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  5. How to handle Stale checks from prior financial years

How to handle Stale checks from prior financial years

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If you have a check from a prior year that hasn’t cleared the bank (and you’re sure it never will), you’ll want to void it from your records, yet keep a paper trail.

Please note this is the ONLY way to properly void a check that was written in a prior financial year.


Step-by-Step Instructions:

Let’s say check #1234 was written last financial year for $50, hasn’t cleared the bank, and needs to be voided. Here’s how we suggest you record it:

Click the Banking icon in the toolbar.


Click the Actions dropdown to the right of the bank account.


Choose New Deposit from the dropdown.


  • Date: If you want to clear things up as of this month, date the deposit for this month.
  • Reference: “1234FIX”.
  • Memo: “VOID uncleared check” or whatever is appropriate.
  • Category: We suggest that you allocate this to either the original category from which it was written or Donations.
  • Details: “Check #1234 dated mm/dd/yy never cleared”.


Click Save & Close.


When you do your next bank reconciliation, check off BOTH check #1234 and deposit #1234FIX. They will cancel each other out. The net effect will be to add the $50 back to your MoneyMinder balance.

Note: Bylaws for some groups require board approval before a check can be voided this way. Check yours before proceeding.


To prevent this from happening in the future, you might consider adding a memo above the signature line on your checks that states, “Void after 90 days.”


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10 Comments

  1. Jennifer Neeleman

    I am confused about the bank register. My account is showing as $0.00 and not referencing anything that was left uncleared from last year. How do I connect the balance to carryover to this year. I don’t recall having to do anything this year and I can’t find anything in your help options.

    1. Cyndi Meuchel

      Hi Jennifer,

      The years in MoneyMinder are independent of each other. To get the balance carried over you go to Banking. If you hover over the green arrow you will see that it says “MoneyMinder can carry forward the ending balance and uncleared transactions for this bank account from last year”. When you click on the Edit button you will see a green button that says, “Carry Forward Last Year’s Account Information”. Make sure you Save. That’s all it takes.

      This is a new feature in V2 that was unavailable last year. Last year that information would have had to be entered manually. If you don’t recall doing that then it’s likely that one of our helpful customer service reps did it for you. 🙂

      We’ll be writing up a Help article on this shortly.

      Thanks for the feedback.

      1. Tom

        Hi,
        I don’t see the green button to “Carry Forward Last Year’s Account Information.”
        I’m the new treasurer for 2019-2020, and I am replacing the last treasurer that resigned in May 2019. I suspect she set up FY20 as it was in place when I first got access to MM, and at that point the year wasn’t over so I’m thinking the date moved was incorrect. How do I work with that?
        Thanks,
        Tom

        1. Cyndi Meuchel

          Hi Tom,

          Without knowing what group you’re working with, and being able to take a look at your account, I have to make a guess as to what’s happening.

          I suspect your bank accounts are not reconciled thru the end of your financial year (maybe 6/30/19)? MoneyMinder identifies your starting point based on your ending point in the prior year. Take a look to see if that’s the case.

          Feel free to email us for more specific help: [email protected]

          Warm regards,
          Cyndi

  2. Jenn Shirey

    How do I void a check for a reimbursement that someone lost, but I was to reissue a new check. This is in a prior financial year? Should I void the check or just enter the new check #?

    1. Cyndi Meuchel

      Hi Jenn,

      If you have a check from a prior year that hasn’t cleared the bank (and you’re sure it never will), you’ll want to void it from your records, yet keep a paper trail.

      Let’s say check #1234 was written last financial year for $50, hasn’t cleared the bank, and needs to be voided. Here’s how we suggest you record it:

      Click on the Banking icon in the toolbar.

      Click New Deposit under the bank account it is reflected in.

      Date: If you want to clear things up as of this month, date the deposit for this month.

      Reference: “1234FIX”.

      Memo: “VOID uncleared check” or whatever is appropriate.

      Category: We suggest that you allocate this to either the original category from which it was written, or Donations.

      Details: “Check #1234 dated mm/dd/yy never cleared”.

      Click Save & Close.

      When you do your next bank reconciliation, check off BOTH check #1234 and the deposit #1234FIX. They will cancel each other out. The net effect will be to add the $50 back to your bank balance.

      Note: Bylaws for some groups require board approval before a check can be voided this way. You might check yours before proceeding.

      Warm regards,
      Cyndi

  3. Stephanie Roth

    Hello. I have some checks that were written in FY 18-19 but they cleared in FY 19-20. How do I reconcile them?

    1. Cyndi Meuchel

      Good question. It looks like that this has already been done in your account for the 2019-20 financial year. I can see them by going to Banking > Edit (Checking). And that they were reconciled already. Are there additional checks you need to add? If so, you would put those uncleared checks in the Banking > Edit area.

  4. Jodie Randall

    To void an uncleared check, I did the deposit as noted above however the checks were from previous years. How do I clear out the prior year checks?

    1. Donna Gawron

      Hi Jodie,

      When you do your next bank reconciliation you will tick off both the uncleared check and the offsetting deposit. This will net out to $0.00 so it won’t effect your bank balance but it will remove those old checks from the list.

      Donna

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