i wrote off a note and charged it to gifts expense but it doesn't show on the YTD statement

Ron Greene

I wrote off a note to my grandson and charged it to an expense account called gifts. it
doesn't show on the YTD financial statement.

jr7107

Is the account you used included in the report?
Is the category you used included in the report?

Ron Greene

Yes they both exist in my Quicken. I have made other gifts, but they were all
by check. This was a wedding gift I just wrote off for them.

jr7107

If both the account and Gift expense category exist in Quicken, and this was a cash transaction recorded in that account, and the transaction date is correct, then I recommend running:

1. Cash Flow report
2. Customize/ Accounts tab / Select only the account used for the Gift.
3. Run the report for Year to Date and the expense should appear

When you refer to "wrote off a note" what comes to mind is a promissory note/personal debt that was "written off" or "written down" if I'm using accounting terms. If that is the case, then how was that structured in Quicken originally?

Tom Young

What type of Account were you carrying that note in?  Banking?  Investing? Property & Debt?

Describe the sequence of transaction you used to write off the note and the Accounts used.

And, what exact report are you referring to by "the YTD statement"?  Is that a specific Spending report (Reports > Spending > ????) or some chart/report that's under the "Spending" tab, or something else.

If the note was in some sort of "Investment" Account and you used the MiscExp action within that Account to accomplish the write-off there are some know problems associated with that.

Ron Greene

It was carried in as a property account. I went to the account, put in the date
of the gift, went to the decrease balance account and entered the balance of the note, went to the category and inserted Gifts and pressed enter. The statement was Spending: Income & Expense Comparison by Category.

jr7107

So it was on the balance sheet as an Asset presumably a cash transfer previously, and you created non-cash "charge" against the Asset account to "Gift" it to your family in that category.

Can you ensure the Property account is available within that Report as well as the Gift expense category? It should turn up on that report if both Account and Category are available to the Report.

Ron Greene

How do I ensure the Property accounts are available in that report?

jr7107

Steps to ensure the accounts are there:

1. Select the report and Customize. It will open a window with several tabs including Accounts and Category.
2. Select the Accounts tab. Select the Property and Debt account and make sure that the box is checked.
3. Select the Categories tab. Make sure the "Gift" expense is selected for that report.
4. Double check the dates on report, and double check the date of the expense.

The expense should show up on the report.

jr7107

This is what the Customize section should look like with the Asset accounts selected.

Tom Young

That section reading "went to the decrease balance account" is throwing me off as it sounds like you're talking about a different "account" then the ccount in which you recorded the gift, but I'm assuming the sequence of entries was along the following lines:

If that accounting mimics what you did then I'm seeing the expense in the report you're using:

So either your report is not customized properly or I'm not mimicking your actual accounting.

Ron Greene

Got it. I had to save it in special reports, I guess I can't save it as a
quicken standard report.