{"id":3324,"date":"2021-05-19T11:19:13","date_gmt":"2021-05-19T11:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/documentation.easypcaccounts.co.uk\/?page_id=3324"},"modified":"2025-07-07T13:59:04","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T13:59:04","slug":"earmarked-reserves","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/documentation.easypcaccounts.co.uk\/index.php\/earmarked-reserves\/","title":{"rendered":"Earmarked reserves"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Earmarked Reserves in EasyPC Accounts<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Many councils choose to hold <strong>earmarked reserves<\/strong> for specific purposes\u2014such as saving for a future project or ring-fencing developer contributions (e.g. <strong>S106<\/strong> or <strong>CIL<\/strong> funds). These reserves help demonstrate that money has been used appropriately, particularly when reporting to a district or unitary authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, not all councils need earmarked reserves. EasyPC is designed so that this feature is entirely optional\u2014adding reserves will only affect councils that choose to use them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How Reserves Work<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Think of reserves as <strong>columns<\/strong> in your chart of accounts, while account groups and account names or codes form the <strong>rows<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Every council has one default reserve: <strong>General Reserve<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If no additional reserves are created, the system functions as though there is only one column\u2014there are no visible or functional changes in the interface<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If other reserves are added, each one will appear as a separate column in detailed reports<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Creating and Managing Reserves<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The Clerk or Responsible Financial Officer (RFO) can create new reserves at any time:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>New reserves start with a zero balance<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Funds can be added by recording income to that reserve or by transferring from another reserve (typically from the General Reserve)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You <strong>cannot<\/strong> set an opening balance for a reserve when setting up the system\u2014any balances must be transferred from an existing reserve once it has been created<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Every transaction must be assigned to a reserve:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A <strong>Reserve<\/strong> dropdown appears when entering receipts or payments<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This dropdown only appears if more than one reserve exists<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>By default, transactions are assigned to <strong>General Reserve<\/strong>, minimising the need for additional input<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Transferring Between Reserves<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>You can transfer money between reserves\u2014this works similarly to the bank transfer function.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Reporting and Budgets<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The <strong>Annual Return<\/strong> ignores the reserve structure entirely<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <strong>Detailed Accounts<\/strong> report can be configured to:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Show combined totals<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Produce a separate report for each reserve<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Display a <strong>column-based breakdown<\/strong> for selected reserves<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You can also set <strong>budgets<\/strong> for individual reserves, allowing for more detailed financial planning<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/documentation.easypcaccounts.co.uk\/index.php\/earmarked-reserves\/how-should-vat-be-managed-within-reserves-in-easypc-accounts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Reserves and VAT<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Earmarked Reserves in EasyPC Accounts Many councils choose to hold earmarked reserves for specific purposes\u2014such as saving for a future project or ring-fencing developer contributions (e.g. S106 or CIL funds). These reserves help demonstrate that money has been used appropriately, particularly when reporting to a district or unitary authority. However, not all councils need earmarked &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/documentation.easypcaccounts.co.uk\/index.php\/earmarked-reserves\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Earmarked reserves&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3324","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/documentation.easypcaccounts.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/documentation.easypcaccounts.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/documentation.easypcaccounts.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/documentation.easypcaccounts.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/documentation.easypcaccounts.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3324"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/documentation.easypcaccounts.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3646,"href":"https:\/\/documentation.easypcaccounts.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3324\/revisions\/3646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/documentation.easypcaccounts.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}