Money Account Basics

[dave]

How To Get There

From the "Manage" drop down menu as shown below:

Money Account Types

There are two types of accounts in TroopTrack: user accounts and troop accounts. 

Who Can Use It

Troop members can see any accounts that they are members of, but only troop members who have the manage_money_accounts privilege are able to see all accounts in the troop and add, edit, or delete accounts.

Create a Troop Account

To create a troop money account, just click "Add an Account" to get started. I've circled the location of the add account link below.

 

The following form will appear. Fill it out as shown, but make up your own name.

 

Click save. You now have a troop account!

You can create as many troop accounts as you want, but it's best to start simple with one.

If you use integrated event accounting, event related transactions will post against your FIRST troop account.

Create a Scout Account

Creating a scout account is similar to creating a troop account, except this time you designate an owner, like this.

 

Deposit Funds

To deposit funds into an account, first select the account in question by clicking Action > Transactions from the main account view. Here's a screenshot of how this is done.

 

Once you are inside an account, you can add money to the account by clicking "New Transaction".

Choose the appropriate transaction. The following form will appear. I've filled it out to show you which fields you would normally use for a deposit.

 

Click save and the transaction will be recorded and visible in the account ledger, like this.

 

Withdraw Funds

Withdrawing funds is just like depositing them, except you will enter a negative number instead of a positive one, like so:

 

Once you save, the balance will be updated and the transaction will be listed in the account ledger, like this:

 

Transfer Funds

You can transfer funds between accounts. Just choose the transfer money option under new transaction.

Then choose the account you want the money to transfer to.

After you save, two transactions will be created: one in this account withdrawing $100, and another in the troop general funds DEPOSITING $100.

NOTE: If you delete either of these transactions both will be deleted.

 

Paying for events

Paying for an event is easy. When you RSVP through TroopTrack for an event, you will have the opportunity to pay for the event in the event details. You will just need to click the big-green button that says 'Purchase Ticket / RSVP'.

 

[sgaines]

I need a little bit more clarification on troop accounts-

Please bear with me, we are getting ready to turn on integrated accounting.

Are these additional accounts tied to our primary checking account? In addition to scout accounts, we also have additional accounts for equipment, NYLT, etc. All accounts are all tied to our 1 primary checking account.

Would the equipment and NYLT accounts be considered troop accounts?

Also, can you clarify a bit on money transfers. In the example above, I would think that would be a payment rather than a transfer. When should a transfer be used versus a payment?

Thank you!

[sgaines]

Does anyone have an answer to my question?

Thanks in advance,

Scott

[dave]

Hi Scott,
Are you looking for an answer from the staff or opinions from other users? I kind of read it as a “how are other users doing this?” kind of question… sorry if I got that wrong.

In TroopTrack money accounts, a transfer is simply a debit in one account with a corresponding credit in another account, and we don’t have any real ties to actual bank accounts.

A troop account is one that doesn’t have an owner. This is kind of a stupid distinction in hindsight because you frequently want certain “troop” accounts to be managed by a specific person. That’s why we added the checkbox that reads “Allow this account to be used by the account owner to pay individual fees such as event fees (this has no effect if you don’t specify an account owner)”.

In hindsight, it would have been better if we hadn’t built it this way. It would make more sense to just have an account type that could be “member” or “troop”, and then let you set the account owner however you like. I think this would be less confusing and is a change I am considering.

That said, money accounts are meant to be used however you want them to be. We don’t have a strong opinion about this. We’ve seen lots of different approaches over the years. I’ve never been a treasurer and as a result feel pretty inadequate when people ask questions about how they ought to do things. Maybe if you started a topic in the questions category other users would give you some good ideas?

[sgaines]

@Dave,

Thanks for the response Dave!
My question was really for anyone to answer, other users or staff.

Like you I was never a treasurer, and thus have lots of questions regarding money and TT. We have been playing around with the integrated accounting feature, and I like it! My hope is to turn it on over the summer. :)

Since I don’t have the background with the money, I am curious to see how other units handle payments and manage accounts using TT. I’ll open a topic in questions and see what replies I get

I believe you answered my question about additional accounts, but will play with some more test transactions just to be safe… :):)

Thank you so much for all the work you and your team do!

Regards,

Scott

[sgaines]

@Dave,

Dave, I’ve been playing around with these other accounts and I think they will answer a lot of my questions. I’ll definitely be taking this to the Ask a Question forum.

For us, I don’t see the need to assign an owner to the troop account, because only a couple of us will have the manage money privilege.

Having just played around with this feature, I can see where creating an additional account for each outing would be a huge benefit. You will be able to see all payments and expenses and if the outing was priced correctly or not. Combine this with categories, and I would think you could track food expenses, mileage and other expenses YTD for all outings.

I would think you could create an account for recharter, then create an outing and let the adults RSVP, this will give you a quick look at who has paid and who hasn’t… Just a thought.

Regards,

Scott

[DamionTerrell]

@dave Upon providing manual transactions from an event, I like that you can debt from parent account on behalf of child event fee, and/or other family members attending. But in the transaction details, it lacks the informatoin that parent Y paid on behalf of child X.

Did I miss something? I am assuming Payee is the scouter who was collecting event fees.

Or would this be a future feature request?

[DamionTerrell]

@dave Is there a way to perform a bulk creation of money accounts for all troop members?

[RebeccaHarris2]

I think I am confused about when to use Debit and When to use credit to add charges to individual accounts and then record payments. As the treasurer I need to charge scout accounts for dues and activity fees, I also record when payments have been made in the scout’s money account. If a scout owes money should it read as a negative amount or positive amount in their money account? I think I may be using the credits and debits backwards. When have just started using Money Accounts and I would like clarification. When I read the documentation but I am still unsure.

[mlsully2002]

Use “Pay for something” (Debit) to subtract money from an account. Like Dues or an Event Fee.

Use “Add Money” (Credit) to add money to the account. Like a payment or something. If the scout has a positive balance, they can use that to pay for things. If they have a negative balance, they likely owe you something.

[RebeccaHarris2]

Thank-you. What I may also be confused about is who should be actually entering transactions. I think I have set up each money account for the members so that I as the treasurer enters credits and debits not the scout itself. I created each account in the scouts name and then made them the owner but I unchecked the box allowing them to add transactions. I was looking at this money feature as a way for the treasures to record fees we need to charge for events and payments the scout has made to us in person. Did I set them all up wrong or can I use this to transition from a treasures money tracking spreadsheet? If I do not allow the Scout owner to add transactions does that me we cannot use event RSVP’s to add the cost of the event automatically to the account? So far we have just been using the bulk transaction feature to add fees but we did see how we could set up an event and have the scout fee added from the event. I just do not know if I disabled the accounts so that will not work. I just did not want families adding things to the accounts themselves but maybe I am looking at the system incorrectly in that I was trying to replace individual excel worksheets the treasurer has for each scout to something online they could view.

[mlsully2002]

This: “Allow this account to be used by the account owner to pay individual fees such as event fees (this has no effect if you don’t specify an account owner)” needs to be checked for each account.

As long as scouts do not have the privilege: “Manage money accounts: Add debits and credits to youth money accounts” they will not be able to do transactions other than to pay for events and add money with a credit card or PayPal. By default, scouts do not have this privilege. They will not be able to manage transactions unless you specifically let them.

[bejeweledone]

So we are still learning our way around the program. One question I have is if there is a way to RSVP and pay for an event and add it to a total if you have more than 1 girl in the program, so you are only making one payment and not having to do an individual payment for each girl if you are using a credit card or paypal.

[mlsully2002]

This is something on our todo list, but is not currently a feature.

[ashlea]

If my users have a balance in their money account and they try to RSVP for an event, the only option is “pay with PayPal”.

The box is checked to allow them to use the money account to pay for event fees. Their balance is equal to the event fee. I’m not sure what else to check.

[ashlea]

Never mind, I found the other setting in “online payments” that was turned off.

[GaryTynes]

We are not using Money Accounts yet. Basically I am trying to understand how it works. One of my questions is in the comment you added above about how the account holder can add money with a credit card of PayPal. How does this work? If the add money with one of those methods does it really go into the Money Account they have?

Is there a better explanation somewhere of how the Money Accounts work?

Thanks in advance for you help.

Gary Tynes
Treasurer
MO-2215

[KelsieC]

Very simplistically put, TroopTrack functions as a ledger of sorts. If you have people set up with individual accounts and they add money to them via PayPal, that money is really going to the Troop’s account (either PayPal or the bank account, depending on whether you use PayPal or Stripe). So if John Doe deposits $50 to his son’s account, all $50 will show up in the Troop’s account. Then, when a $20 event fee is charged for a campout or other event, they have already “paid” for it and have $30 still left to use as a credit towards other event fees, dues, or any other fees you charge them via TroopTrack.

[GaryTynes]

OK I believe I understand. I am currently doing basically the same thing by tracking funds in Quicken for the Troop. Thanks.

[MishaLott]

Can funds taken for an event be deposited into two separate troop accounts? IE say event fee and equipment fee.