Working with Accounts

Accounts represent where your money actually lives — bank accounts, credit cards, cash, and other financial accounts.

What is an Account?

An account in Zenvilope tracks:

• The current balance (cleared, uncleared, and working balances)
• All transactions in and out
• The type of account

Account Types

• Checking: Your primary spending account
• Savings: Emergency fund, savings goals
• Credit Card: Track credit card spending and payments
• Cash: Physical cash you have
• Investment: Retirement accounts, brokerage accounts
• Other: Any other account type

Creating an Account

1. Navigate to the Accounts page
2. Click "Add Account" or "New Account"
3. Fill in the details:
   • Name: Descriptive name (e.g., "Chase Checking", "Cash")
   • Type: Select the appropriate type
   • Starting Balance: The current balance as of today
4. Click "Save"

Setting the Starting Balance

The starting balance should be:

• Your actual balance as of right now
• Positive for asset accounts (checking, savings, cash)
• Negative for liability accounts (credit cards)

INFO

Example: If you have $1,500 in checking and owe $300 on a credit card:

• Checking: +$1,500
• Credit Card: -$300

Managing Account Balances

Your account balance automatically updates as you add transactions:

• Income/Deposits: Increase the balance
• Expenses/Withdrawals: Decrease the balance
• Transfers: Move money between accounts

Zenvilope tracks three balance figures:

• Cleared balance — only transactions you've marked as cleared
• Uncleared balance — pending transactions not yet cleared
• Working balance — total of all transactions

Reconciling Accounts

Regularly compare your Zenvilope balance with your real account:

1. Check your bank/credit card statement
2. Go to the account's transaction list
3. Mark each transaction as "Cleared" when it appears on the statement
4. Compare your cleared balance with the statement balance
5. Investigate and fix discrepancies
6. When they match, complete the reconciliation

Reconciled transactions are locked — they can't be edited or deleted, which protects your verified data.

TIP

Reconcile at least weekly to catch errors early!

Importing Transactions

You can import OFX/QFX files from your bank instead of entering every transaction manually. The import process detects duplicates and matches to existing entries automatically.

See Importing Transactions for a step-by-step walkthrough.

Credit Cards

Credit cards work a bit differently:

Automatic Payment Category

When you create a credit card account, Zenvilope automatically creates a Credit Card Payment category linked to that account. This category tracks how much you need to pay.

Recording Purchases

When you make a credit card purchase:

• Create a transaction on the credit card account
• Assign it to a category
• The amount is deducted from that category

Making Payments

When you pay the credit card bill:

• Create a transfer from checking to credit card
• This moves money but doesn't affect categories
• Reduces the credit card balance

Transfers Between Accounts

Transfers move money between accounts without affecting categories:

1. Create a new transaction
2. Select the "from" account
3. Choose "Transfer" as the type or select the "to" account as payee
4. Enter the amount
5. Save

Both sides of the transfer are recorded automatically.

INFO

Example: Moving $500 from checking to savings creates:

• Checking: -$500 (Transfer to Savings)
• Savings: +$500 (Transfer from Checking)

Account Best Practices

Keep it Real

Only add accounts you actually have and use.

Regular Updates

Record transactions frequently to maintain accurate balances.

Archive Old Accounts

When you close an account, archive it instead of deleting to preserve transaction history.

Closing and Archiving Accounts

Closing an Account

1. Move or spend all remaining money (balance should be $0)
2. Record a final reconciliation
3. Archive or delete the account

Archiving vs Deleting

• Archive: Hides the account but preserves all transaction history
• Delete: Permanently removes the account and all transactions

WARNING

Deleting an account also deletes all its transactions. Use archive unless you're absolutely sure!

Next Steps

• Set up categories to organise your spending
• Record transactions to track your money
• Import transactions from your bank
• Learn about budget months to allocate funds