Reverse a Duplicate Offering In a Previous Month
If there is a deposit more than a month old but is still on the bank reconciliation page in Jewel, there is a good chance it is a duplicate. To verify this, check the “Deposit Report” (Reports and Graphs/Deposit) for several weeks surrounding the deposit time period. If you see two deposits that are alike, even if they are not close to each other on the report, (they might even be in different months) you have a duplicate.
- NOTE: Duplicate offerings are a problem, because Jewel treats them as legitimate offering deposits, creating duplicate amounts on donor receipts and duplicate tithes and offerings on remittance payments, which your church won’t get back unless the offering is reversed. Because of this, we need to avoid creating them, or fix them as soon as possible when we discover them.
Even if you discover the duplicate before you close a month, you cannot easily completely delete it on your own (though it is possible), but it can be deleted by your tech support, which is by far the easiest way to fix it. Please ask for help.
Once the month has been closed and reports have been printed and submitted to the board, duplicate offerings need to be reversed, not deleted, which is more time-consuming, but must be done. You can ask for help, but If you wish to reverse it yourself, here are the steps.
Time saving tip #1: Before you start, go to File/File Transfer/Send to Auditor so that you have a backup to revert to in case you have problems and need to start over.
Time saving tip #2: Use your cell phone to take snapshots of each envelope in the offering you are reversing, then enter the reversal names and accounts into Jewel from these snapshots. This will ensure that the reversal is identical to the original.
- Go to Jewel/Reports and Graphs/Deposit and find the duplicate deposit that you need to reverse.
- Click on it. It will take you to the Edit Deposit screen.
- Take a screenshot of this screen to begin. Or take a photo, up close enough so you can read it, but not so close that it is blurry. Or write down the information.
- Take note of how many envelopes are in this offering. (Beside the Offering Date.)
- Click on “Make Corrections.” This will take you to the “Contribution Entry” screen. Hopefully the “Next” arrow is gray and the “Previous” arrow is red. If it is not, click "Next" until they are. The “Contribution Entry” screen will contain the first donor envelope.
- Take a screenshot or photo of the Envelope box on this screen.
- Click on “Previous” to move to the next envelope.
- Continue taking pictures of each envelope, then clicking “Previous” to move to the next one. When you get to the last envelope, the “Previous” button will turn gray.
- It is now time to enter the deposit, only in reverse. Go to Jewel Home Page and click on “Start New Offering.”
- Enter an “Offering Date” within the current month – I typically use the first day of the month. If there is already an offering with that date, it is ok, you can still use the first.
- Find the first photo that you took. The “Offering Total” is the offering total of the duplicate offering that you are reversing, only enter it as a negative. 171.50 becomes -171.50 in Jewel.
- Jewel will ask if you are sure. Click yes.
- Enter each envelope one at a time, using the screenshots or photos you took.
- Donor ID (faster and often more accurate than entering names)
- Cash or Check (use negative amount)
- Check Number (if a check was used)
- Post the same Amount(s) to the same Account(s) (use negative amount)
- Tip: If the offering is divided between 2 or more accounts, you will get a warning message between each line. Just click the “Yes” and complete the envelope.
- Tip: If you forget to add the minus sign on one of the entries, you can use “Previous” or “Next” to find that envelope, click on “Edit Envelope” and fix it.
- When you have entered all the envelopes correctly, Jewel will ask if you would like to proceed to Make Deposit. Click yes.
- On the “Make Deposit” page, leave the “Offering Date” and “Deposit Date” as is.
- Edit the memo “To reverse (date) duplicate deposit.” This will identify why it is a negative deposit and which deposit that it is reversing.
- Finally, click on the green “OK √” in the top right corner to save and close the deposit. And you are done!
The next time you reconcile, make sure you check off the duplicate offering and the reversal (minus) offering in the same month. They will cancel each other out and will then disappear from the bank rec page when you finish the reconciliation.
- Pro tip: If you need to reverse an Adventist Giving deposit, the easiest way is to import that offering again. Even though Jewel will tell you it is already imported, say “Yes” you want to do it again. Then edit the offering total to be a negative number. Go into “Edit Deposit Slip” and put a minus in front of every check. Then do the same with every amount on every envelope. Once every number is a minus number, you should get the message that the amounts equal the total. Then you can follow #15, 16 and 17 to finish and close.
- NOTE: It is much easier to avoid duplicates than to reverse them. Jewel will let you know if you are about to enter an offering with the same total as one you have already entered. If you see that message, don’t just ignore it and keep going. Click on “No” and go figure out if it is, in fact, a duplicate.