What’s New?
The Diocesan Cashbook v5.0
The Diocesan Cashbook has had an overhaul, reducing its size by half whilst also building in new functionality. Those who have used the previous versions will find the general layout very familiar, but there are a few significant changes which change how you operate your Cashbook.
So what has changed?
-More than one version: The Cashbook now has multiple versions instead of one. All the versions leading up to 5.0 were designed specifically for PCC’s who operated on a Receipts & Payments basis. The new Cashbook has versions for both Receipts & Payments and Accruals, as well as a version for multi-church PCCs hoped to be completed shortly (January 2015).
-New Tabs: The Cashbook now works on multiple tabs;simple sections where information can be recorded, as opposed to single tabs with multiple areas. These are:
- Troubleshooting tab, with FAQs and some additional options.
- Assets & Liabilities tab (just Assets for the R&P version) where lists of PCC assets, loans, Parochial Fee deposits and other balance sheet items can be recorded.
- Standing Order & Direct Debit tab, so reoccurring entries can be entered just once for the year, instead of being duplicated on the Transactions tab.
- Transfers now have their own separate tab, instead of being part of Balances.
- Year-end Journals tab, the use of which will differ depending on your PCC’s accounting basis, but gives more transparency to the year-end process.
- And for the Accruals version, a Balance Sheet tab has been added.
-Updated/Changed Tabs: The Transactions tab is now used for both current and previous years transactions (the previous year’s tab has been removed). Unreconciled transactions from the previous year can now be entered and reconciled along with all the current year’s transactions, without affecting the current year’s final accounts. The Parish Finance Return has also been updated to match the Archbishops’ Council’s latest version.
-Accounts List: The Accounts List has been updated to allow for a previous year comparison, plus independent examiners/auditors can now trace how the account balances flow into the year-end accounts.
-Reconciliation change: The biggest change to the Cashbook is how transaction reconciliations are handled. Reconciliations of transfers need to be done using the Transfers tab, but all transactions are now ticked off (placing an “x” in the appropriate column) on the balances page. Once you have completed the Reconciliation and confirmed the balance to your statement, the information you’ve provided will be sent through to the Transactions tab, with only those transactions which are unreconciled remaining on the Balances tab.
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Gloucester Diocesan Board of Finance Limited
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