost dial up, so online versions are out of the question for us.

Thanks

Ethel_A
QuickBooks Team

Tracking Multiple Funds within one Bank account

Welcome to the Community, @gman256.

 

Let me share some information on how to use class tracking and sub-accounts in QuickBooks Desktop.

 

Yes, these features are also available in the QuickBooks Pro Desktop version.

 

You can follow these steps on how to set up classes in your QuickBooks Desktop account:

 

You can start by turning on class tracking.

 

Here's how:

  1. Open your company file.
  2. Click the Edit menu, then choose Preferences.
  3. Select Accounting.
  4. Go to the Company Preferences tab.
  5. Click the checkbox beside the Use class tracking for transactions.
  6. Select the Prompt to assign classes checkbox if you want a reminder.
  7. Click OK.

 

After that, follow the steps in this article to set up classes in your QuickBooks Desktop account: Set up and use class tracking in QuickBooks Desktop.

 

Another option is to create sub-accounts to track multiple funds in QuickBooks Desktop. Let me provide the steps for you:

 

  1. Go to the Chart of Accounts tab, right-click on the account.
  2. Click New
  3. Make sure to choose Income account and then hit Continue.
  4. On the next screen, select the Subaccount of the box and choose which account it will be a subaccount of from the drop-down.
  5. Click Save and close.

 

I'm also adding this article you can refer to in customizing reports: Customize reports in QuickBooks Desktop.

 

I'm always here to help you if you need additional assistance. You can click the Reply button below.

annmarie63
Level 2

Tracking Multiple Funds within one Bank account

I set up the sub-accounts which is working well but how to do I manage my deposits? For example, I could have $500 to deposit which I take to the bank and deposit into my 1 bank account (the "parent account" so to speak) but in Quickbooks I need to allocate $250 to the Drama Club sub account and $250 to the Student Council sub account from the one $500 deposit that was actually the physical deposit. Can this be done? 

Thank you for your help - I appreciate it.

Archie_B
QuickBooks Team

Tracking Multiple Funds within one Bank account

Hello there, annmarie63.

 

Let me share an idea in making a bank deposit in QuickBooks Online.

 

You can enter a single bank deposit entry and split or allocate the amount into two sub-accounts by clicking on +New, then Bank Deposit. Here's a sample screenshot:

 

 

You may check out this article for more information: Record and make bank deposits in QuickBooks Online.

 

I'm adding this link that you can use for future reference: Reconcile an account in QuickBooks Online.

 

Be sure to get back to us if you still have other banking concerns. I'll be around if you still need assistance. Have a wonderful day!

annmarie63
Level 2

Tracking Multiple Funds within one Bank account

I see the screen shot of the 1 deposit but I do not see the option to take that 1 deposit into the checking account and split it between sub accounts?  

Archie_B
QuickBooks Team

Tracking Multiple Funds within one Bank account

Thank you for the quick response, annmarie63.

 

Let me clarify the information that I provided earlier.

 

The screenshot above is a way of recording a single deposit at the same time. That's done by splitting the amount into two sub-accounts and adding two line items. Here's the step-by-step process:

 

  1. Click on + New.
  2. Choose Bank Deposit.
  3. From the Account drop-down lists, choose the account where you want the money to be deposited.
  4. In the Add funds to this deposit section, select the two sub-accounts, add the amounts.
  5. Review and ensure the deposit total and selected accounts match with your deposit slip. 
  6. Once done, click Save and close.

 

I've included this article to learn more about bank deposits: Record and make bank deposits in QuickBooks Online.

 

Please let me know if you still have questions or clarifications about bank deposits. I'll be in touch. Have a good one.​​​​​​​

theresashfh
Level 1

Tracking Multiple Funds within one Bank account

I use Premier Nonprofit Edition desktop. As a nonprofit organization, I have multiple earmarked accounts specific to projects. How would I write one check for expenses that 2 or more of the earmarked accounts are to pay.  For example, I have a bill for $600 that will be paid to one vender but I have 3 earmarked accounts that is responsible for 1/3 of the billing.

LieraMarie_A
QuickBooks Team

Tracking Multiple Funds within one Bank account

Thanks for joining this thread, @theresashfh. I have all the instructions you'll need to pay a bill with two or more earmarked accounts.

 

You can use the Pay Bills feature and enter the partial payment amount for each earmarked account. If you have three accounts to pay for a single bill, you'll have to make three payments.

 

Here's how:

  1. Go to the Vendors menu, then select Pay Bills.
  2. Select the checkboxes of the bills you want to pay from the table.
  3. Under the AMT. TO PAY column, enter the partial amount.
  4. Enter the date you paid the bill.
  5. Select the payment method.
  6. Choose the first earmarked account from the Account drop-down list.
  7. Select Pay Selected Bills.
  8. Choose Pay More Bills.
  9. Repeat steps 2-8. Make sure to select the correct earmarked account.

 

Additionally, you can read through the Account Payable Workflow to learn the two A/P cycles available in QuickBooks Desktop.

 

Be sure to let me know if you need more help with this process, @theresashfh. I'd be happy to assist.

theresashfh
Level 1

Tracking Multiple Funds within one Bank account

Thank you LieraMarie.

ZackE
Moderator

Tracking Multiple Funds within one Bank account

Thanks for following up with the Community, theresashfh.
 

I'm happy to hear LieraMarie_A was able to help you with paying your bill with multiple earmarked accounts.
 

You'll also be able to find many detailed resources about using QuickBooks in our help article archives.
 

Please feel welcome to send a reply here or create a new thread if there's ever any questions. Have an awesome day!

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