Imbalances

[Mike or Penny Novack]

>I use Suspense for those transactions which I hope will be sorted out -
>a missing deposit or expense.
>I've got some phrase for expenses which are the money I spend from cash
>and have no hope of ever classifying. Things like the money I spent on
>fruit at a roadside stall.
>  
>
That is correct.

"Suspense" is where you (temporarily) dump amounts that you aren't 
prepared to deal with immediately. You might be needing to create some 
accounts not yet in existence or cancel the suspense amount with a 
refund check, etc. In a business, the suspense account is where (for 
example) they place a payment coming in and they don't know what for (a 
business properly doesn't keep checks sitting around undeposited). 
Suspense wouldn't usually be for an expense except in the case of "no 
account yet". For example, I might need to know till the next quarterly 
board meeting how the rest of the board of directors wants something 
handled.

"Miscellaneous" isn't all that unusual. Small items that don't properly 
fit a category and aren't going to have some reporting requirement might 
be lumped here. A good place if you are doing personal bookkeeping and 
can't remember where some small amounts went.

Michael