Moving money between accounts

Sometimes money moves from one of your accounts to another without anything being received or spent: you put some of the balance into savings, you draw cash out of the bank for the floats at an event, or you bank the cash you took at the summer fair. Nothing has come in and nothing has gone out. The organisation has exactly as much money as before, in a different place.

This is recorded as a move between accounts, not as a payment from one account and a receipt into the other. A move is not income or expenditure, so it does not appear on your year end accounts, and your total cash held does not change.

How do I move money?

1. Go to Finances > Bank Accounts
2. Open the Manage menu and choose Move Money Between Accounts
3. Choose Move from and Move to
4. Enter the Amount and the Date the money moved, as it will show on your bank statement
5. Choose the Fund the money belongs to. Its balance will not change; the money is only moving somewhere else
6. Add a Description if you like, such as "Floats for the Summer Fair", and confirm. Left blank, it will say which account the money came from and went to

Where does a move show up?

As a pair of transactions under Finances > Transactions, one out of the first account and one into the second, with the source "Transfer between accounts". Because the money really moved, each half appears on its own account's bank reconciliation, ready to match to the statement line: the withdrawal on your current account and the deposit on your savings account, for example.

Why not record it as a payment and a receipt?

A payment out of one account and a receipt into another would look like real spending and real income. Your year end accounts would show total receipts and total payments each too high by the amount moved. The net figure would be right and every headline figure would be wrong. A move between accounts keeps both totals honest.

Is this the same as moving money between funds?

No, and it is worth choosing the right one. Moving money between accounts changes where the money sits: which bank account or cash tin. Moving money between funds changes what the money is set aside for, general funds or the playground appeal, and that does appear on your year end accounts, on the transfers line. If the money has physically moved, use accounts. If only its purpose has changed, use funds.

What can I change afterwards?

The two halves are locked together so they always cancel out. You can change the description, reference and linked event on either half, but not the date, amount, accounts, category or fund.

I recorded a move by mistake

Go to Finances > Transactions, find either half and choose Delete from its menu. Both halves are removed together. Then record the move again. A move cannot be deleted while either half is matched to a bank statement line, or once its financial year has been closed.

Note: a move cannot be dated before either account's start date, because everything before that date is already inside the opening balance. If the money was already in the account when your records began, it belongs in the opening balance instead.

Related reading

• Adding a bank account
• Recording cash floats and cash taken at events
• Moving money between funds
• Matching a bank transaction to your records by hand