Report showing Opposite Results

Ron n Round Rock

May not be a problem - may be me not understanding - BUT

I am playing with Tags - trying to use them to track transfers between accounts (since I can't use the Category field).

I have made a sample entry of transferring money from Acct #1 to Acct #2.
Then made another entry to transfer money from Acct #2 to Acct #3.
Both entries correctly show up in the other accounts (i.e. transfers to or from).
(I don't think it makes and difference, but Acct #1 & 2 are checking, #3 is a savings acct)

In my Report I have used Tags of "acct1to2" and "acct2to3".
The money transfer shows up correctly in the accounts - money is subtracted from Acct #1 and added to Acct #2, and then money is subtracted from Acct #2 and added to Acct #3.

The problem is that when I do a Report (selecting All for Categories and just the 2 Tags, only using these 2 Tags for tracking these particular transactions), I get a nice report that gives me what I want EXCEPT the money transfers are the opposite of what they should be.

The Acct #3 Saving account shows a negative number (the saving account register itself shows a Deposit) and the Account #1 is showing up as a positive number in the Report, even though the Register shows the money being a payment (a negative as it should be). In the Report, Acct #2 is showing money going into the account and then out of the account also reversed from the identification in the Tag.

So what is going on here - what am I not seeing, understanding. Everything seems to be working, but all numbers are reversed from what I am seeing in the Registers.

ron in shawnee

Chris_QPW

I tested this and I see the correct signs.

Tom Young

WHAT report?  Is this what you're referring to?:

In the first line [Checking2] is an "expense" Category when viewed from the standpoint of the [Checking] Account, so that's an outflow. 

In the second line [Checking] is an "income" Category when viewed from the standpoint of the [Checking2] Account, so that's an inflow.

And so forth.

At least that's how I'm interpreting it.

Ron n Round Rock

Tom-

OK, SORRY - Apparently my error, but still don't quite understand.

The Report was another report I was using to track the movement of these funds - using 4-seperate categories which meant I had to enter all 4 transactions separately - worked, but a pain.

ANYWAY, in the Report, the "Subtotal by:" was set to Category, but the headings on the Report were still by Account - although the Master Heading was "- TRANSFERS" .

HOWEVER, when I change the Report to "Subtotal by:" by Account, the Report comes out correctly - money into the savings Acct #3 is positive and the others are also correct.

And I apologize for mistakenly detailing my problem. It was not really that the figures were reversed, opposite of what was correct - the entire transaction was showing up under the wrong accounts. I.E. The transaction under the Acct #3 savings account was the transaction from Acct #2, which was the money going out of Acct #2 and flowing into Acct #3. The other transactions was also switched in the same way - hope I am explaining this well enough.

Anyway, when I "Subtotal by:" the Account, everything works out well, although I do lose the Master "- TRANSFER" Heading on the Report (which I kind of liked). And my Report is also correct if I "Don't Subtotal" as you are showing in your sample report - an alternative report, but I like the Account headings in my Report.

And yes, I will give it some thought as to why the transactions are reversed when I Subtotal by category - but wanted to clear up the problem for those reading this post, even though I don't quite understand it right now.

Yes, my error - but thanks for the quick response on this - I appreciate your interest - and I will try to be more diligent before reporting a problem in the future (Quicken is usually right, even though I haven't figured it out yet).

ron in shawnee

Chris_QPW

Tom meant what report type did you start with so that we can follow what you have set.
Like: Reports -> Spending -> Spending by Category

Ron n Round Rock

Sorry, for not really responding to the question - was just excited that I had figured out my problem - well almost, just need to resolve the idiosyncrasy in my head.

But as far as the report, it was "probably" a spending report. The problem here is that I just modified an existing report that is so old (have been using it for years), that I don't remember which report basis I started with.

And yes, while I am at it, I have a small issue with Reports. You get different types of reports, depending on which version of the Quicken-supplied reports you start out with. The answers are the same, but the flexibility and format of the reports differ - and I remember there is one of the reports that I don't like - it doesn't have the flexibility (able to choose Subtotal by, Sort by, etc.) that I want. So (because I have yet to figure out the reasons for the different reports), instead of choosing one of the Quicken-supplied reports as the beginning report, I just use one of my existing reports that I like - modify it and save it as a new report.

I have never been able to find the Quicken documentation of the reason for the different report operations - and gave up a long time ago - because my approach has worked fine for me. Just thought I would throw this little comment in - since Tom's question (that went over my head) was about "which type" of report did you use.

Thanks for the interest and willingness to help.

ron in shawnee

Chris_QPW

Yes, understood.  In fact I was trying to reproduce what you had in your response to Tom, and I couldn’t remember/find one with the “Subtotal by”, so that is why I asked.

Ron n Round Rock

Chris-

Ah yes - I checked your post and see that you used the report I don't like - I guess because it does not have a "Subtotal by:" dropdown option - and I see by the Heading on the report it is an "Itemized Categories Report" (a Quicken-supplied report) - so I guess that is where that report originates from - whereas Tom's was a Transaction Report.

Actually I just now went back and brought up several of the Quicken-supplied Reports and several of them are different in the options offered at the top of the report - and it took me several attempts (didn't try them all) to find out that the "Transaction" Report is the one with the "Subtotal by:" option I like and use pretty much exclusively.

Don't know why Quicken has so many different reports since they all seem to be subset variations of the Transactions Report. There is probably a reason, but not sure I feel like exploring it exhaustively since I am totally happy with the Transactions Report.

Chris, thanks for the help. Glad you brought the question up.


ron in shawnee