Subaccounts [WAS Re: Future allocated money vs Budgets]

[Adrien Monteleone]

That’s an interesting use of future dated transactions. Thanks!


Regards,
Adrien

> On Jan 26, 2018, at 5:21 PM, Tommy Trussell <tommy.trussell at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I was following the budget discussion, and I decided to split my comment
> into a different thread. I'm not responding to any particular comment, and
> this isn't quite germane to budgeting.
> 
> But I want to clear up a few misunderstandings I'm seeing folks express
> about reconciling with sub-accounts. Subaccounts work very well, but they
> do take a little maintenance.
> 
> WHEN TO USE SUBACCOUNTS
> 
> You can use subaccounts for several purposes, including budgeting, holding
> onto money that isn't "yours" (a bond you're holding from a contractor for
> successful completion of a project, for instance), identifying earmarked
> funds, OR (as in the example below) simply stopping yourself from spending
> down the account more than you'd like.
> 
> (If folks have additional suggested uses for subaccounts, bring em on!)
> 
> EXAMPLE: MINIMUM BALANCE VIEW
> 
> Here's a real-world (well it's real in MY world) example -- avoiding
> "minimum balance" fees. The bank name has been changed to protect the
> bookkeeper. ;-)
> 
> I have a checking account at BigBank.
> 
> Assets:Current Assets:BigBank Checking
> 
> The terms on that bank account say it doesn't cost me anything UNLESS the
> balance drops below $2500, at which point I have to pay $8.50/month. (There
> are some other miscellaneous fees, all higher when the balance goes low.)
> 
> SO to help avoid the $8.50/month expense, I created a sub account:
> 
> Assets:Current Assets:BigBank Checking:Minimum Balance
> 
> Then I created a transaction dated 2/15/2015, transferring $2500 from the
> account to its subaccount:
> 
> (This is a representation of the BigBank Checking two-line auto-split
> register. Items in the right column are "cr" and items in the left column
> are "dr".)
> 
>  2/15/2015 min Minimum Balance   2500.00cr
>    Assets:Current Assets:BigBank Checking:Minimum Balance   $2500.00dr
>    Assets:Current Assets:BigBank Checking   $2500.00cr
> 
> When I reconciled my account the first time after creating this
> transaction, I made sure to tick the "Include Subaccounts" checkbox on the
> Reconcile Information dialog. I (as always) verified the ENDING balance
> information exactly as it was shown on the bank's statement.
> 
> Also that first time I reconciled, I noticed TWO items to clear that
> weren't actually on the bank statement -- $2500 in the funds in side and
> $2500 in the funds out side of the reconcile window. I marked them BOTH as
> "cleared."
> 
> From now on, I notice a few things have changed from before --
> 
> o - My default balance when I reconcile AND the running balance in the
> BigBank Checking register will always show $2500 lower than I actually
> have.
> 
> o - When I reconcile I always have to remember to override the default and
> enter the ENDING balance as it is shown on BigBank's statement.
> 
> o - When I reconcile the "Include Subaccounts" checkbox is ticked and it
> needs to stay ticked. (It seems to "remember" the setting from session to
> session, as you would hope.)
> 
> o - I also notice when I'm reconciling that when I "jump" to a transaction
> by double-clicking on an item in the funds in / funds out lists, the
> transaction opens into a different kind of "general ledger" style register
> that includes ALL transactions in the account and subaccounts. It exactly
> resembles the kind of register that appears when you search for
> transactions. It has a "plus" (+) mark in its tab and looks different from
> the "ordinary" register.
> 
> 
> Obviously at any time I can "overspend" and the primary account balance
> will go negative, with either dire or negligible real-world repercussions.
> But if I ignore the red (negative) balance numbers and keep the balances in
> the red, I've eliminated the reason for having the subaccount in the first
> place.
> 
> I can raise or lower the minumum balance at any time by creating another
> transaction between the account and subaccount.
> 
> 
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