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Scheduled transactions and weekends

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PrinterElf

10 Oct, 2009 02:28 PM

Hey Guys,
Great piece of software, even if the UK banking system won't let me connect my accounts to it online!

My problem arises from the fact that it seems the banks' computers over here don't work weekends! If I have any scheduled/regular transactions (direct debits, standing orders, my pay!) that are set to happen at a weekend, or a national holiday, then they don't, they will happen either on the working day before, or after. Whereas if I set the transaction up manually, then generally it will happen when I specify it to!
What I'd like to be able to do is to schedule repeat transactions in Moneydance with the option of 'on or before', 'on or after', or 'on' the date entered.

An example is perhaps the best means of explanation:
Take an Easter weekend (Good Friday [13th], Easter Saturday [14th] Easter Sunday [15th], Easter Monday [16th])
Good Friday and Easter Monday are national holidays, so no automatic banking, the same goes for Easter Sat & Sun as the weekend.

I usually get paid on 15th of each month. Unless the 15th is either a NH or WE, in which case I get paid on the last working day before the 15th. So in the above example, Thursday 12th. So I would like to be able to specify my pay as a recurring transaction happening 'on or before' 15th of each month.
Conversely, any debits to my account happen on the next working day after they're scheduled. So if I have a standing order to pay my rent set for 15th, then the transaction won't happen until Tuesday 17th, so I would like to specify it as 'on or after' 15th.

I understand this would require knowledge of a variety of national holidays, perhaps to be associated with the currency or locale of the account, but it should be fairly easy to find a full list somewhere?

1. 1 Posted by Colin Tomlinson on 10 Oct, 2009 07:07 PM

   

   Hi Printer Elf - I'm another UK MD user.

   In accounting generally, it's often accepted that transactions may be a couple of days astray. For instance, your employer will send your pay a couple of days in advance for it to reach your bank account on or before the 15th of each month - and I strongly suspect that the date to send it is calculated manually - ie noting if the 15th lands on a weekend or bank holiday, counting backwards to the last working day, then back 3 more to ensure your bank credit arrives on time.

   Not so much of a problem in this instance, but what about when you pay your credit card? It appears on your bank statement the day you sent it, and on the credit card statement the date it was received. To incorporate this state of "limbo" into your personal accounting records would cause a real headache.

   [Nerd Note: it's possible - just set up an "in transit" account, send the money from your bank to the in transit account on the date you make the payment, then transfer it from there to the credit card account a few days later.]

   Now, it is becoming possible for the banks to transfer money more or less instantly (in the UK) although they are currently deciding when and when not to use the Faster Payment system.

   Using the reminders, you'll see a list of due transactions. If you spot one that is going to be slightly different this month, you can simply click on it, then edit the date before recording it.

   However, let's remember that your instruction to the bank is to make the payment on a particular date. When it's a day or so later (because they were closed), it's just that: late. Your records are correct, the bank caught up as soon as they could afterwards. It's best for you to already consider the money gone.

   I wonder how you would have ever coped using cheques, where the payment actually leaves your account a few days after the payee chooses to present the cheque - which could be anything up to six months later. Then one simply ignored whatever the bank reported as the balance - except for the purpose of reconciling payments that had cleared.

   With regard to Easter, the date changes every year, so an algorithm would be needed to calculate the date. There's also an immense amount of work collecting the dates of local holidays from every country.

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2. 2 Posted by Angie Rauscher on 06 Nov, 2009 12:46 AM

   

   Dear
   

   Thank you for your suggestions for improvements to Moneydance. I apologize for the lateness of this response, we are working hard to keep up with the volume of support inquires and suggestions we receive.

   Our wiki is integrated with our feature request and bug reporting system. Please feel free to use these systems to help improve Moneydance by bringing bugs to our attention and requesting new features. We now also have voting on all existing tickets, which helps us determine which requests have the most demand.

   Please let me know if I can be of further assistance, and thank you for your interest in Moneydance.

   Angie Rauscher
   Moneydance Support

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3. Angie Rauscher closed this discussion on 24 Jul, 2011 07:03 PM.