[17.8.3] Added "Bank Accounts" tab

More than one year ago, Bank Accounts tab has been removed and merged into Cash Accounts tab. The main reason was that both tabs were behaving the same way and it felt the right thing to do at the time.

It seems like there is a major distinction between cash accounts and bank accounts which means they ought to be under their own tabs after all.

Terminology aside, we have “cash accounts” which are managed internally (petty cash, cash float etc.) and cash accounts which are managed by someone else (e.g. bank accounts, credit cards, bank loans, PayPal accounts, merchant accounts).

Depending whether accounts are managed internally or externally means you will use different workflow. For example, accounts managed internally (petty cash, cash float) will have transactions recorded manually, there won’t be outstanding deposits or pending withdrawals, there won’t be any importing of statements, bulk-categorization using bank rules nor reconciliation process.

On the other hand, externally-managed accounts (bank accounts, credit cards, bank loans, PayPal accounts, merchant accounts) will typically have all that. Statements will be imported, transactions will be bulk-categorized, reconciliation will be done, pending withdrawals and deposits will be tracked etc.

When both internally and externally managed cash accounts are in the single tab, it’s difficult to build an intuitive interface which will cater properly for both workflows at the same time. You might have noticed things are not ideal. Bank reconciliation has been tucked away under Reports tab, bank rules have been tucked away under Settings etc.

The latest version therefore re-introduces two tabs: Bank accounts & Cash accounts.

The naming of these tabs is not ideal (e.g PayPal is not a bank but it should be created as a bank account in Manager). However it’s the best terminology we have.

How to decide whether an account holding cash is bank or cash account? Use the simple rule:

If you manage an account by yourself, it’s a cash account. If it’s managed by someone else, it’s a bank account

This is because if the account is managed by someone else, you will probably not be recording transactions in Manager manually. You’d trigger transaction in external system (Internet banking app, PayPal website etc) and then download statement which you’d import into Manager, bulk-categorize, reconcile etc.

Therefore Bank Accounts tab will be built around the idea of importing statements while Cash Accounts tab will be built around the idea of manually recording them. It will be still possible to enter transactions manually into Bank Accounts tab or import into Cash Accounts tab but these options will be de-emphasized.

To wrap it all up. The reason behind having two tabs is because workflow is expected to be different in both.

Also, some users might find it nicer when bank accounts have their own special place in the program.

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what happens to the accounts already setup under the cash accounts? will the account under cash accounts set as maintained by a bank automatically migrate to the new Bank Accounts?

@sharpdrivetek Yes. As a result, a lot of people might just see Bank Accounts tab (after upgrading) if all their cash accounts have been bank accounts.

thank you. will update and check.

the term de-emphasized is ok as long is it does not change to obsolete later. its always easier to be able to make manual entry.

We need a Transfer money capability under the new Cash Accounts tab. Otherwise, a simple deposit from a petty cash fund or till requires multiple transactions.

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One problem noted after update.

a transfer between a bank account and cash account receipt does not show the account name of the cash account under the description. but it shows on the transaction summary list. just not on the receipt. I am not sure about new transfers to be made.

One other thing i have noted irrespective of this update. since this topic is about bank accounts i will explain with the same.

in the above image, a few transactions were made on 17th May. the amount 41000 was received first and spent later. but the summary order is not correct. maybe because the transaction recorded do not have a timestamp. this is the same with all the summary and not the cash accounts alone. maybe you can look into this sometime.

@Tut, fixed in the latest version (17.8.5)

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I can confirm this problem, @lubos. And it happens in both directions; that is, it does not matter whether the money is an outflow from or inflow to the cash account. In either situation, the name of the cash account is missing from the transfer form.

Cash on Hand in Summary is showing a negative balance, even when i had entered a opening balance.

Cash Account Tab

Summary Tab

@lubos [URGENT FIX NEEDED] there must be some omission in the coding which is causing the opening cash balances not to show.

Even Reports are the same.

i can confirm this problem. the cash on hand in summary does not show the starting balance set for a cash account.

also the

Summary / Starting balance equity doesnt show the cash balance.

the accounting equation is correct, but opening balance of Cash in hand is completely missing.

@spandan888 fixed in the latest version (17.8.6)

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ok thanks, will download.

7 posts were split to a new topic: User permissions and cash accounts

Hi Lubos i have an issue after separation, in my bank account transaction, any transfer done from cash account to bank account showing zero and bank balance is gone negative fully .

in short cash account to bank account transfer value is showing zero.

please advise.

@Laxman_Singh had you selected the “this account is maintained by a bank” while making the bank account in previous version?

I cannot reproduce this problem. Please provide screen shots of the transfer entry form and the results.

@Laxman_Singh this has been already reported and fixed in the latest version so just upgrade.

i have a cloud addition, do i need to upgrade also if so how ?