Reconciling Transfers between accounts and credit card payments.
I can still not figure out how to do transfers between accounts so that they do not show up as either a "Income" or and "Expense"
I'm trying to figure out how to tell MD when I have transferred money between two accounts. For example, I commonly move money from Checking to Savings or an Investment Account. It is neither an "Income" or an "Expense". I also move money from Checking to pay my credit card.
According to the Knowledge Database, it looks like that you used (back in 2010) to use move it into the New (or Old) account. When I do that with my current version (Version 2022.6.1 (4098)), it changes the amount in the account and then no longer matches reality. If I catagorize the transaction as the New account, it screws up the balances in that account.
Moving money between two different checking accounts is common for me and I don't want it to show up as either "income" or "expenses".
The explanation in the Knowledge Database top move it into the Actual Account (Checking or Savings or Credit) (https://infinitekind.tenderapp.com/kb/register-and-transactions/transfers-between-accounts), seems like it will show up as tons of "false" income and "false" expenses.
If i may a new "category" labeled "Trans- credit card" or "Trans- savings" three a bunch of extra "incomes" and "expenses" and sometimes they don't balance to cancel each other out.
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1 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 10 Sep, 2024 10:13 AM
I really don’t understand. To move money between accounts you simply put the to/from account in the category field (ie don’t use a category). Yes, this changes the balance of both the to and from account, but that’s the point.
This should appear in income / expense reports unless you tick the include transfers option.
What are you actually doing that doesn’t work?
Support Staff 2 Posted by Maddy on 10 Sep, 2024 10:15 AM
Hi,
Thank you for contacting Moneydance support.
After selecting the category “#1” in the edit categories window, the resulting display is not simply a list of all transactions that are associated with the category “#1” but they represent the transaction register for the “#1” category.
Moneydance uses the double entry method of accounting, which means that every transaction is a link between accounts (or categories), as outlined here.
So, all transactions have two sides.
For example: When you create a transaction in your “Your Current Account" and set the category to “#1” a corresponding transaction is created in the transaction register for the “#1” category and the category on that side of the transaction is set to the “Your Current Account" . If you are in the transaction register for the “#1” category, look at the "category" and you will see the accounts where the transaction came from.
If you batch change a category here, you'll be changing the wrong side of the transaction e.g. you'll change the category from “Your Current Account" to “"#2"” and your checking account balance will change accordingly.
In conclusion, there are two ways you can merge your “#1” category into “"#2"”.
Option 1:
Navigate to the transaction register of the “Your Current Account". Sort the transactions by category by clicking on the category column header. This will group all the transactions with the same category together. Select all the “#1” transactions. Right click and batch change to “"#2"”. Repeat for all other bank accounts or credit cards that have made transactions using the category “#1”.
Option 2:
Download and install the Find and Replace extension. This is available via Extensions->Manage Extensions. You can use it to search for all transactions with the category “#1” and change them to “"#2"”.
I hope this information is helpful. Please let us know if you have further questions or need more assistance.
--
Maddy, Infinite Kind Support
3 Posted by abrainard01 on 10 Sep, 2024 09:46 PM
Thanks for your help so far. I'm not trying to "move" any funds. I'm trying to "categorize" a entry. I am only using MD to categorize my Imported account statements.
When I go back in MD and review my previous transactions that have been downloaded and Imported from my bank accounts, I can see that I have several transfers from my "Sharp End- Checking" account into my "ASB- Checking" account. It shows up as -6000 in "Sharp End- Checking" and should show up as +6000 in "ASB- Checking"
If i do this, when i check my "Income and Expenses, Detailed" page, it only shows a +6000 income instead with -6000 and a +6000 that cancel each other out to a net of Zero.
Again, I don't want to move any actual funds, the funds have already moved (6000 from one Checking account to another Checking account ). I just want to be able to catagorize the transfer ("TRANS- Sharp End Checking TO ASB Checking") to show that I have moved some funds from one account to another.
4 Posted by dwg on 11 Sep, 2024 12:21 AM
I would suggest not to use the word "categorize" to describe a funds transfer between account in Moneydance, the word is associated with transactions other than a transfer of funds between accounts.
It sounds like an issue with the transaction entry is causing the problem.
I would suggest you post a screen shot of the transactions in the register.
5 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 11 Sep, 2024 07:14 AM
You can’t categorise a transfer. It’s either a cash flow movement, or an income/expense.
Some reports allow you to treat transfers differently.
6 Posted by sth on 14 Sep, 2024 10:36 PM
If you setup a XFR type entry in Checking Account A, and put as the category "Checking Account B". The transaction will have NO category and not be either an income or an expense. However if you download the transactions from your bank, they will show up as an additional transaction with a category. You need to merge the transactions or delete the new one that is downloaded.
Some of the reports such as Expense and Income will have a separate category for transfers in and out of the reported accounts. You can turn that part of the report on or off.
MD is a double entry bookkeeping system, which means every transaction has two ends a "from" and a "to". These ends can be either accounts or categories. Categories have the expense/income designation not accounts.
(NOT IK Support)