Transfer transactions not showing - Setting up Accrual Accounting

Hello Everyone -

I am trying to set up Google Sheets for Accrual Accounting.

I would like my “Transfer” transactions to show on the Yearly Budget page within the Foundation Template using Google Sheets. Currently, I have tried to remove all text from the “Hide From Reports” column for these Category Items but the transactions do not show on the Yearly Budget. Is there something I can do for these items to show?

I monthly manually copy my monthly accrual transaction expense items onto the Transaction Page and then when the actual charge is received in the Update process, I charge those items to a similarly named Category as the accrued expense item but this one is labeled as a Payment item with the Type selected as a Transfer item. Then, on the Yearly Budget, I create a column labeled Accrued Savings that subtracts the Transfer year-to-date total from the Expense year-to-date total.

I have been successfully doing this working in Excel for most of the year but now Updates in Excel are screwing with my transaction data and it will not update. I am told by Tiller support that Tiller Excel is in beta and has not been shown to be stable and that Google Sheets is a better alternative.

I am sure there is a way to show the Transfer items on the Yearly Budget within Google Sheets but I need help. Is there someone that can assist me?

Thanks in advance.

@gsizemore486 Interesting process to bring accruals into your Tiller spreadsheet!!! I like it!

Having the transfer type/category not show up in the Yearly and Monthly reports is by design. Using the transfer category was intended to be used as a way to handle transactions associated with funds moving between two separate accounts that are both linked to your spreadsheet, that in most cases net to $0. Of course there are other workflows with using the transfer category as well. @randy Is there a way around this? Is it possible to show Transfer items on the Yearly Budget?

Warren, thank you for taking your time to review my spreadsheet issue. I really believe if somehow that the Transfer items can be allowed to show on the Yearly budget, not only myself but many users would enjoy the control this Accrual system allows over the budgeting process. First, it evens out the monthly expenses instead of annual charges for example that really mess up in a cash basis budget. Second, it creates individual accrued savings balances for each accrued expense item. So now, a user can see they have the money saved to pay these often large expenses when they occur.

Hey @gsizemore486!

The short answer is that this isn’t easy. The filter that removes Transfers from the Monthly & Yearly budgets is in cell Q16 of the Monthly Budget. It’s easy to remove the filter. The problem is that the visible part of the table isn’t configured to properly render types other than Income and Expense. You can try removing the Transfer filter and you will see what I mean…

Short of a major reworking of the category-rendering formulas in the Monthly & Yearly Budget sheets (the category groupings are created in the Monthly Budget sheet and then pushed into the Yearly Budget sheet), I think you have two options…

  1. You can try the new Savings Budget. It’s pretty similar to the Monthly Budget but includes wiring to store rollovers in each category. The Savings Budget is built to include Transfers by default. You can try this budget in your existing sheet (without affecting your existing budget) and delete it if you don’t like it.
  2. You can build your own version of the Yearly Budget. It isn’t as hard as it sounds to make a stripped down version. If you are pretty savvy with spreadsheets, I can help you with a couple of formulas if you prefer this route.

Randy

P.S. Thanks for your patience on this; I’ve been heads down on a pretty major rebuild of the Tiller Money Labs add-on.

Hi @gsizemore486,
Would you mind giving an update on which route you went on and if your solution satisfied you? Ive been thinking about trying to approach something similar and but havent been able to decide on the best approach.