Split transcations question

[sendoake]

Hello,

I use iCash in Dutch language but I will try to ask my question in English.

I have a question about split transactions. The situation is like this: I go to the supermarket and buy food for 40 euro. At checkout, I ask the lady for 60 euro in cash, which she gives to me. She charges me 100 euro, which is the amount which shows up on my bankstatement.

When I book this transaction in iCash I do this. First I create a new transaction, from "Bank Account" to "Food" for 100 euro. Then I split that transaction, and add "Cash" as benificiary for 60 euro, leaving 40 euro for food.

However, what puzzles me, is that the split transaction in the list now shows 20 euro in black as the amount for this transaction, being 60 - 40.

Is this a bug, or is there a reason behind this which I do not understand?

Thanks in advance for your answer!

 

[stanbusk]

Have you tried to enter the transactions and then group them?

 

[sendoake]

Hey Stanbusk,

thanks for your reply.

I now tried entering each transaction separetely, then select en right-click -> group.

However, the result is the same as the one described above.

I must add that the balance of my account seems to be OK, only the line with that grouped transaction shows a wrong amount...

 

[stanbusk]

The amount should be the sum of the grouped transactions, except if you have entered an unsupported type of transaction, for example a transaction between an income account and an expense account. Can you check that?

 

[sendoake]

Hi Stanbusk,

the two transactions I grouped are:

Bank Account -> Food (Expense account)
Bank Account -> Cash (both Bank Accounts)

 

[stanbusk]

Ok, I will have a look.

 

[sendoake]

Ok, I will have a look.

If you want to, I could send you the file.

 

[sendoake]

Here is a screenshot of the transaction I seem to have problems with

 

[stanbusk]

What total are you expecting?

 

[sendoake]

What total are you expecting?

87,07 as that is the amount that will go off my bankacount: the sum of the 37,07 I paid for the food I purchased plus the 50 euro in cash that the lady at the checkout handed to my on my demand (cash withdrawal).

What amount were you expecting?

 

[stanbusk]

Actually the second transaction is a transfer between 2 accounts, bank to Cash, both of same type. The first one is an expense. We group two transactions that have absolutely no relation. Perhaps you should set 'Cash' as an expense... then the total will be as you expect.

 

[sendoake]

Hi Stan,

thanks for your reply.

Today I had a similar transaction. I bought food at the shop for 26.41 euro, and asked for 50 euro in cash. This appears on my bankstatement as a 76.41 euro purchase.

I booked it in iCash today, as a split transaction.

At first, everything was right: it appears as 76.41 euro, which consists of a 26.41 euro purchase to "voeding" (food), and a 50 euro transfer to cash. See the lower screenshot, which is the transaction as it initially appeared.

But as I am writing this, I closed and reloaded iCash. Now I notice that the 76.41 euro split transaction has changed into a 23,59 euro transaction, still consisting of the same two amounts. Take a look at the upper screenshot, which occured after reloading iCash.

 

[stanbusk]

Both totals are correct and incorrect. I believe the total can be whatever, I mean, you sum 2 transactions with no relations, an expense and a bank transfer considering the Cash account is treated by iCash like a bank account. Personally I would never group such transactions, I will keep the transfer as a single ungrouped transaction. It is just an opinion, what do you think?

 

[sendoake]

I would be happier with iCash showing the same amount as my bankaccount does, namely the sum of the two amounts (eg 25 food purchase + 50 euro cash withdrawal = 75 euro off my bankaccount).

I find that to be the best solution for the situations in which you pay for items and add a withdrawal to it...

How would you book such a transation in iCash? Setting "Cash" as an Expense account, as you suggested earlier in this thread, does not seem like a good solution to me...

 

[stanbusk]

Create another account and call it another way, 'Petty Cash'? Believe me, this is way to go.

 

[sendoake]

OK Stan, I'll do that. Thank you.

 

[casurina]

Re: Split transactions question

I agree with sendoake. It seems wrong to make a bank account into an expense account just so that grouping can work. How can you reconcile the bank accounts? I'm new to Icash so I might be missing the point. I do remember that this was not a problem with MS Money, it's not a problem with Intuit Quickbooks and I don't think it was a problem with the old Quicken (UK version).

 

[stanbusk]

Hum... you are not making a bank account into an expense account at all... You are using an expense account to store the money from the cashier.

 

[casurina]

Sorry, didn't explain well. I meant create an expenses account in addition to the existing bank account. Perhaps another example.
If my bank pays £100 from account Bank 1 and pays £90 into my other Bank Account 2 and charges £10 fee how would you deal with that.
Thanks

 

[stanbusk]

Your exemple is quite different. This post actually is about getting cash at a grocery store and grouping that transaction with the expenses in that store. This is a interesting subject actually but your case is different, you want to group a bank fee with a transfer. You should not have any problem with that.