Accounting Periods

[Mike or Penny Novack]

In reality the cash is in the savings account, but on my books it is 
not. The goal accounts make it look like it is empty. As far as my 
wife's incomes that we use for the living expenses and her savings, Cash 
Flow reports are good enough, But I do have it in a budget. Someone 
taught me how to pull monthly budget reports with just the three columns 
for Budget Actual and Difference the way I am used to dealing with it.

If you want the savings account to reflect what is actually in there but 
also to have these reserve accounts (what I will call your "goal 
accounts") simply put them as children. In other words, this is just a 
"chart of accounts" issue. Suppose you had this structure:

Savings account #12264    ( a placeholder)
     Unallocated savings        (what isn't in reserve)
     Reserve for annual tax bill    (as the name says)
     ....... your other reserve funds

Now the total will match your bank statement for account #12264

Where were you putting these "goal accounts"?

Michael D Novack