Calculated balance vs. actual (imported) balance

Google Sheets
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1

I noticed an offset in the “Budget Health” area of my Savings Budget that I think is due to some cash transactions I forgot to record manually.

Is there a way to compare the calculated balance of each account (i.e. the sum of all transactions to date) with the latest balance from the balance history page, whether that’s imported or manually entered?

I expected to find this on the Balances tab, but it’s not there.

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I may be misunderstanding your question, @mlux, but the Budget Health metric in the Savings Budget is intended to help insure your income & expenses balance so that you are not creating false/imagined savings. If you’re trying to use the tool to correlate your virtual Savings Budget savings to real-world bank accounts, I’d recommend the Savings & Debt template.

It’s a long thread but there may be some helpful discussion on the Budget Health metric in this thread.

1 Like
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Thanks, @randy! I wasn’t exactly sure what the Budget Health metric tracked, so that thread is great.

The other piece of my question is about how to make sure I’m not missing transactions for manually-added accounts. I’ve been using the Statements tab for accounts that have statements, but I suspect there are cash transactions I’ve forgotten to enter.

Is there anywhere where I could compare the latest manually-added balance of my “Cash” account to what it ought to be based on the transactions in Tiller? The Savings & Dept template isn’t right for this because I could be spending cash on anything – there isn’t an associated savings category.

4

So you have a manual account called “Cash”, @mlux? And you update the balance when you make an ATM withdrawal? And you have a separate “Cash” category that you use in the Transactions sheet to run down that balance? And you want to reconcile the cash (account) balance to the sum of the transactions?

I’m kind of guessing at your workflow here…

5

Sorry I never replied! Some life circumstances came up and I’ve been pretty offline.

You’re mostly right about my workflow:

  • I have a manual account called “:dollar: Cash”, and I categorize ATM withdrawals as a transfer. I manually add a transaction for the ATM withdrawal in the “:dollar: Cash” account so the transfer balances.
  • As I spend cash, I manually add transactions and categorize them based on what they’re for (groceries, coffee runs, …). I don’t have a specific ‘Cash’ category.
  • When I’m reconciling bank statements, I’ll also update the balance for the “:dollar: Cash” account based on what’s in my wallet.

I know there’s cash I’ve spent and forgotten to log, which would mean my savings budget is showing savings I don’t have. I’d like to create some sort of reconciliation transaction to get back on track, but I can’t figure out how to determine how much I’m off by.

Any tips?

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Hi @mlux,

I use the same method as you for handling cash transactions. The best way I can think of to determine your reconciliation amount is to compare your “wallet balance” with your “Cash” account. Then you can create your reconciliation transaction for the difference. I know that sounds pretty simple, but if all you are trying to do is catch up your “Cash” account with your actual cash on hand I think that is your best bet.