Budget reports not working properly
Marcelo
Hi: The default Budget Report and another one I custom made do not show all the expenses recorded for some categories. When I check these categories' balances in Tools/Categories the balances are ok, but they don't show up in the budget report.
I have checked both "Include categories not defined in budget" and "Include items with zero actual and budgeted amounts" boxes in the Edit screen, but this doesn't help either.
Thanks you for your help
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1 Posted by -Kevin N. on Apr 03, 2016 @ 04:12 PM
Hi Marcelo,
Probably the best way to help with this would be for you to provide a screenshot of the parameters that you used to generate the report. (the form that appears when you click the 'Edit' button in the report)
Also point out the line item(s) that do not seem to add up; indicating what the expected amount should be based on the amount in Tools > Categories.
-Kevin N.
2 Posted by Marcelo Galas B on Apr 03, 2016 @ 09:55 PM
Hi, thank you for your email. Below is the information requested:
[image: Inline image 1]
[image: Inline image 2]
The correct actual balance for the following categories should be:
Viajes:México:Avión $7,091.00
Viajes:México:Camión $1,436.40
Viajes:México:Comidas $3,873.42
Viajes:México:Estacionamiento $309
Viajes:México:Hotel $1,066.95
Viajes:México:Taxis $1,077.35
This is just an example, there are other categories in the budget report
that do not show the correct actual balance. However, in the same budget
report still other categories do show the correct actual balances!
Thank you for your help,
Marcelo Galas
3 Posted by -Kevin N. on Apr 03, 2016 @ 10:51 PM
Hi Marcelo,
One way that I can see this happening is when the amount shown in Tools > Categories predates the time frame of the budget report.
The amount shown in Tools > Categories is the accumulated amount from day 1 for each category. The report that is being generated (per your screenshot) is only from Jan 1 2016.
Another way of this happening is if the user is using the old style budget and the 'Start Date' and 'End Date' are different than the date range of the generated report.
I'm not too adept at using the new style budget but it would be my assumption that unless the budget was build back to day 1, then the resulting budget report would only return those values for which an amount was budgeted. Thus the budget report amounts would not equal the amounts shown in Tools > Categories.
I'm probably not the best one to be responding to budget queries. Maybe someone else can chime in here who is more experienced with the new style budget.
Are you using the new style budget or the old style?
-Kevin N.
4 Posted by Marcelo Galas B on Apr 04, 2016 @ 12:09 AM
Hi Kevin: thank you for your email.
I am new to Moneydance, and I started using it on January 1st, this year,
so I don't know about "old style" and "new style" budget.
Any way, as I said, there is no information in any category captured before
January 1st., so I guess the amount shown in Tools>Categories should be the
same as in the budget report I sent you.
Any other ideas?
Thanks again,
Marcelo
5 Posted by -Kevin N. on Apr 04, 2016 @ 12:23 AM
Hi Marcelo,
Hmm. I confess that I'm stumped.
Perhaps if you could provide a screenshot of the Tools > Categories window of the categories in question. Hopefully, it may shed some light.
-Kevin N.
6 Posted by -Kevin N. on Apr 04, 2016 @ 12:32 AM
Hi Marcelo,
What version of Moneydance are you using? Menu bar > Help > About Moneydance
The latest build is currently MD 2015.7 (1358) There is quite a few improvements to the budget mentioned in the blog about it.
http://infinitekind.com/blog/moneydance-2015-7-one-more-update-befo...
-Kevin N.
7 Posted by Marcelo Galas B on Apr 04, 2016 @ 01:53 AM
Hi Kevin:
I updated to the current version (I was running version 2015.6 (1299)),
but that didn't fix this problem. Here is a screen capture of the
information in the Tools>Categories window:
[image: Inline image 1]
I hope this gives you a clue as to what might be going on.
Thanks again,
Marcelo
8 Posted by -Kevin N. on Apr 04, 2016 @ 02:44 AM
Hi Marcelo,
Unfortunately, I'm not seeing anything obvious. From what you've shown, your report should be returning the values that you expect.
The only missing item is the budget itself. If you want to post a screenshot of the actual budget window, that may be the key. Try to include any of the line items in question.
I hope someone from the MD support staff chimes in here soon because I'm about out of ideas.
-Kevin N.
9 Posted by Marcelo Galas B on Apr 04, 2016 @ 05:47 PM
Ok, thank you Kevin. Here is the budget screen capture showing the
categories in question.
[image: Inline image 1]
Marcelo
10 Posted by -Kevin N. on Apr 04, 2016 @ 06:26 PM
Hi Marcelo,
OK. It looks to me that there is no amounts budgeted for February or March and likely April too. This is what is causing the discrepancy.
You'll likely need to manually insert the desired budgeted amounts for February and March.
When you advance to April, look for a downward facing arrow next to April (see screenshot)
Clicking that arrow will offer you 3 options to automatically fill in the budget amounts so that you won't have to.
HTH -Kevin N.
11 Posted by Marcelo Galas B on Apr 04, 2016 @ 07:21 PM
Ok, Kevin, what you say may have something to do with this discrepancy, but
it is not the only cause. As you can see in the images below, even though
some categories have no amount budgeted, some times when there is a charge
to them, that amount does show in the budget report, and at other times
they do not.
Look at the categories "Casa:Mantenimiento" and "Casa:Mejoras"; there
happens what you say, but look at the categories "Comisiones bancarias:MJGB
Santander 0563" and "Comisiones bancarias:RTdeG Santander" and there your
assumption doesn't hold:
[image: Inline image 1]
[image: Inline image 2]
[image: Inline image 3]
I think there is a bug in the program in the way the budget reports are
generated, ¿what do you think?
Marcelo
12 Posted by -Kevin N. on Apr 04, 2016 @ 08:17 PM
Hi Marcelo,
"Comisiones bancarias:MJGB Santander 0563" and "Comisiones bancarias:RTdeG Santander" are both listed as (Not in Budget) per your screenshot of the budget report.
Do you have the option to 'Include categories not defined in budget' check-marked in the budget report's parameters window?
If so, that may explain why those items show up in the report even though there was never a budgeted amount assigned them.
-Kevin N.
13 Posted by Marcelo Galas B on Apr 04, 2016 @ 10:38 PM
Kevin: Yes I have that option check-marked, so it is correct that they show
up in the report.
But the point is not that they show up in the report, but that they show
up with the correct amounts, even though they had no amounts budgeted at
all.
So it seems that in this case the fact that they had no budgeted amounts
didn't prevent the budget report to show the correct balances, while in the
other categories I mentioned previously you think that is the reason why
the budget report is not showing the correct balances.
Do you see my point? In two equal circumstances, namely categories without
budgeted amounts, in one case the budget report shows the correct balances
and in the other it doesn't.
What do you think?
Marcelo
14 Posted by -Kevin N. on Apr 04, 2016 @ 11:15 PM
Hi Marcelo,
I think I'm getting a little lost in all of this. This is why I'm not really a 'Budget' kind of guy.
The way I see this is, line items that are assigned a budgeted amount each month (and every month) will display the proper Budgeted amount, Actual amount and Difference in the budget report.
Line items not assigned a budget amount, appear in the budget report with zero as the Budgeted amount, their total Actual amount and a negative Difference equal to their respective totals. (provided the option to 'Include categories not defined in budget' is checked)
To me, this is the correct & expected behavior.
-Kevin N.
15 Posted by Marcelo Galas B on Apr 05, 2016 @ 12:05 AM
Ok, my point is this:
Look at the February column in the Budget screen.
Category "Casa:Mejoras" doesn't have a budgeted amount in that month. But
there was an actual expense of 811, which added to the 54 expense in
January, gives a balance of 865. This amount is shown correctly in the
Tools>Categories screen (864.90 actually, but that's alright). But the
Budget Report only shows the January expense and "ignores" the February
expense. You say this may be because there was no budgeted amount in
February.
However, category "Comisiones bancarias:MJGB Santander 0563" also doesn't
have a budgeted amount in February, and there was an actual expense of 870.
Again, this balance is shown correctly in the Tools>Categories screen. But
in this case, the Budget Report does show the correct balance, even though
there was no amount budgeted in February.
In short: in both categories there was no budgeted amount in February, and
in one instance ("Casa:Mejoras"), the Budget Report "ignores" the actual
expense but in the other ("Comisiones bancarias:MJGB Santander 0563"), it
takes it into account. Why?
Marcelo
16 Posted by -Kevin N. on Apr 05, 2016 @ 01:25 AM
Hi Marcelo,
This is the way that I understand it to work...
'Casa:Mejores' is a budgeted item. Thus, in order for that expenditure to be displayed in the budget report, it requires a budgeted amount to be entered into each and every month where there is any expenditure to 'Casa:Mejores'.
'Comisiones bancarias:MJGB Santander 0563' is not a budgeted item. Thus it does not require a budgeted amount to be entered into any month whatsoever; and yet, the expenditures for non-budgeted items will still be displayed in the budget report. (provided the option to 'Include categories not defined in budget' is checked)
-Kevin N.
System closed this discussion on Jul 05, 2016 @ 01:30 AM.