Transfers Question

Posted by John Pollard on February 4, 2007, 4:05 pm

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Sharif wrote:

> On Feb 4, 10:33 am, "John Pollard" wrote:

>> Sharif wrote:

>>> On Feb 3, 9:47 pm, "John Pollard" wrote:

>>>> Sharif wrote:

>>>>> Whenever I transfer money from a Business Account to a

>>>>> Cash Flow account, it is marked as an expense. Is

>>>>> there a way to make it so that it isnt an expense?

>>>> What would you like it to be?

>>> Just a transfer I guess. It messes up my reports to see

>>> money that is being transferred between accounts as

>>> expenses when they aren't being spent on anything.

>> All Quicken categories (and a transfer is categorized)

>> are basically either income or expense; there's no other

>> place to put them.

>> But you don't have to include any particular category in

>> any report. And Quicken does recognize that transfers

>> are special animals; that's why, for example, many

>> reports separate transfers into separate groups from

>> regular income or regular expenses; why most reports

>> allow you to "Exclude All" (or "Internal") "transfers";

>> and why transfer "categories" are available on the

>> "Categories" tab in the Customize dialog for reports, so

>> you can treat each transfer category separately, if you

>> choose.

>> So if the transfer is already being reported in its own

>> "Transfers" group, I don't think you can improve on that

>> and still report the transfer at all. (Though you can

>> give transfers a "Category Group" of your choice to

>> separate them too.). If you are looking at a report of

>> expenses, perhaps you just don't want to see the

>> transfer at all: so exclude it from the report; either

>> at the "category" level, or by excluding all transfers.

> Thanks a lot for clearing that up. Two days into using

> Quicken and my account skills are improving :)

> How would I categorize a credit card bill/payment for a

> card I use on everyday expenses?

If you're using a Quicken transfer for the payment, you can't
further categorize it. And assuming you are tracking the credit
card expenditures in Quicken, the actual expenses are already
accounted for in your credit card account.

If you are printing an expense report, you can probably just
eliminate the transfer transactions (FROM checking, and TO
credit card) from the report. If you are printing a cash flow
report, Quicken will probably put the FROM and TO halves of the
transfer where they belong.

--
John Pollard
First initial underscore Last name at mchsi dot com
Please reply to newsgroup

Posted by Sharif on February 4, 2007, 6:23 pm

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> Sharif wrote:

> > On Feb 4, 10:33 am, "John Pollard" wrote:

> >> Sharif wrote:

> >>> On Feb 3, 9:47 pm, "John Pollard" wrote:

> >>>> Sharif wrote:

> >>>>> Whenever I transfer money from a Business Account to a

> >>>>> Cash Flow account, it is marked as an expense. Is

> >>>>> there a way to make it so that it isnt an expense?

> >>>> What would you like it to be?

> >>> Just a transfer I guess. It messes up my reports to see

> >>> money that is being transferred between accounts as

> >>> expenses when they aren't being spent on anything.

> >> All Quicken categories (and a transfer is categorized)

> >> are basically either income or expense; there's no other

> >> place to put them.

> >> But you don't have to include any particular category in

> >> any report. And Quicken does recognize that transfers

> >> are special animals; that's why, for example, many

> >> reports separate transfers into separate groups from

> >> regular income or regular expenses; why most reports

> >> allow you to "Exclude All" (or "Internal") "transfers";

> >> and why transfer "categories" are available on the

> >> "Categories" tab in the Customize dialog for reports, so

> >> you can treat each transfer category separately, if you

> >> choose.

> >> So if the transfer is already being reported in its own

> >> "Transfers" group, I don't think you can improve on that

> >> and still report the transfer at all. (Though you can

> >> give transfers a "Category Group" of your choice to

> >> separate them too.). If you are looking at a report of

> >> expenses, perhaps you just don't want to see the

> >> transfer at all: so exclude it from the report; either

> >> at the "category" level, or by excluding all transfers.

> > Thanks a lot for clearing that up. Two days into using

> > Quicken and my account skills are improving :)

> > How would I categorize a credit card bill/payment for a

> > card I use on everyday expenses?

> If you're using a Quicken transfer for the payment, you can't

> further categorize it. And assuming you are tracking the credit

> card expenditures in Quicken, the actual expenses are already

> accounted for in your credit card account.

> If you are printing an expense report, you can probably just

> eliminate the transfer transactions (FROM checking, and TO

> credit card) from the report. If you are printing a cash flow

> report, Quicken will probably put the FROM and TO halves of the

> transfer where they belong.

> --

> John Pollard

> First initial underscore Last name at mchsi dot com

> Please reply to newsgroup

Okay last transfers question (I promise)

When I receive payments for invoices in "Accounts Recievables", I
place payments in a faux-account called "Customer Payments". I'm
trying to setup a weekly income report so I can view how much I've
generated total for the week (Quicken doesn't seem to have that report
preset). When I record payments, it doesn't let me categorize myself,
it just uses "Transfer From/To: Customer Payments".

How can I add invoice payments to a report?

Posted by John Pollard on February 5, 2007, 10:51 am

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Sharif wrote:

> wrote:

>> Sharif wrote:

>>> On Feb 4, 10:33 am, "John Pollard" wrote:

>>>> Sharif wrote:

>>>>> On Feb 3, 9:47 pm, "John Pollard" wrote:

>>>>>> Sharif wrote:

>>>>>>> Whenever I transfer money from a Business Account

>>>>>>> to a Cash Flow account, it is marked as an expense.

>>>>>>> Is there a way to make it so that it isnt an

>>>>>>> expense?

>>>>>> What would you like it to be?

>>>>> Just a transfer I guess. It messes up my reports to

>>>>> see money that is being transferred between accounts

>>>>> as expenses when they aren't being spent on anything.

>>>> All Quicken categories (and a transfer is categorized)

>>>> are basically either income or expense; there's no

>>>> other place to put them.

>>>> But you don't have to include any particular category

>>>> in any report. And Quicken does recognize that

>>>> transfers are special animals; that's why, for

>>>> example, many reports separate transfers into separate

>>>> groups from regular income or regular expenses; why

>>>> most reports allow you to "Exclude All" (or

>>>> "Internal") "transfers"; and why transfer "categories"

>>>> are available on the "Categories" tab in the Customize

>>>> dialog for reports, so you can treat each transfer

430 No such article
Sharif wrote:

> wrote:

>> Sharif wrote:

>>> On Feb 4, 10:33 am, "John Pollard" wrote:

>>>> Sharif wrote:

>>>>> On Feb 3, 9:47 pm, "John Pollard" wrote:

>>>>>> Sharif wrote:

>>>>>>> Whenever I transfer money from a Business Account

>>>>>>> to a Cash Flow account, it is marked as an expense.

>>>>>>> Is there a way to make it so that it isnt an

>>>>>>> expense?

>>>>>> What would you like it to be?

>>>>> Just a transfer I guess. It messes up my reports to

>>>>> see money that is being transferred between accounts

>>>>> as expenses when they aren't being spent on anything.

>>>> All Quicken categories (and a transfer is categorized)

>>>> are basically either income or expense; there's no

>>>> other place to put them.

>>>> But you don't have to include any particular category

>>>> in any report. And Quicken does recognize that

>>>> transfers are special animals; that's why, for

>>>> example, many reports separate transfers into separate

>>>> groups from regular income or regular expenses; why

>>>> most reports allow you to "Exclude All" (or

>>>> "Internal") "transfers"; and why transfer "categories"

>>>> are available on the "Categories" tab in the Customize

>>>> dialog for reports, so you can treat each transfer

>>>> category separately, if you choose.

>>>> So if the transfer is already being reported in its own

>>>> "Transfers" group, I don't think you can improve on

>>>> that and still report the transfer at all. (Though

>>>> you can give transfers a "Category Group" of your

>>>> choice to separate them too.). If you are looking at

>>>> a report of expenses, perhaps you just don't want to

>>>> see the transfer at all: so exclude it from the

>>>> report; either at the "category" level, or by

>>>> excluding all transfers.

>>> Thanks a lot for clearing that up. Two days into using

>>> Quicken and my account skills are improving :)

>>> How would I categorize a credit card bill/payment for a

>>> card I use on everyday expenses?

>> If you're using a Quicken transfer for the payment, you

>> can't further categorize it. And assuming you are

>> tracking the credit card expenditures in Quicken, the

>> actual expenses are already accounted for in your credit

>> card account.

>> If you are printing an expense report, you can probably

>> just eliminate the transfer transactions (FROM checking,

>> and TO credit card) from the report. If you are

>> printing a cash flow report, Quicken will probably put

>> the FROM and TO halves of the transfer where they belong.

>> --

>> John Pollard

>> First initial underscore Last name at mchsi dot com

>> Please reply to newsgroup

> Okay last transfers question (I promise)

> When I receive payments for invoices in "Accounts

> Recievables", I place payments in a faux-account called

> "Customer Payments". I'm trying to setup a weekly income

> report so I can view how much I've generated total for

> the week (Quicken doesn't seem to have that report

> preset). When I record payments, it doesn't let me

> categorize myself, it just uses "Transfer From/To:

> Customer Payments".

> How can I add invoice payments to a report?

I'm afraid I don't understand the problem. What report are you
trying to create? How does the "Income/Expense" report, for
example, not report what you want to see? Why isn't the total
of your transfers to the Customer Payments account for the week,
the total you want?

--
John Pollard
First initial underscore Last name at mchsi dot com
Please reply to newsgroup

Posted by R. C. White on May 16, 2007, 10:16 am

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Hi, Sharif.

If you still have this question (from this 3-month-old thread), maybe I can
help with at least some of it.

> When I receive payments for invoices in "Accounts Recievables", I

> place payments in a faux-account called "Customer Payments". I'm

> trying to setup a weekly income report so I can view how much I've

> generated total for the week (Quicken doesn't seem to have that report

Please do not confuse "cash flow" with "income". It's a common mistake.
Quicken can produce either a "cash flow" statement or an "income" statement,
but they usually should not be identical.

You have not told us which version of Quicken you are using. From your
questions, I'm guessing that it's Quicken 2007 Home & Business, since it
handles invoices and Accounts Receivable.

When you issue an invoice for work you've done or products you've delivered,
you have created gross income; that's what you record by increasing your
income category and your customer's account in Accounts Receivable. But
that does not immediately produce cash flow. When you receive your
customer's check, you should increase your bank balance or cash on hand, and
decrease Accounts Receivable. The receipt of the payment is cash flow, but
the income has already been recorded and the cash receipt must not be
recorded as income a second time.

Your income statement should report all your sales during the period,
whether for cash or on credit. Your cash flow report should show the cash
sales, plus collections on prior credit sales, but not new credit sales for
which you've not yet received payment.

A sale (documented by an invoice) increases an income category and an asset
(cash or a receivable), so it appears in your Income Statement. Collection
of an amount owed simply TRANSFERS an amount from one of your asset accounts
(Accounts Receivable) to a different asset account (Cash or Checking
Account). This is not income at this time; the transfer should show up in
Cash Flow but not in Income for this period.

Does this help?

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(Retired. No longer licensed to practice public accounting.)
rc@grandecom.net
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Currently running Vista Ultimate x64)

>> Sharif wrote:

>> > On Feb 4, 10:33 am, "John Pollard" wrote:

>> >> Sharif wrote:

>> >>> On Feb 3, 9:47 pm, "John Pollard" wrote:

>> >>>> Sharif wrote:

>> >>>>> Whenever I transfer money from a Business Account to a

>> >>>>> Cash Flow account, it is marked as an expense. Is

>> >>>>> there a way to make it so that it isnt an expense?

>> >>>> What would you like it to be?

>> >>> Just a transfer I guess. It messes up my reports to see

>> >>> money that is being transferred between accounts as

>> >>> expenses when they aren't being spent on anything.

>> >> All Quicken categories (and a transfer is categorized)

>> >> are basically either income or expense; there's no other

>> >> place to put them.

>> >> But you don't have to include any particular category in

>> >> any report. And Quicken does recognize that transfers

>> >> are special animals; that's why, for example, many

>> >> reports separate transfers into separate groups from

>> >> regular income or regular expenses; why most reports

>> >> allow you to "Exclude All" (or "Internal") "transfers";

>> >> and why transfer "categories" are available on the

>> >> "Categories" tab in the Customize dialog for reports, so

>> >> you can treat each transfer category separately, if you

>> >> choose.

>> >> So if the transfer is already being reported in its own

>> >> "Transfers" group, I don't think you can improve on that

>> >> and still report the transfer at all. (Though you can

>> >> give transfers a "Category Group" of your choice to

>> >> separate them too.). If you are looking at a report of

>> >> expenses, perhaps you just don't want to see the

>> >> transfer at all: so exclude it from the report; either

>> >> at the "category" level, or by excluding all transfers.

>> > Thanks a lot for clearing that up. Two days into using

>> > Quicken and my account skills are improving :)

>> > How would I categorize a credit card bill/payment for a

>> > card I use on everyday expenses?

>> If you're using a Quicken transfer for the payment, you can't

>> further categorize it. And assuming you are tracking the credit

>> card expenditures in Quicken, the actual expenses are already

>> accounted for in your credit card account.

>> If you are printing an expense report, you can probably just

>> eliminate the transfer transactions (FROM checking, and TO

>> credit card) from the report. If you are printing a cash flow

>> report, Quicken will probably put the FROM and TO halves of the

>> transfer where they belong.

>> --

>> John Pollard

> Okay last transfers question (I promise)

> When I receive payments for invoices in "Accounts Recievables", I

> place payments in a faux-account called "Customer Payments". I'm

> trying to setup a weekly income report so I can view how much I've

> generated total for the week (Quicken doesn't seem to have that report

> preset). When I record payments, it doesn't let me categorize myself,

> it just uses "Transfer From/To: Customer Payments".

> How can I add invoice payments to a report?