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From: Dave4252 on 29 Dec 2009 17:38
I have Quicken 2006, and would like to make a Budget Report (actual
compared to budgeted amounts) on an accrual basis. Can this be done
in Q2006? Could I do it by upgrading to Quicken Home & Business 2010?
From: TomYoung on 29 Dec 2009 22:46
On Dec 29, 2:38 pm, Dave4252 <da...(a)bell.net> wrote:
> I have Quicken 2006, and would like to make a Budget Report (actual
> compared to budgeted amounts) on an accrual basis.  Can this be done
> in Q2006?  Could I do it by upgrading to Quicken Home & Business 2010?

Yes, it can be done in Q2006. Not matter what anybody says, Quicken
is essentially a double entry system that can accommodate most any
accounting entry you want to make.

Probably most people maintain their accounts on a cash basis, meaning
that no accounting entry is made until cash moves. Quicken encourages
you to do your accounting on a "semi-accrual" basis by providing
accounts styled as "credit accounts", a form of liability account, and
by supporting these accounts with automatic downloads. If you enter
each and every credit card charge in the related credit card account
you're performing accrual accounting with respect to these accounts.
That is, you're creating expenses and assets *before* cash moves,
i.e., before you pay the monthly credit card statement.

To expand this to full accrual basis you need to create "asset" and
"liability" accounts as needed. I, for example, have a receivable
accounts to capture my wife's bills for her independent contractor
teaching and for various "prepaid" expenses such as annual home
owner's insurance. In the same vein I create liability accounts that
capture true liabilities before I end up funding them.

You only need to create a Budget Report that pulls from *all* the
relevant accounts the create a true accrual budget and a true accrual
actual.

Tom Young
From: Mr.Jan on 30 Dec 2009 06:57
On Dec 29, 5:38 pm, Dave4252 <da...(a)bell.net> wrote:
> I have Quicken 2006, and would like to make a Budget Report (actual
> compared to budgeted amounts) on an accrual basis.  Can this be done
> in Q2006?  Could I do it by upgrading to Quicken Home & Business 2010?

I agree with Tom but my approach is a bit different (I think).
I post the accrual every bi-weekly paycheck to expense and accrual
account.
When the actual bill comes in, I pay it (cash,check, or credit card
account) and post the offset (dr) to the accrual account.
If the expense is higher than my accrual, I post the difference to
expense. If it is lower, I reverse part of the first expense/accrued
posting.
I run my budget report against my expense account which starts out as
the same as my accrual and then becomes the actual expense when the
bill arrives.

Mr. Jan
From: Dave4252 on 30 Dec 2009 11:45
On Dec 29, 10:46 pm, TomYoung <sombo...(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> On Dec 29, 2:38 pm, Dave4252 <da...(a)bell.net> wrote:
>
> > I have Quicken 2006, and would like to make a Budget Report (actual
> > compared to budgeted amounts) on an accrual basis.  Can this be done
> > in Q2006?  Could I do it by upgrading to Quicken Home & Business 2010?
>
> Yes, it can be done in Q2006.  Not matter what anybody says, Quicken
> is essentially a double entry system that can accommodate most any
> accounting entry you want to make.
>
> Probably most people maintain their accounts on a cash basis, meaning
> that no accounting entry is made until cash moves.  Quicken encourages
> you to do your accounting on a "semi-accrual" basis by providing
> accounts styled as "credit accounts", a form of liability account, and
> by supporting these accounts with automatic downloads.  If you enter
> each and every credit card charge in the related credit card account
> you're performing accrual accounting with respect to these accounts.
> That is, you're creating expenses and assets *before* cash moves,
> i.e., before you pay the monthly credit card statement.
>
> To expand this to full accrual basis you need to create "asset" and
> "liability" accounts as needed.  I, for example, have a receivable
> accounts to capture my wife's bills for her independent contractor
> teaching and for various "prepaid" expenses such as annual home
> owner's insurance.  In the same vein I create liability accounts that
> capture true liabilities before I end up funding them.
>
> You only need to create a Budget Report that pulls from *all* the
> relevant accounts the create a true accrual budget and a true accrual
> actual.
>
> Tom Young

Thanks. My main concern is dealing with prepayments sent to me for a
job that occurs in the following fiscal year. I am trying to get the
prepayments to appear in the same year as the job. Similar to your
suggestion, I set up a Receivables Account and created invoices for
these prepayments. Now I've made the invoice date the same as the job
date, and my Quicken budget report shows the prepayments in the same
year as the job.
Problem solved, except for two quirky things:
1. I had to refund one of the prepayments. The refund occured in the
same year as the prepayments. When I do an Itemized Category report
for the prepayment year on cash basis, the refund amount is added to
my other received amounts (not subtracted).
2. When I do an Itemized Category report for the job year on cash
basis, the prepayments disappear (as they should), but they are still
included in the Total Amount, with the error in the refund amount
described in point 1.
I suspect I should avoid using cash basis reports if I am using the
Business features in Quicken.
From: Robert Neville on 30 Dec 2009 12:06
TomYoung <sombodee(a)gmail.com> wrote:

> Not matter what anybody says, Quicken is essentially a double entry system

Please expand. In every double entry system I've ever used, you *must* assign an
entry to two accounts - and that doesn't mean two bank accounts. Quicken will
allow you to enter transactions all day long without enforcing this rule.
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