Millennium Silver Fiscal Close Method 2: Automatic|copy versus Automatic|Transfer

["Witt, Darren" <Darren dot Witt at sdcounty dot ca dot gov>]

My name is Darren Witt, Technician III at San Diego County Library.  We are choosing to use Method 2, because Method 1, though easier, has the dreaded line in the Millennium manual that reads:  "Consequently, as you receive orders from previous years, the system posts those expenditures and disencumbrances in the CURRENT fund balances"  (capitalization added)

We don't want that.  While our Acq department, of which I'm a part, does obviously keep track of expenditures and encumbrances, we do so from a bookkeeping perspective -- we are not actually paying the bills.  Selectors here and out in our branches want to see THIS year's appropriations, expenditures, and encumbrances.  While  "rolling over"  expenditures to the next fiscal year from purchases in June is a natural process, it's our Business Office's process -- not ours.  We blinker ourselves to the fiscal year at hand, in terms of inspecting funds as the year progesses.  Basically, our selectors depend on the Encumbrance column as a reality-check on fund status more than any other indicator.

(And as for Method 3:  creating entirely new fund codes is just too impractical for us, with our 370-odd funds!  Obviously, changing the codes of the PREVIOUS year's funds, while retaining the codes everyone has gotten used to -- e.g., Method 2 -- makes more sense, at least for us.)

So there's our background! -- now onto the most pressing question.  Keeping the correction on page# 106035 in mind, I'm still a little puzzled as to which option I should choose in Method 2:  Automatic|Copy, or Automatic|Transfer.  The Copy-option sounds more pertinent for us, because the Transfer-option seems to merely transfer the Cash Balance, and as I indicated earlier, we're bookkeeping in a theoretical sense.  That is to say, for us, Cash Balance merely represents items that have actually arrived in our warehouse.  (We pass the invoices up to the Business Office for  "real"  payment, after we process them in Millennium.)  Therefore, I'm not sure why I would select the Automatic|Transfer-option.

The Copy-option, on the other hand, would retain the original appropriations and expenditures of the 04-05 fiscal year.  But even here, I have a question:  what happens to the previous years'  Encumbrances and Cash Balance?  The manual mentions that you can  "change encumbrances"  (which I don't really want to do, I don't think), and doesn't mention Cash Balance at all until the section on Automatic|Transfer.  Why couldn't I copy Encumbrance and Cash Balance, the way I can copy Appropriation and Expenditure?

If this very subject has been covered already in a thread, my apologies -- I did look for this particular issue and didn't find it, but perhaps I missed it  (there are a lot of threads, here!).  If anyone out there can give me some insight, I'd greatly appreciate it.  I can also take messages directly to my e-mail address, if that's more appropriate.  Thanks in advance!

Sincerely,
Darren Witt, Acq. Dept, San Diego County Library
Darren dot Witt at sdcounty dot ca dot gov