Balance options for an account
There can be a number of different balance options to choose from for each of your accounts. The balance that you choose will be displayed in different areas around PocketSmith and provide a starting point for PocketSmith to calculate your account forecasts.
In this user guide
Reasons to select the right balance option
Depending on how you use PocketSmith (for example: importing bank files, using bank feeds, or using a combination of both bank files and bank feeds), selecting the right balance option for each of your accounts is important so that PocketSmith presents you with accurate information. Different accounts can also have different balance options available. For example, if you're using bank feeds you'll be able to select from a number of balance options that are based on balances gathered by our bank feed provider, Yodlee. Bank feed account balance options can also vary from one bank feed to the next.
Selecting the right balance is important for the following:
Reporting
The balance option applied to each account will be displayed wherever the most current balance for each account is displayed within PocketSmith, such as on your Dashboard, Account Summary, Transactions, and Calendar page.
Forecasting
The current balance of an account is used as a starting point to calculate that account's forecast. PocketSmith then calculates your forecast (adding and subtracting your budgeted amounts) for each of your accounts starting from the current balance of each account.
Changing the balance option for an account
- Head to the Account Summary (Manage > Account Summary)
- Navigate to the account you'd like to edit and click MANAGE ACCOUNT
Select Balances
- Select the balance setting you'd like for the account
- Click the Update balances button to save your changes
Balance options: Use Bank Feed Balance
Reasons to choose this option:
Up-to-date balances from the bank feed
When PocketSmith syncs your bank feed, it imports your bank account balances more frequently than it is able to retrieve the account's transactions. Selecting this option will ensure that the balance is always up-to-date based on the actual funds in your bank, and it doesn't rely upon transactions being brought into PocketSmith to correctly display the balance.
Choose the right bank feed balance for your needs
Many feeds are able to retrieve more than just the current balance of an account - you may prefer to select the Available balance, Current balance, or Cash balance of an account, depending on your needs. Some banks or credit cards will display more than one option based on what PocketSmith is able to import.
Balance options: Use Reversed Bank Feed Balance
Reasons to choose this option:
Up-to-date balances from the bank feed
When PocketSmith syncs your bank feed, it imports your bank account balances more frequently than it is able to retrieve the account's transactions. Selecting this option will ensure that the balance is always up-to-date based on the actual funds in your bank, and it doesn't rely upon transactions being brought into PocketSmith to correctly display the balance.
Choose the right bank feed balance for your needs
Many feeds are able to retrieve more than just the current balance of an account - you may prefer to select the Available balance, Current balance, or Cash balance of an account, depending on your needs. Some banks or credit cards will display more than one option based on what PocketSmith is able to import.
Reversed balances
If you have a credit card balance presented in the positive, you can choose this option to have the balance reversed and represented as a debt.
Note
For both bank feed balance options (Use bank feed balance and Use reversed bank feed balance, some credit card account descriptions may vary slightly to reflect the nature of funds associated with a credit card. For example, rather than Available balance and Current balance, you might be able to choose between Running credit and Available Credit
Balance options: Use Calculated Closing Balance
Before you select this option, it will display the balance that is currently displayed in PocketSmith. Once you’ve clicked to select it, date and balance amount fields will appear as shown above, allowing you to set the correct balance on a past date of your choice.
Your running balance will then be calculated using transaction amounts, with your choice of balance date and amount as the starting point.
Reasons to choose this option:
This balance option is recommended for offline accounts, so if you are using bank files to import your transactions or manually entering transactions, it's probably for you!
Balances are correct based on bank file imports
If you use bank files to import transactions into your accounts, selecting this option means that an account's balance will be based on the most recent imported transaction.
Balances imported via bank feeds don't provide the option you'd like to see
On occasion, with bank feed accounts, PocketSmith might not be able to import the balance option that is to your preference. We've found that in the rare instance of this, some users can achieve a set-up close to what they'd like to see by selecting the Use Calculated Closing Balance option for these particular accounts.
Bank feed balances match actual imported transactions
When PocketSmith syncs your bank feed, it imports an account's balances separate from an account's transactions, and account balances are updated by PocketSmith more frequently than transactions. If you want the balance of your accounts to always match the transactions that PocketSmith has imported and not display a balance that might be more up-to-date than the transactions PocketSmith is able to gather, then this is the option for you!
Note
The Use Calculated Closing Balance option lets you choose between:
- Last transaction balance
- Last transaction balance, at today
The reason for these different options is for forecasting purposes. Whichever of these you choose, the actual account balance will remain the same! You can learn more about how these options affect your forecast here: Understanding your forecast
Balance options: Use Scenario Balance
Reasons to choose this option:
Forecast only balance
With this option selected, the balance of an account is calculated based on your budgeted earning and spending, rather than the account's transactions and actual closing balance. This option is useful if you are a Scenario-only user, meaning your PocketSmith account only has budgets and a forecast and you don't import transactions. The account balance will always display the present day's scenario balance. You can learn more about this option in the following user guide: The 'Scenario Balance' option