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Recording monthly CD interest in one split transaction for the year?

Acarolinensis

I've been using Qkn since the DOS days and think I know how to do most things, often several different ways. The question is what is the optimal way for the purpose at hand. Always liked the author Stephen L. Nelson because he often got beyond the nuts and bolts (tactical if you will) and into the strategic of optimizing it as a financial tool for one's specific purposes.

For some time Qkn has been somewhat neglected here with transactions and even accounts being entered haphazardly. Now that I'm retired I like to get it humming again, i.e., comb the database.

Have a simple bank CD recorded as an asset account. A major aim is to keep track of income for tax purposes. Most transactions are just for monthly interest and take up most of the register space. I know for other accounts I've done just one transaction for the year with split entries for each month so at the end of the year there are 12 entries including the date for each one. The question is are there drawbacks to this practice?

I know from browsing this forum over the years there are users much more knowledgeable and experienced than me and am interested in your thoughts. Was not sure this should go into the Investing category but nothing looked more appropriate. Maybe there should be a separate Best Practices or such category?

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Comments

NotACPA

A split transaction can have only 1 date ... not the 12 monthly dates.

SO, there's no advantage to doing this over a non-split transaction.

You COULD, however, with minimal time, simply create a memorized transaction for the monthly interest (with $0 included) and record it 12 times with the correct interest.

Sherlock

The main drawback to the approach of aggregating the transactions as entries in a split transaction is you lose the actual date of the transactions. For example, if you need to determine your income for each estimated tax period. I prefer to have each transaction in the register as its relatively easy to filter and aggregate the data as needed.

Acarolinensis

@NotACPA: For my purposes having each separate date in in each description would give enough information. The transaction is already memorized and scheduled monthly.

@Sherlock: Ah! Estimated taxes - good point. Think I'm tending toward keeping individual entries as is. Maybe make the register font smaller instead

Thank you for the comment.

NotACPA

Acarolinensis said:

@NotACPA: For my purposes having each separate date in in each description would give enough information. The transaction is already memorized and scheduled monthly.

I'm not understanding something. WHAT transaction is "already memorized and scheduled monthly"?

If it's the interest received ... what's the purpose of the year-end split transaction?

Acarolinensis

@NotACPA: Yes, it's the interest received. As I said initially "Most transactions are just for monthly interest and take up most of the register space." Going forward (as in next year) I was wondering out loud about the ramifications of replacing twelve transactions with just one. Please don't overthink this.

volvogirl

No. Keep entering the interest each month when you get it. Don't you overthink it either. Don't understand the concern about register space.

Acarolinensis

> @volvogirl said:
> No. Keep entering the interest each month when you get it. Don't you overthink it either. Don't understand the concern about register space.

Agreed. Register space was mainly about aesthetics which may sound pretty crazy here. I understand it's easy to find transactions of interest by searching or reports but was a little bugged by seeing a sea of interest transactions. Will dial down the OCD factor for the forum.