Miscategorized Credit Card Fees

Mark Johnson mrj001 at shaw.ca
Tue Jun 26 16:37:50 EDT 2007


Using the options dialog, you can modify which accounts are in the 
circle.  I do this for my credit cards, to get a more accurate picture 
of where the money went, and how much came in/went out in a given month.

I exclude certain asset accounts from the circle.  Thus, my custom 
report makes my car savings, pension, etc. look like cash outflows.

I pay the credit cards off in full each month.  If one pays only the 
minimum (and has the credit cards outside the "circle"), your cash flow 
can look great when, in fact, you have grossly overspent.  The profit & 
loss/income statement would show a loss under that circumstance.

Both reports should be used together to see a complete picture of how 
you are doing.

Mark

warlord at MIT.EDU wrote:
> The problem here is not categorization, but rather the report you
> used.  The Cash Flow report is reporting, well, Cash Flow.  Please
> search for previous emails about this; the report works as it's
> supposed to, but to the casual observer it may be a little confusing.
> Basically, imagine that you draw a circle around the accounts in
> the report.  The Cash Flow report will report ONLY on transaction that
> cross the line.  So if you have your credit card and your expense account
> BOTH outside the "cirle", then the Cash Flow wont report it (because
> it doesn't cross the line).
>
> It sounds like you want a report of how much you spent on a particular
> expense, regardless of how you paid for it.  This is called a Profit
> and Loss report, or, in 2.x, the Income Statement.  The Income Statement
> is the PnL report, renamed.   This report tells you how much you gained
> from each income and how much you spent on each particular expense.  Try
> that for what you want.
>
> Enjoy!
>
> -derek
>
> Quoting Daniel <daniel.carrera at zmsl.com>:
>
>   
>> Hello Steve,
>>
>> You are right that all your medical expenses should appear under
>> expenses whether you paid by credit card or some other method.
>>
>> Where is your credit card account in GnuCash? It should be under
>> Liabilities. Did you put it under expenses?
>>
>> You should have an account for your credit card under liabilities.
>> Something like "Liabilities:Credit Card". This account should show the
>> balance on your credit card. Every time you pay for a medical expense
>> with a credit card you should enter a transaction that involves the
>> credit card account and your "Expenses:Medical" account. Is this what
>> you've been doing?
>>
>> Daniel.
>>
>> JUNIPER wrote:
>>     
>>>    I noticed that when I get a "Cash Flow" report for this year, Medical
>>> Expenses (excl insurance) showed $364, whereas we've spent thousands. It
>>> looks to me like the missing expenditures appear under my credit card,
>>> along with other expenses. This presents an inaccurate picture.
>>>     This doesn't seem right to me. I spent the money on medicine (or
>>> other categories), not on the credit card. The credit card is just a
>>> vehicle. Shouldn't items we pay for by credit card fall into the same
>>> categories as if I had paid cash or by check? (Credit card fees and/or
>>> interest would be another matter).
>>>     Appreciatively,
>>>     Steve J
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>
>
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