Corrections In a Previous Month

Once a month has been closed, it should not be changed, except in rare circumstances. Closing the month protects the church's records from accidental changes, protects the church from fraud, protects the treasurer from accusations of misconduct, and ensures that once the Church Board has approved financial reports, those reports do not change. Jewel does not allow treasurers to edit transactions in closed months, or to add new transactions in closed months.

For this reason, if you need to correct an entry in a previous month you will need to either enter a correcting transaction in the current month (usually the best solution), or contact tech support for help.

Offering Deposit

Deposit correction involves a bit of finesse, as the correction method depends on the issue. Precise end-of-year donor receipts are essential, so if you can trace an error to a particular donor's donation, it should be corrected in a way that corrects their receipt. This usually involves entering a $0 offering, as described below. If you cannot trace the error to a particular donor, especially if the error is small, a General Journal correction is appropriate. If you aren't sure of the method to use, contact tech support for assistance.

Donation Recorded Under Wrong Name

If the donation is from a prior calendar year, you must ask your tech support for help. Otherwise, proceed as follows: To correct the name, enter a $0 offering that subtracts the donation from the wrong person and adds it to the right person.

1. Start New Offering, using a date that you won't use otherwise.
2. Enter $0 for the offering amount.
3. Make an envelope under the wrong name for the negative of the cash or check amount donated. (If $50 was donated, enter -$50.) Enter all the amounts on the envelope the same way.
4. Click "No" when Jewel asks if you want to do a Trial Deposit.
5. Make another envelope with the correct name, and the correct contribution amounts.
6. Go on to Make Deposit, use the Memo to record the date of the deposit you are correcting and the reason for the correction, then complete the Deposit. (You should have $0 for all offerings because you added on one envelope and subtracted on the other.)

Donation Attributed to Incorrect Fund

If the donation is from a specific donor and is from a prior calendar year, you must ask your tech support for help. Otherwise, proceed as follows: To correct the fund, we'll enter a $0 offering that subtracts the donation from the wrong fund and adds it to the right fund.

1. Start New Offering, using a date that you won't use otherwise.
2. Enter $0 for the offering amount.
3. Make an envelope under the original donor's name with an Envelope Total of $0.
4. In the Account section at the bottom of the envelope, enter the correct donation account and amount. Then enter the negative of the donation amount to the incorrect account used earlier. (So if $50 should have gone to Pathfinders but was sent to Church Budget, you'll put $50 to Pathfinders and -$50 to Church Budget.) This should give you a Running Total of $0.
5. Confirm that you did intend to record a $0 envelope.
6. Go on to Make Deposit, use the Memo to record the date of the deposit you are correcting and the reason for the correction, then complete the Deposit.

Incorrect Deposit Account

Use Transfer Funds to move the funds to the correct account. Use the Memo to record the date of the deposit you are correcting and the reason for the correction.

Incorrect Envelope or Deposit Total

Untraceable error: If you can't figure out where the mistake was made, in the Bank Reconciliation, click "Interest Earned or Deposit Correction". Use Church Budget for the Account. If the deposit amount on the bank statement is higher than in Jewel, your correction will be an income. If the bank statement shows a lower amount than is recorded in Jewel, your correction will be expense. The Memo will say "Correct 7/5/25 deposit" or something similar. Click OK to finish. If this is happening more often than extremely infrequently, ask your conference treasury department for help in establishing better controls on your offering counting.

Traceable error: If the error involves an anonymous donor or loose offering, correct as above. If the error involves a specific donor and is from a prior calendar year, you must ask your tech support for help. Otherwise, you'll need to create a new offering deposit in the amount of the error.

1. Start New Offering, using a date that you won't use otherwise.
2. Enter the amount of the needed correction for the offering total. Use a positive deposit amount if the amount donated is higher than what was recorded in Jewel. Use a negative deposit amount if the amount donated is lower than what was recorded in Jewel.
3. Make an envelope under the name of the donor, for the amount of the correction. Fill in all sections of the envelope as needed.
4. Hit Enter when you've finished the envelope.
5. Go on to Make Deposit. Edit the Memo on the Make Deposit screen to say "Correct 7/5/25 deposit" or something similar, then complete the Deposit. The total of the correcting deposit you just entered plus the original incorrect deposit should equal the amount deposited in the bank.

Duplicate Offering Deposit

See the instructions here, or contact your tech support for assistance.

Check or Other Payment

Incorrect Payment Total

In the Bank Reconciliation, click "Bank Fees or Check Correction". Use the fund that the payment was originally charged to for the Account. If the check amount on the bank statement is higher than in Jewel, your correction will be an expense. If the bank statement shows a lower amount than is recorded in Jewel, your correction will be an income. The Memo will say "Correct ck#1234" or something similar. Click Add Entry to finish. The correcting entry and the incorrect check, added together, should equal the amount of the check on the bank statement, so both should be checked off in the reconciliation.

Incorrect Account

Use Transfer Funds to take the money from the correct account and replace it into the incorrect account. This works both for checks written from the wrong bank account, and for checks written from the wrong local fund.

Duplicate Check or Electronic Payment

If your duplicate check uses a check number that you wish to use for a real check, contact tech support for assistance.

If your duplicate is an electronic payment or if you do not need to re-use the check number, simply go to Void a Check (below) to void the duplicate.

Void Check

If a check will never clear the bank (it was destroyed, replaced, stale dated (more than six months old), etc), go to Accounting / Void a Check. Use the options on the screen to search for and select the check you wish to void. Verify that the memo reads as you wish, then click OK. Jewel will record a new transaction in the current month to cancel out the check that you're voiding. In the Bank Reconciliation, you will then mark off both the original check and the new transaction, to remove them from the list of checks waiting to be cleared. Since the two together add up to $0, they will not affect your balance.

General Journal Entry

Go to Accounting / Make General Journal Entry. Reverse the incorrect General Journal by making a new entry with the opposite amount (income instead of expense, or vice versa). The memo should identify the specific entry being corrected by its date or transaction number, and give a reason for the correction. Once that reversing entry is completed, click New Entry. Then re-enter the original General Journal with the correct information. Use the memo to connect the re-entry with both previous General Journals via date or transaction numbers. At your next Bank Reconciliation, mark off both the original and the reversing entry.

You can also correct by entering a single correcting entry, if you can clearly identify the amount and direction (income/expense) of the correction.

Duplicate General Journal Entry

Go to Accounting / Make General Journal Entry. Reverse the incorrect General Journal by making a new entry with the opposite amount (income instead of expense, or vice versa). The memo should identify the General Journal being reversed (use the date) and the reason for the reversal. At your next Bank Reconciliation, mark off both the original and the reversing entry.

Transfer Funds

Click Transfer Funds. Reverse the incorrect Transfer by making a new entry with the opposite amount. The memo should identify the specific entry being corrected (use the date) and give a reason for the correction. Once that reversing entry is completed, click New Entry. Then re-enter the Transfer with the correct information.

You can also correct by entering a single correcting entry, if you can clearly identify the amount and direction (income/expense) of the correction.

Duplicate Transfer

Go to Transfer Funds. Reverse the duplicate Transfer by making a new entry with the opposite amount. The memo should identify the specific transfer being reversed (use the date) and give a reason for the reversal.

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Return to Chapter 7: Making Corrections

Return to previous section: Corrections In the Current Month

Continue to next section: Transactions Involving Conference Funds