[Feature Request] Add option to only take into account cleared/reconciled transactions for account balanaces

[PrivacyFriendlyMuffins]

Similar to #376, this would provide an option that, even if a transaction is listed with the date being the current day or the past, it will not be taken into account in computing balances unless said transaction is marked as either cleared or reconciled.

This would be useful when writing checks that you then send through the mail: the date could be the date you write it or send it, whichever you prefer obviously, but it wouldn't really affect your bank balance until it's processed by the recipient. And since you don't know when said recipient will receive the check, let alone deposit it with their bank, it's kind of hard to just use the date field to determine whether it should be included in the balance calculation.

[mtotschnig]

I am not sure, how your idea differs from #376. Wouldn't the introduction of a pending state, achieve exactly what you describe?

[PrivacyFriendlyMuffins]

Perhaps it doesn't, but if I understand the above-referenced thread (and please feel free to correct me if I don't), then that thread is more about future transactions. I'm talking about a transaction that has already happened but hasn't reached my bank yet.

For example, and the most common one I deal with, is when I buy something on a website via PayPal. The transaction has already happened, so I need to put it in My Expenses, but it usually doesn't show up on my bank account's transactions list (and thus reflect my bank account's posted balance) until two, maybe three, days later.

And my budget and transactions in My Expenses are tied to a Checking account I added in-app (not synced to my bank or anything, just there in the app), so it keeps a total balance of the Checking "account".

In short, I want the transaction to be listed as a record for my budget (and a record that I spent money, obviously) but not accounted for so the total account balance listed matches my actual checking account.

[PrivacyFriendlyMuffins]

Additionally, the time it takes to be processed by PayPal, then processed by my bank can vary from site to site, I've noticed. I don't know why, but I have noticed it. So I can't just set a future date. Even if I could, though, I wouldn't want to because the transaction won't happen in 2-4 days; it already happened, but just hasn't been posted to my bank account yet.

[mtotschnig]

@PrivacyFriendlyMuffins I would like to take up this topic for version 3.9.0, but would need your help to understand what exactly is missing. The app currently shows the cleared and the reconciled totals in the account list, so I am wondering why these do not provide the information you are looking for?

[PrivacyFriendlyMuffins]

I don't understand what you mean. Cleared and Reconciled transactions are accounted for in the account total, yes, but so is Unreconciled. The only one that makes it not be accounted for is Void, which doesn't apply to a transaction that has occurred (it's therefore not voided) but just hasn't made it through PayPal to my bank since PayPal often takes a couple days to process transactions.

In the left accounts sidebar, I have two: Checking and Savings. They aren't synchronized with my actual bank, but I do like to keep the account totals about on par with my actual Checking and Savings bank balances.

Meanwhile, I have a budget that is linked to the "Checking" account in that sidebar.

So the process goes something like this:

1. I buy something online, and use PayPal as my payment method (which is connected to my bank account).
2. The transaction is processed through PayPal; this usually takes 2-3 days.
3. The transaction hits my bank, they process it, and it appears on my list of transactions on my bank's website.

The transaction still happened, and so needs to be inputted into the app so the appropriate budget category is updated (so I don't overspend, obviously). However, since that same budget is set relative to the "Checking" account in the sidebar, any transaction marked in the budget will naturally also affect the total of said account.

My goal is this: by marking the transaction as "Unreconciled", it will still be taken into account in the budget, but won't be taken into account for the "Checking" account total. Once my bank receives the transaction and I then get a notification of that, I would change it to "Reconciled", so the "Checking" account total would reflect the new balance as shown in my actual bank.

If this isn't clear, please ask any questions you may have. I'm not always the best at explaining myself, and I apologize if I'm not being as clear I'd like to be.

[mtotschnig]

@PrivacyFriendlyMuffins Thank you very much for the detailed explanation. I think it is me who has not been clear enough. I'll try to illustrate it with a simulation of your example:
So this account has a transaction representing your purchase via PayPal and not yet processed by the bank. It is unreconciled and can be used in budgets:

So what you are asking for is a total where this unreconciled transaction is not taken into account. This is exactly what the Cleared (and Reconciled) Totals in the account list are supposed to represent:

So my question: Why do we need an additional option if that information (total with only cleared/reconciled transactions) included, is already available?

[mtotschnig]

If you agree that the Cleared Total represents the information that you are interested in, maybe you want to make it more prominently visible. There are two related tickets:
#219 about it showing up on the main screen
#563 about it showing up in the collapsed state on the account list

[PrivacyFriendlyMuffins]

Okay, I see where we're not understanding each other. Frankly, I didn't even ever realize it even had a "Reconciled total" or a "Cleared total" listed in the account sidebar because I always had each account collapsed, so not showing the sums in other words. If I wanted to find out the total in my account, I would either look in the sidebar or the top bar, neither of which would show the subtotals.

For reasons unrelated to the app (it's honestly a very well-done piece of software, by the way), I've stopped using it for my daily budgeting, but I reinstalled it and created a dummy account with $100 starting quantity, with a $20 transaction in the transaction list. A screenshot of what I'm talking about is below:

As you can see, it doesn't show the Reconciled or Cleared balances, just the total balance. Now that I'm aware that if the account in question in the sidebar is expanded then the Reconciled and Cleared balances are shown, then yeah that feature is pretty what I wanted.

Perhaps a solution then would be to have the top bar in the transactions list show the Reconciled and Cleared balances as well as the Total balance? Would that be an option?

(I may not be using it now, but I may come back in the future—and other people may benefit too.)

[mtotschnig]

I think there is not enough room to show both, but as suggested in #219, the cleared total could be shown optionally instead of the total. @PrivacyFriendlyMuffins Would that work for you?

[PrivacyFriendlyMuffins]

I'm not sure, but yeah I think it might be a sufficient substitute, or at least a sufficient approximation of one. :)