TRANSACTION REGISTER
The Transaction Register is the primary place where imported transactions are named and categorised.
While this can be done at the Search screen, such use does not have access to all of the features - particularly multiple naming, categorisation and multi-transaction Undo/Redo support.
BEFORE YOU START
Before you start there are some things that you should check.
Doing this will make it quicker and easier for you, this time and in the future.
That you have added all of your accounts and wallets;
That you have imported the correct statement
If you have imported a statement that uses a custom template file:
Check that the +/- signs are in the correct place
If they are not in the correct place you will need to:
- Clear the statement
- Update the Configuration
- Reimport the statement
Quick Process for Naming + Categorising your Transactions:
- Nominate your cash withdrawals to a wallet. These will then display beginning with “$CASH:”
- Nominate transfers between your bank accounts. These will then display beginning with “$TFR:”
- Name and Categorise the rest of your transactions.
- Check your statement over for accuracy
NAMING + CATEGORISING TRANSACTIONS
Naming + Categorising your transactions makes them available for use in reports and budgets. It also makes them easy to read, break down and search.
IMPORTANT THINGS YOU MUST KNOW ABOUT NAMING
1. Enter a name, rather than a category: e.g. “Coles Supermarkets”, not “Groceries”.
2. Use Reserved Names for allocating Cash withdrawals and Transfers These begin with “$CASH:” for Cash withdrawals and “$TFR:” for Transfers.
3. Use more specific names where possible. This will eliminate any confusion between similarly named transactions. E.g. “Freedom” could be many stores or services, whilst “Freedom Furniture” is likely to be only one or few.
Budgets Get Real learns which names and categories you associate with transactions. The more you enter the more it learns to do for you. This makes it quicker and easier to name + categorise transactions in the future.
The more that has been named and categorised, the more accurate your reports and budgets will be. You cannot effectively view reports or budgets without having named and categorised your transactions.
More information about Names and Naming can be found here.
More information about Categories and Categorising can be found here.
VIEWING YOUR TRANSACTIONS / MODES OF OPERATION
Select an Account from the main drop-down menu. For each account there are 4 main options possible:
Last Import
- Shows all transactions included in the last import for this account. Excluded transactions are shown separately. Shows the transaction date range but does not allow selection nor hiding of categorised transactions.
- Clear Statement facility allows to remove all transactions associated with the last Import and any naming, categorisation, inclusion/exclusion since that import. Furthermore statements can be removed successively for each account in import order.
- The primary purpose of this is to provide a simple way to correct changes to your import Configuration eg you set up the amount sign incorrectly - simply clear the Statement, change the configuration and re-import.
By Date
- Shows all transactions (for all imports) selected by date range nominated. Both From and To date can be specified blank - meaning no restriction.
- In addition results can be filtered to show only the Uncategorised transactions (not fully named and categorised).
Cheques / Checks
- Provides a register of all imported Cheque transactions as well as Unpresented (or Stopped) cheques that have been manually entered. When Import encounters an unpresented cheque with the same number as a transaction it wishes to import, the unpresented cheque is removed and replaced by the imported entry. The name and categorised account is used for the imported cheque.
- Where there is a discrepancy between the amount of the unpresented cheque and the importing entry, or the cheque is marked as stopped, an Disputed memo is generated an added to the imported entry. This immediately appears in the Operations monitor.
Excluded
- It is not uncommon for Credit Card statements to include entries designed to indicate that a purchase has been authorised but not yet debited against the account. These are used to calculate the “available balance” - which Budgets Get Real does not use. These most frequently display at the end of the statement period.
- These transactions should be Excluded otherwise one will get double-counting of these expenses. The Configuration section allows you to define rules to exclude such transactions. Nevertheless banks can change their standards without notice. To avoid any loss of transactions ALL excluded transactions (apart from statement lines without a valid date, amount and description) are recorded in an Excluded file. All transactions can be Included / Excluded at any time.
In the Transaction Register there are a number of visual elements that you might find useful. These elements signify something special about a particular transaction, usually because you have set an extra option. These elements show in the Name & Account and Memo & Job columns.
Indicates that multiple or split categories have been set for that transaction.
R A Reminder has been set for that transaction (Remind After Date)
W A Warrany Reminder has been set for that transaction
E Extra Notes have been set for this transaction
D This has been marked as a Disputed Transaction
SORTING RESULTS
You can sort your transactions in addition to any other groupings. You can sort the results for each account without having specified any additional criteria.
Sorting allows you to determine the order of display for your results. You can sort in ascending and descending order, through a number of different options.
All sorting controls exist within these headings.
Clicking on the name of a heading will allow you to sort, based on that particular column. You can sort using the columns Date, Transaction, Amount, Name, Account, Memo and Job. When a header is selected as the current sort option its name is underlined In this case we are sorting by ‘Date‘
You can switch between ascending and descending order using 
This works with each header that you can select (a selected header will display with the name underlined).
UNDO/REDO + CANCELLING AN ACTION
All Naming and Categorisation tasks (that potentially effect multiple entries) have access to an Undo/Redo facility. This applies only to the last task performed and is cancelled by any subsequent modification - may have its own Undo/Redo.
This does not apply to major tasks like Including / Excluding a transaction, or changing its status as a cheque entry.
X facility enables you to remove the name or category applied to that transaction.
X will appear next to any names or categories that can be removed, this includes cash and transfers. If categorised, you must remove the category before you can remove the name.
CHANGING THE TRANSACTION TYPE
Clicking on Transaction column will open the “Change Current Registry Entry” window. This allows you to:
- Include an entry in the Register from the Excluded list
- Remove an entry from the Register and add to the Excluded list
- Make an ordinary transaction as a cheque entry and allocate it a cheque number. Cheques cannot be created this way where conflict with currently reconciled cheques will occur i.e. cheque numbers must be unique. In the process any Unpresented cheque entries are adjusted.
- Remove cheque status from an entry and revert it to an ordinary transaction.
No facility is provided, or will be provided, to allow change to the date, amount or transaction description. This is essential to ensure the integrity of all imported transactions to audit. The import process ensures that all transactions on your statements are recorded in the register with none excluded and none added due to multiple attempts to import the same statement files or parts there-of.
If there is an anomaly due to, say, the sign of the transaction being imported, the import must be Cleared, the cause found and corrected, and the statement then re-imported.
TO ADD AN UNPRESENTED CHEQUE, STOP A CHEQUE
Select Cheques mode of operation.
To add a new entry select the Add Cheque link.
Budgets Get Real handles cheques differently from other accounting systems. In other systems you enter the cheque details and reconcile these against the bank statement. You need to enter ALL cheques to get the reconciliation to work. You need to enter all the details first - date, name, amount, descriptions and the reconciliation simply confirms the amount debited. This is unnecessary work for personal accounts where one really only wants a record of the payment - similar to the record of payment provided by a Credit Card statement.
Credit cards transactions are normally debited from your account within one or two days of purchase. Cheques can, however be written for substantial amounts and sometimes payees take a long time to deposit these to their accounts.
Budgets Get Real allows you to enter Cheques more as a budgeted item. You can enter these for the entries you deem necessary - i.e. cheques over a nominated amount or where you need to track presentation. The choice is up to you. When the cheque is presented at the bank the statement entry will automatically remove the unpresented entry - without need for the tedious reconciliation process.
Clearly any abnormalities need to be addressed with your bank - but this applies whatever software you use.
REMINDERS + NOTES
Once you have set a name you can set a note or a reminder. You may want to set a reminder or note if:
- You think that there is an error in your statement
- You want to make a note about a transaction
- It was a purchase that came with a warranty
Reminders are useful in all sorts of situations. You can use them to make notes on a transaction, for whatever purpose, but they are especially useful for incorrect cheques, transactions and for items that have a warranty attached to them.
