Can I apportion Gift Aid income or staff HMRC contributions to the correct calendar month?
This article is for churches and charities that account on an accruals basis.
Yes, you can make adjustments in the Adjustments screen to show income and expenditure in the month it relates to.
Gift Aid
Gift Aid income that you are waiting to receive would be recorded as Accounts Receivable (money owed to you).
To create the adjustment, follow these instructions: How can I accrue for income owed? (Accounts Receivable)
When you receive the Gift Aid, you then need to reverse out the adjustment.
You can set up an Accounts Receivable adjustment for each month or copy a previous adjustment.
Top Tip: If you have auto-accruals enabled, any invoice you create will automatically create a corresponding Accounts Receivable entry, which will be reversed when the invoice is paid. This can be a good way of managing Gift Aid income.
HMRC Contributions
HMRC contributions (PAYE, NIC, etc.) would be recorded as Accounts Payable (money you owe).
Note: If you use the Payroll Upload function in ExpensePlus, your payroll expenditure will be accrued automatically.
If you do not use the Payroll Upload function, to create a manual adjustment, follow these instructions: How do I record my creditors? (Accounts Payable)
When you then pay the HMRC contribution, you need to reverse out the adjustment.
You can set up an Accounts Payable adjustment for each month or copy a previous adjustment.
Note: there is no statutory requirement for you to make the adjustments referred to above as you do not need to account for these items within a particular calendar month. However, it is a requirement to do this at year-end if the amounts involved are considered material to your charity. Read this blog to learn more about materiality.
To help you better understand the Adjustments module as a whole, please visit the module overview page here.