Solved

Group home with multiple residents need help on attributing deposits

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
July 19, 2023
3 replies
0 views

Hello all,

I sincerely hope someone can help me figure this out.
I work for a non-profit group home with ~25 residents. We use Quickbooks Desktop Accountant Edition 2022. I'm the only user, and have been using Quickbooks for the past 5 years as the accountant for the business.

The way our Chart of accounts was set up in regard to our clients when I came on was like such.
These were under Other current liabilities.
1410-RX - Resident X
1410-RX1 - Resident X SSI Income

1410-RX2 - Resident X SSA Income

1410-RX3 - Resident X other income

1410-RX4 - Resident Expenses
Every month we receive the Resident SSA and SSI Deposits which go into a singular bank account (Rep Payee Account) all expenses are paid for using various management debit cards, or checks and attributed to the residents account. (These are generally from our Operation account or the various sub-accounts associated with the managers)

At the end of every month, I have to reconcile all the charges and income to the resident accounts with the Client Service Rep. Once we balance we transfer the total amount from the Rep Payee Account to our Operations account to reimburse us for the expenses paid.

This system has bugged me since I started as it makes out Chart of accounts very bloated. Starting with the next FY I would like to change the system to where our residents are all listed as Customers (Instead of having an set of accounts in the chart) I would mark all the expense transactions as billable, and then invoice them at the end of every month for all reimbursable costs. This part I have worked out fine.

The part I'm having issues with is how do I attribute their deposits to their customer accounts so that their account balance increases when they receive money? I've tried credit memos, and journal entries but nothing seems to be working. I can get their balance to change but it causes my accounts receivable to show that a negative balance. I know this is probably confusing, but I'm hoping someone can help me out. I'm more than happy to try and explain anything else if needed.

QuickBooks Accountant Desktop

Best answer by JamesAndrewM

I'm here to help you with the process of attributing deposits to customer accounts in QuickBooks Desktop.

To accomplish this, you need to follow a specific workflow to ensure that customer balances increase when they receive money without causing negative balances in the accounts receivable. Here's how:

First, make sure all your residents are set up as customers in QuickBooks.

Go to the Customers menu and choose Customer Center.
Click on New Customer & Job to add each resident as a customer. You can enter their names, addresses, and other relevant information.

Then, when you receive deposits (e.g., Resident SSA and SSI deposits), record them as individual payments in QuickBooks using the Receive Payments feature. Here's how:

Go to the Customers menu and choose Receive Payments.
Select the appropriate customer (resident) from the list.
Enter the payment amount and the date of the deposit.
Under Deposit To, choose the Rep Payee bank account where these deposits are made.
In the Account column, select the appropriate income account (e.g., Resident X SSA Income or Resident X SSI Income).
Click Save & Close to record the payment.

With the payments linked to the customers (residents) either directly or through invoices, you can check their balances at any time by running reports. To do this:

Go to the Reports menu and choose Customers & Receivables.
Select Customer Balance Summary or Customer Balance Detail.
Find the customer (resident) in the list and review their balance.

By following this process, your resident/customer balances should increase when they receive money, and you won't encounter negative balances in the accounts receivable. This workflow also helps streamline your chart of accounts and provides a clearer picture of your residents' financial transactions.

You may visit this article to learn the reconciling workflow: Learn the reconcile workflow in QuickBooks.

For additional QuickBooks-related concerns, don't hesitate to post them here in the Community. We're always available and willing to lend a hand to your queries. Have a great day ahead.

J

JamesAndrewMAnswer

I'm here to help you with the process of attributing deposits to customer accounts in QuickBooks Desktop.

To accomplish this, you need to follow a specific workflow to ensure that customer balances increase when they receive money without causing negative balances in the accounts receivable. Here's how:

First, make sure all your residents are set up as customers in QuickBooks.

Go to the Customers menu and choose Customer Center.
Click on New Customer & Job to add each resident as a customer. You can enter their names, addresses, and other relevant information.

Then, when you receive deposits (e.g., Resident SSA and SSI deposits), record them as individual payments in QuickBooks using the Receive Payments feature. Here's how:

Go to the Customers menu and choose Receive Payments.
Select the appropriate customer (resident) from the list.
Enter the payment amount and the date of the deposit.
Under Deposit To, choose the Rep Payee bank account where these deposits are made.
In the Account column, select the appropriate income account (e.g., Resident X SSA Income or Resident X SSI Income).
Click Save & Close to record the payment.

With the payments linked to the customers (residents) either directly or through invoices, you can check their balances at any time by running reports. To do this:

Go to the Reports menu and choose Customers & Receivables.
Select Customer Balance Summary or Customer Balance Detail.
Find the customer (resident) in the list and review their balance.

By following this process, your resident/customer balances should increase when they receive money, and you won't encounter negative balances in the accounts receivable. This workflow also helps streamline your chart of accounts and provides a clearer picture of your residents' financial transactions.

You may visit this article to learn the reconciling workflow: Learn the reconcile workflow in QuickBooks.

For additional QuickBooks-related concerns, don't hesitate to post them here in the Community. We're always available and willing to lend a hand to your queries. Have a great day ahead.

Michael_FayAuthor

James,

Thank you so much! That really helped me figure this out. I have one question though in this step.

In the Account column, select the appropriate income account (e.g., Resident X SSA Income or Resident X SSI Income).

If I'm reading this right, I would still need to have an account line in the chart of accounts for each resident?

KlentB

Thank you for keeping us updated, Michael. On behalf of my colleague, JamesAndrewM, you're welcome.

Generally, you don't need to have separate account lines for each resident since you're moving to a new workflow where they're set up as customers in QuickBooks Desktop. You can handle their deposits and receivables directly through the Customer Center, eliminating the need for individual accounts.

By following the steps above, we'll be able to streamline your accounting tasks, accurately track balances, and reduce the bloated COA you mentioned earlier. For more tips on managing your cash flow, sales, and profitability, feel free to read this article: Get started with customer transaction workflows.

If you have any other concerns about the program or want to share your thoughts, the Community is always here to support your growth. Keep the questions coming!

Michael_FayAuthor

Thank you so much for the clarification. I've been using QB for a number of years, and still learning new stuff every day!

Sincerely,

Michael Fay
Accountant

Public Notary
The Angelus Inc.

[removed by moderator]

R

ReymondO

Thanks for getting back to the thread, @Michael_Fay.

Let me jump into this thread and provide you with further clarification with regard to your customer's balance in QuickBooks Desktop.

Any payments you've made will automatically affect your customer's balance and receiving bank's account. Based on your scenario, it seems that your customer's total balance is -2000.

Since you only applied the -500 credits to your customer's invoice and paid the remaining balance using the other bank, their total remaining balance will be -1500.

However, if you use your customer's credit balance to pay the full invoice, then they have a -500 balance on their account. Please note that how your customer's balance reflects in the system depends on how you record the transactions in QuickBooks. If you can add a screenshot of your concern, we'll appreciate it.

Please let me know if you have any follow-up questions with regard to your customer balance in QuickBooks. I'll be here to help you out.

Michael_FayAuthor

Raymond,

Thanks for getting back to me. I have attached a report for Client X the first part is the way we were doing it prior to 10/01. Starting balance, any income and expenses added, final balance at the end of the month. The Second page is What the system looks like now.

Reimbursable Expenses - Expenses were paid out of the Operations Account by our Residential Director.
Non-Reimbursable Expenses - These expenses were paid through the Rep Payee Account.

At the end of every month I have to balance account totals with Our Client Service Rep who tracks resident expenses on their side as well. Once we balance I would transfer the amount of Reimbursable expenses from the Rep Payee Account and put it into Operations.

System worked fine, but we currently have 25 clients, and we have about another 10 that over the years have left, passed away, or were exited. Some of those have balances remaining. As you can see with the first page, my Chart of Accounts was bloated to say the very least.

I need to know how I can get the new system to accurately display their balance so I can balance with the CSR at the end of the month.

I hope this all made sense.

Client-X-2023-10-31---Report.pdf

S

SirielJeaB

I appreciate you sharing detailed updates, Michael. Allow me to provide additional information about this matter.

Please ensure you have correctly posted all of your transactions in the program. To achieve a 500 credit balance for the customer in question, you need to create a Receive payment and apply the 1,500 to the available credits of 2,000.

To do this, click on the Credits Applied option and check the 1,200 and 800 credits that you have previously created. This will automatically offset 1,500 credits, leaving a remaining balance of 500.

Furthermore, based on the QuickReport you've shared, I suggest you don't deposit the credit yet, as you will use the amount to be applied to the customer's invoices. It would be best to contact our Live Support Team for further assistance. They are equipped with the necessary tools and resources to initiate a screen-sharing session and review your account. Here's how you can reach them:

Click on Help, then select QuickBooks Desktop Help.
Choose Contact us.
Type your issue, then hit Continue in the description field.
Click Message an agent.

You can visit this reference in handling your chart of accounts: Work with the chart of accounts in QuickBooks Desktop.

Kindly get back to the Community space if you have further questions. I am always available to lend a helping hand with managing sales transactions. Keep safe.

Sign up

Login with SSO

Login to the community

Login with SSO