Hello,

I am just trying out KMyMoney to organise my personal finances. Sometime I think it's a bit overkil for just that purpose, but I try to get into it.

Two beginners question I have:

- A category can be either Expense or Income. How would you model the following case:

As a hobby project I run a server, there are a number of people paying a small amount per month and there is the server rent every 3 months. My idea would be to put them both under category "Server", but that won't work. Should I use a seperate account for that? (in real life all is just one bank account)

- My bank offers only CSV export. Wire transfers have a field "Verwendungszweck" (intended use). I map that field to Notes. Probem is that the field can be multi-line and my bank puts each line in a seperate field. Can KMyMoney join these fields?

Best Thanks!

Server issue: I would create two categories. One income and one expense. The difference would be profit or loss When s/o pays you, you assign the income category, If you pay the provider you categorize that as expense. Both can be named Server, though I would make a difference in the name to avoid confusion (e.g. "Servermiete Provider" as expense and "Serveranteil Nutzer" as income. But that is up to you. The transactions will both be entered on your checkings account (Girokonto) in case you get paid that way as well. Another way would be to have a single expense account called "Server" and assign all transactions to that category. Then you see the difference right in the (expense) account. KMyMoney can do both ways and it depends on your reporting requirements. Using only a single category will show you the difference, but you don't know about the real cost and the parts others are paying.

CSV issue: Is the multi-line field in a single cell or is it multiple cells in multiple rows in the same column of the spreadsheet? The former is no problem for KMyMoney, the later is not supported. Can you craft a sample CSV file and open a wish list item on the KMyMoney bugtracker? You can attach the file there. Don't include any personal data as this is publicly available.

ipwizard wrote:Server issue: I would create two categories. One income and one expense. The difference would be profit or loss When s/o pays you, you assign the income category, If you pay the provider you categorize that as expense. Both can be named Server, though I would make a difference in the name to avoid confusion (e.g. "Servermiete Provider" as expense and "Serveranteil Nutzer" as income. But that is up to you. The transactions will both be entered on your checkings account (Girokonto) in case you get paid that way as well. Another way would be to have a single expense account called "Server" and assign all transactions to that category. Then you see the difference right in the (expense) account. KMyMoney can do both ways and it depends on your reporting requirements. Using only a single category will show you the difference, but you don't know about the real cost and the parts others are paying.

Thanks for your reply! I will try out different methods and see what works best for me.

Another way would be to have a single expense account called "Server" and assign all transactions to that category.

You are using account and category synonymously here, correct? A category works like an account, by showing a balance.
Would it also be a (good) possibility to create a new account (not category), using Konto -> Neues Konto (Account -> New Account) and book all server related income and expenses to it? You can also still use categories, "Miete" and "Anteil Nutzer".
EDIT: This method (using a separate account) seems to have the drawback that information about the payer is lost sometimes. I am not sure under which circumstances, maybe when I mark multiple entries and change the "Umbuchung auf" field.

ipwizard wrote:CSV issue: Is the multi-line field in a single cell or is it multiple cells in multiple rows in the same column of the spreadsheet? The former is no problem for KMyMoney, the later is not supported. Can you craft a sample CSV file and open a wish list item on the KMyMoney bugtracker? You can attach the file there. Don't include any personal data as this is publicly available.

I'm not sure what you mean here, it's basically a multi-line field split up in different columns on the same row, e.g.

Code: Select all

123456;02.01.2018;Some Hotel I payed;First line of intended use;Second line of intended use;Third line of intended use


which constitutes on booking entry. I expect that I can fill the Notes field for that booking with:

Code: Select all

First line of intended use Second line of intended use Third line of intended use

or

Code: Select all

First line of intended use
Second line of intended use
Third line of intended use

If KMyMoney can't handle that data structure, I am happy to create a wish list item on the bug tracker.

Best Thanks!

Horus wrote:

ipwizard wrote:Another way would be to have a single expense account called "Server" and assign all transactions to that category.

You are using account and category synonymously here, correct? A category works like an account, by showing a balance.
Would it also be a (good) possibility to create a new account (not category), using Konto -> Neues Konto (Account -> New Account) and book all server related income and expenses to it? You can also still use categories, "Miete" and "Anteil Nutzer".
EDIT: This method (using a separate account) seems to have the drawback that information about the payer is lost sometimes. I am not sure under which circumstances, maybe when I mark multiple entries and change the "Umbuchung auf" field.

Even when I use expense account I mean the category. Accounts are used for assets and liabilities (Vermögen und Verbindlichkeiten). Categories are used for incomes and expenses (Sachkonten). Using an account does not make sense here, as your networth (Eigenkapital) will shrink if you pay the provider. Transferring the fund to another account does not adjust the networth (which is basically calculated as "sum of all asset accounts" - "sum of all liability accounts") because the sum of all asset accounts remain constant.

Horus wrote:

ipwizard wrote:CSV issue: Is the multi-line field in a single cell or is it multiple cells in multiple rows in the same column of the spreadsheet? The former is no problem for KMyMoney, the later is not supported. Can you craft a sample CSV file and open a wish list item on the KMyMoney bugtracker? You can attach the file there. Don't include any personal data as this is publicly available.

I'm not sure what you mean here, it's basically a multi-line field split up in different columns on the same row, e.g.

Code: Select all

123456;02.01.2018;Some Hotel I payed;First line of intended use;Second line of intended use;Third line of intended use


which constitutes on booking entry. I expect that I can fill the Notes field for that booking with:

Code: Select all

First line of intended use Second line of intended use Third line of intended use

or

Code: Select all

First line of intended use
Second line of intended use
Third line of intended use

If KMyMoney can't handle that data structure, I am happy to create a wish list item on the bug tracker.

Best Thanks!

OK, understood. No, to my knowledge KMyMoney cannot handle that.

Thanks for your advice.

I have added a whishlist item to the bug tracker: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=392165

Another follow up question: On CSV import there is a Nummer (Number column) field. What number is meant there? The account number? A unique ID for the transaction?

The left most column of the ledger view is the number field. This one is filled with the data during the CSV import (I assume, have not written that part of the application).

Since you're fluent in German, thing of it as Belegnummer.