Why doesn't the Cash Flow report default to include transfers?

Michael Rosen
Michael Rosen Member ✭✭✭
in Reports (Windows)

I'm trying to get a better handle on my budget. I ran the report Banking > Cash Flow and noticed that it defaults to exclude transfers.

How is that a true report of cash flow? For instance, it doesn't fully reflect my cash flow for my mortgage payment.

Now, if I include all transfers it's even less useful. Now I'm seeing every transfer.

I'm running Classic Premier vR65.29, Build 27.1.65.29 on Windows 11.

Thanks.

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Best Answer

  • Jim_Harman
    Jim_Harman Quicken Windows Subscription SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 26 Answer ✓

    I saw another post talking about this - unchecking transfer accounts that you want to include (like the mortgage). How does that result in it being included?

    Strictly speaking, transfers between accounts are not income or expenses, but if you want to treat transfers from an account as income or expenses for reporting purposes, you can customize the report so that it includes the "spending" accounts but does not include the other account(s). Then if the spending account receives a transfer, the sending account will be listed in the Income section of the report as FROM <account-name>. To customize, click on the gear at the top right of the report.

    If you are using the Banking > Cash flow report for a transfer you are treating as income, you should select the Accounts tab and include the receiving account(s) but not the sending account, and on the Advanced tab next to Transfers, select "Exclude internal". The terminology is confusing, but "Exclude Internal" tells the report to ignore transfers between accounts that are selected for the report (payments from your checking account to a credit card account for example) but to include transfers between the selected accounts and other accounts.

    Other reports have different default settings, but they work the same way: Include the "spending" accounts but not the other account(s), and on the Advanced tab set Transfers to "Exclude internal". If the report has an Organization setting on the Display tab, set it to “Cash Flow Basis”.

    If you want to exclude specific transfer accounts from the report, you can scroll to the bottom of the Categories tab, where you will see all of your accounts listed. Un-check those you want to exclude.

    You can control which transfers are included in your Budget reports by clicking on Manage Budget Categories on the Budget page and making selections in the Transfers In and Transfers Out sections.

    QWin Premier subscription

Answers

  • Tom Young
    Tom Young Quicken Windows Subscription SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    The "Cash Flow" report is a flawed report right out of the box.

    First off, it's really a simple Income and Expense report that only uses Bank Accounts and Credit Card Accounts as its input, and all those purchases you make using the credit cards certainly aren't "cash flow" at the moment of the purchase, they only enter as true "cash flow" when you pay the credit card bill.

    And, as you have determined, what actually IS true "cash flow" - transfers of actual money between Accounts - is left off the report by default.

    As to your specific problem of seeing every transfer, not just the one you want to see, that can be fixed.

    What I've done in my own file when I wanted to see some Transfers included in the report is:

    • Under the Advanced tab of the Customization screen change the Transfers box to "Exclude Self-Transfers"
    • Under the Accounts tab of the Customization screen uncheck the "to" Account (in your case the Mortgage Account) as one of the Accounts "feeding" information to the report
    • Under the Categories tab of the Customization screen select the "to" Account as a "Category" that you want to see in the report

    The results in the reduction of principal showing up as a form of "Expense" labeled "TO [NAME OF ACCOUNT]

    There are actually other ways of doing this to achieve the same result. I know that many use the "Exclude internal" option and simply customize the report to only use those Accounts that they want to "feed" information to the report.

    You might want to play around with the report Customization process a bit to get the hang of it and achieve the results you want.

  • Michael Rosen
    Michael Rosen Member ✭✭✭

    I'm still seeing all of the transfers on the report. Although, I didn't deselect anything in the Categories tab yet.

    • On the Accounts tab I have only selected my spending accounts.
    • On the Categories tab I have Include transactions with any categories selected. That already includes transfer accounts so presumably that would take care of this.

    What does Quicken consider a self-transfer?

    I track all aspects of my paycheck so unfortunately, Quicken reports break those items out everywhere. I can figure out which those are and just ignore them, though.

    Thanks.

  • Michael Rosen
    Michael Rosen Member ✭✭✭

    I saw another post talking about this - unchecking transfer accounts that you want to include (like the mortgage). How does that result in it being included?

  • Michael Rosen
    Michael Rosen Member ✭✭✭
    edited January 26

    This is interesting. It does report my credit card and loan payments.

    But why would it exclude 529 plan contributions?

    Never mind. I didn't realize those accounts were checked.

  • Jim_Harman
    Jim_Harman Quicken Windows Subscription SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 26 Answer ✓

    I saw another post talking about this - unchecking transfer accounts that you want to include (like the mortgage). How does that result in it being included?

    Strictly speaking, transfers between accounts are not income or expenses, but if you want to treat transfers from an account as income or expenses for reporting purposes, you can customize the report so that it includes the "spending" accounts but does not include the other account(s). Then if the spending account receives a transfer, the sending account will be listed in the Income section of the report as FROM <account-name>. To customize, click on the gear at the top right of the report.

    If you are using the Banking > Cash flow report for a transfer you are treating as income, you should select the Accounts tab and include the receiving account(s) but not the sending account, and on the Advanced tab next to Transfers, select "Exclude internal". The terminology is confusing, but "Exclude Internal" tells the report to ignore transfers between accounts that are selected for the report (payments from your checking account to a credit card account for example) but to include transfers between the selected accounts and other accounts.

    Other reports have different default settings, but they work the same way: Include the "spending" accounts but not the other account(s), and on the Advanced tab set Transfers to "Exclude internal". If the report has an Organization setting on the Display tab, set it to “Cash Flow Basis”.

    If you want to exclude specific transfer accounts from the report, you can scroll to the bottom of the Categories tab, where you will see all of your accounts listed. Un-check those you want to exclude.

    You can control which transfers are included in your Budget reports by clicking on Manage Budget Categories on the Budget page and making selections in the Transfers In and Transfers Out sections.

    QWin Premier subscription

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