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Is there a safe way to remove categories that have a balance?

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rmmarsh

Apr 03, 2019 @ 12:30 AM

Hi Ian... several months ago, I was having major problems balancing my checking account to the tune of over $900 (in the negative). The other day, I wanted to remove some categories, and when I did the first one, the total amount in the category was deducted from my balance, which I was able to reverse. I'm pretty sure I did the same thing in the month that I had the balancing problem.

My question is: is there a way to safely remove categories no longer needed without it affecting the current balance?

Regards, Rolf

1. rmmarsh closed this discussion on Apr 03, 2019 @ 04:49 PM.

2. rmmarsh re-opened this discussion on Apr 03, 2019 @ 04:52 PM

3. 1 Posted by rmmarsh on Apr 03, 2019 @ 04:54 PM

   

   As stated above, I have apparently closed more than one category with a balance; question now is: how do I correct this without changing the current balance, only changing what affects the reconcile beginning statement balance?

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4. 2 Posted by dwg on Apr 03, 2019 @ 08:33 PM

   

   I'm a fellow user.

   There is no safe way to delete categories that contain transactions. Delete them and it really does delete them. You cannot have a transaction in an account with no category so it has to go too. So you have lost transaction information from the account.

   To change the Initial balance use the menu option Tools --> Accounts select the Account you wish to change and then select Edit and change the initial balance in the window displayed.

   In future is is suggested you mark categories you no long want to use as Inactive.

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5. 3 Posted by rmmarsh on Apr 03, 2019 @ 08:35 PM

   

   Ahhh... "mark categories as inactive" hits the nail on the head!  Thank
   you so much, I appreciate your time.

   SD

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6. 4 Posted by rmmarsh on Apr 04, 2019 @ 03:10 PM

   

   DWG:  the direction to change the "initial balance" does nothing to the
   reconcile beginning statement balance... you have another suggestion?

   SD

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7. 5 Posted by dwg on Apr 04, 2019 @ 08:13 PM

   

   It should have an effect.

   The beginning statement balance is defined as:

   Initial Balance of the Account + Cleared Deposits - Cleared Payments

   I'd be double checking everything and even restarting Moneydance to ensure the new value is being read.

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8. 6 Posted by rmmarsh on Apr 05, 2019 @ 02:44 PM

   

   DWG: how about this: I have transactions going back to 2015... if I delete ALL of the prior years to 2018, and put in a "reconciling deposit" to effectively bring my balance up to what it was at a point in 2018 according to the banks statement of account, it should then allow me to balance from that point forward. This would take care of any categories I deleted which, as stated, I believe to be the cause of the problem

   I would be very interested in your (or other's ) comments as to the viability of this plan.

   Regards, Rolf (SD)

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9. 7 Posted by dwg on Apr 05, 2019 @ 08:43 PM

   

   The trouble with deleting all transaction before a certain date is that it deletes all transfers as well, so it can throw out other accounts. If there are investment accounts that can get tricky as you often need all the earlier transaction history like buys, sells, Dividends, captal returns etc so you can be left with a real mess to clean up.

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10. 8 Posted by rmmarsh on Apr 05, 2019 @ 08:45 PM

    

    I did it, and after a bit of maneuvering, it's balancing... thank you
    for your help... I truly appreciate it.

    Rolf

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11. rmmarsh closed this discussion on Apr 05, 2019 @ 08:54 PM.