Support Assistance

[Wm]

Wed, 31 Dec 2014 15:41:18 <54A45F6E.4050603 at mtdata.com>  Mike or Penny 
Novack <stepbystepfarm at mtdata.com>

>On 12/31/2014 12:23 PM, Wm wrote:
>> Wed, 31 Dec 2014 16:05:00 
>><CAAyPE3A3ysJc7ZXqjhfz-ARGobSN0wCXbjr9-fEMTwm-UPWawQ at mail.gmail.com> 
>>Buddha Buck <blaisepascal at gmail.com>
>>
>>> On Wed Dec 31 2014 at 4:34:51 AM Wm
>>>  Are you sure you mean an invoice?  Presuming there is no goods or
>>>  service that you are invoicing for, what happens if someone can't or
>>>  doesn't pay?  Is there a debt on their account?
>>
>>> If a church member began the year by making a pledge to make monthly
>>> contributions to the church, does it create monthly invoices?
>>
>>
>This in all likelihood depends on the jurisdiction. Especially if as 
>mentioned, in the UK the person might not owe for the gym membership if 
>they didn't use the gym.
>
>Here in the US, an actual pledge to a charity is a receivable for the 
>charity.

I didn't know that.  What form does the pledge usually take?  Can it be 
a verbal agreement?

> They might not ever get the money, but so might not a business for one 
>of its receivable.

A business would normally have provided something in return.

>On the other hand, "membership", "dues", etc. if a non-profit has those 
>are NOT actually  receivables (there is no obligation to continue as a 
>church member for example, no legal obligation to pay).

Now I'm *really* confused as a foreigner :)

>That said, I know of many churches, synagogues, etc. that do invoice 
>for congregational membership fees, etc. as well as for pledges because:
>1) The packages they use rarely support "non-receivable invoices".
>2) Recipients probably prefer a unified statement.
>3) The difficulty in case unpaid can be handled by more than one "bad 
>debt" type account when writing off (one not being "debt" being written 
>off but "income never received").

Hmmmn, "Income never received" isn't an entry you'd normally (and that I 
have ever) seen in a UK org's balance sheet.  If it was a significant 
number I'd expect investigation by relevant bodies, the obvious question 
being were the previous accounts mis-stated ?

Accrual accounting doesn't necessitate prospective accounting does it ?

HNY to you all

-- 
Wm...