Categories - Income vs Expense

Quicken Windows Subscription Member ✭✭

I want to use the same category for both expenses and income like on a standard P&L.

So I can have a category and colums for Budget, Expenses, Income, Net and perhaps % net vs Budget. It seems like a category can oly be one or the other. I'm relatively new to this. Thanks

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Answers

  • Member ✭✭✭✭

    Can you please provide an example of what you'd like to be both an income and expense item?

    A "standard P&L" would not have the same categoiry for both a income item and an expense item.

    by definition, "income" is something you receive and "expense" is something you spend.

  • Quicken Windows Subscription Member ✭✭

    A general ledger code can certainly have both. For example there is a GL for church flowers. There is an expense, but also an offsetting income from donations. You would want these to be the same line item.

  • Quicken Windows Subscription SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    Well booking them to the same category would make them the same "line item" if you ask me. Now if you want a separate budget category you could have one for flowers income and anther expense one for flower expenses. Another option could be to have a flowers category with two sub categories: one for flower expenses, one for flower donations(which would be booked as negative expenses). Would that work for what you want?

    Quicken Business & Personal Subscription, Windows 11 Pro

  • Quicken Windows Subscription SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    No I wouldn't want them to be the same line item… because the income and expense would offset and I'd want to know each amount.

    Q user since February, 1990. DOS Version 4
    Now running Quicken Windows Subscription, Business & Personal
    Retired "Certified Information Systems Auditor" & Bank Audit VP

  • Member ✭✭✭✭

    @Tpao - actually, you would NOT want them to be the same line item. One is an expense and one is income. I'd want to know if I had $10,000 spent on church flowers and only $2000 in donations vs. $8000 spent on church flowers and nothing donated. It's the same $8,000 both ways, but the breakout between income and expense is important. On a P&L statement they would be separate - that is a basic accounting standard.

  • Quicken Windows Subscription Member ✭✭

    Of course, they would be in 2 different COLUMNS Expenses Income then Net

  • Quicken Windows Subscription SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited March 2023

    Categories don't have columns. Accounts have columns.

    Q user since February, 1990. DOS Version 4
    Now running Quicken Windows Subscription, Business & Personal
    Retired "Certified Information Systems Auditor" & Bank Audit VP

  • Quicken Windows Subscription SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    If I understand what you are looking for correctly, I can provide an example of how to accomplish this. My car sustained squirrel damage to the engine bay wiring which I filed with my insurance company. They reimreimbursed me for the damage less my $100 deductible. As can be seen in the examples below, my true expense was $100.

    Total repair expense.

    3D85vqMTyU.png

    Insurance reireimbursement.

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    Budget line item.

    ySlk2FSzSX.png

    Detail.

    vXTNYHATKK.png
  • Member ✭✭✭✭

    @GeoffG - unfortunately, now we getting into Accounting Rules. Agreed that your net expense was $100. But the check from the insurance company wasn't revenue (which was question from the OP above) under principles of accounting. 😉

  • Quicken Windows Subscription Member ✭✭

    Think we'll have agree to disagree. I've run financial reporting from SAP Business Warehouse forever. We always report separate columns. Usually Budget, Income, Expenses, Net, and Net Vs Budget % & $. This gives the true picture of how you got to the Net. I don't need to have mirrored categories or G/L for the identical thing.

  • Quicken Windows Subscription SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    What SAP does is irrelevant to Q. Show us a single graphic, from Q, where a Category has columns!

    Q user since February, 1990. DOS Version 4
    Now running Quicken Windows Subscription, Business & Personal
    Retired "Certified Information Systems Auditor" & Bank Audit VP

  • Quicken Windows Subscription Member ✭✭
    I agree. That was the original basis of the question. How do I do this? Just because Q doesn't do it doesn't make it right. So, I understand now that I can't do it and will do it in Excel. Thanks!
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