Income accounts are offset accounts which track the source of revenues received. In dual entry bookkeeping, this means that when $100 dollars comes in to the checking account from general offerings you would also have a $100 entry on your “General Offerings” income account to track that money came from there.
For churches, income generally consists of offerings. However, it may also include interest on bank accounts or money received from the rental of property.
Since income accounts track the money coming in to your church, you can create budgets for these accounts making it easier to plan spending and projects. For instructions on adding budgets see the article on budgeting.
The Income View
The Income accounts view presents all of your income accounts in a grid format, providing information beyond just the name and account number. This view is helpful for getting a detailed overview of your income accounts. The Income view also allows you to add, edit and delete accounts as well as see account activity.
- The Income view can be accessed within the Finance Module under the Accounts tab, by clicking on "Income".
- You can search the accounts grid using the standard search conventions in the search view.
- You can select which book's chart of accounts you're viewing in the "Book" drop list.
- The "Filter" field will let you filter to show "Active accounts", "Inactive accounts" or if you want to view all income accounts, choose (none).
The Income grid shows columns for each account number, account name, beginning balance (as of the start of the fiscal year), Change (the amount the account balance has changed by so far within the fiscal year), Current (Current balance of the account), Major Group, Minor Group, Inactive? (indicates if an account is marked as inactive), Responsibility (Responsibility Code), Church Body, and Note (indicates whether there is a note on the account).
- To add a new account from this view, click the "Add" button in the bottom left.
- To edit an account, click on the account you'd like to make changes to, and then click "Edit" at the bottom of the grid.
- To delete an account, click on the account you want to get rid of and then click the "Delete" button at the bottom of the grid. Only accounts with no activity or balance can be deleted, however.
- To view the activity on an account, either double click the account you want to view, or click on it and then click the "Activity" button at the bottom of the grid.
- The "Print" button will print out your income accounts as you see it on the Income view.