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Accounts and Categories -

Moneydance supports a variety of account types as well as income and expense categories.

You can add, edit, and delete accounts and categories, via either Tools --> Accounts, or Tools --> Categories, and can find more details in this article.

All accounts, aside from Investment Accounts, can be specified as a “Child of” (sub-account of) another account or category of the same type.

Accounts

Types of Accounts -

Bank Accounts represent accounts like checking and savings.

Credit Card Accounts keep track of your current balance on a single credit card. The balance of your credit card account represents your current debt on that card.

Investment Accounts hold securities (stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc.) as well as cash. Investment accounts support entry of standard bank transactions. For more information see the User Guide, Chapter 7.

Asset Accounts are a “catchall” account. They can be used to track the value of a home, to keep a household inventory for insurance purposes, or track any other items you would like included in your net worth.

Liability Accounts are another “catchall”. This could be used to track other liabilities you would like included in your net worth.

Loan Accounts track a loan with regularly scheduled payments, a known interest rate, and a fixed starting debt. When you open a loan account in Moneydance you can choose to add the principal of your new loan to the balance of another account.

Create an Account -

To create an account go to Accounts→New Account. You will then be prompted to select which type
of account you would like to create: Bank, Credit Card, Investment, Asset, Liability, or Loan.

After selecting the account type an account creation window will appear, where you can enter the name, Initial Balance, Account and Routing numbers, Currency Type (by default this is the Base Currency of your data set), and other important information.

The Account Name, Start Date, Initial Balance, and Currency Type fields are required, all other fields are optional.

If you do not select a “Default Category” for the account, the first existing category in your data set (in alphabetical order) will be selected.

Edit, or Delete Accounts -

You can easily edit or delete accounts through the Tools→Accounts menu item.

To edit an existing account highlight the account’s name and click “Edit”; to delete an account highlight the account’s name and click “Delete”. Deleting an account will also delete all transactions in that account or category.

Closing Accounts -

If you have closed a bank account, or have categories you no longer have need of, you can mark these accounts as “Inactive” to prevent them from being shown in drop down lists in account registers or being sync’d with your mobile devices.

To mark an account/category as inactive, check the “Inactive” box. This item is distinct from the “Hide on Summary Page if balance is zero” option. Inactive accounts are still accessible from reports, and can be unmarked as Inactive (i.e., returned to active use) at any time.

Categories

Types of Categories -

Income Categories track where your money is coming from.

Expense Categories track where your money is going.

Create, Edit, or Delete Categories through the Tools menu -

You can create, edit or delete categories through the Tools→Categories menu item.To create a new category click “New”. To edit an existing category highlight the category’s name and click “Edit”, to delete a category highlight the account’s name and click “Delete”. Deleting a category will also delete all transactions in that account or category.

Create Categories when entering transactions in the register -

You can easily create categories when entering a transaction. Type the name of the new category into the Category field and you’ll be offered the ability to create that category. Clicking on the “Create Category…” item will ask you to choose if the new category will be an income or expense category.

You’ll then be taken to the standard category creation window, where you can set a parent category (if desired), the currency of the category, and other standard options. When entering a split transaction, you can create multiple new categories from within the split entry window. You can read more about split transactions here.

VAT/GST Expense and Income Categories -

If you have enabled VAT/GST tracking in your Preferences, you can set the VAT tax rate when creating new categories. For more information on setting up and tracking VAT/GST spending, see this article or the User Guide, Chapter 14, Page 79.

Tax Related Expense and Income Categories -

You can designate an income or expense category as “Tax Related.” This will make reporting easier at tax time, and is available as an option in the 'Income and Expense' and 'Detailed Income and Expense' reports.

Closing Categories -

If you have categories you no longer have need of, you can mark it as“Inactive” to prevent them from being shown in drop down lists in account registers. Inactive categories are still accessible from reports, and can be unmarked as Inactive (i.e., returned to active use) at any time. To mark an category as inactive, check the “Inactive” box.