Every expense and every income goes into a category. The category answers "where did the money go": the category analysis groups by it, the budget sets a cap on it and, in a company, the income statement uses it to decide which line each amount goes into. Classifying well from the start is what makes reports meaningful later.
You do not start from scratch: the system comes with ready-made categories, and you adjust the tree to your needs. Marina, whom we will follow, wants to split household spending into Groceries, Restaurants and Delivery, and also tell weekday lunch delivery apart from weekend delivery.
Where to find them
In the menu, open Records › Categories. The screen has the Expenses and Income tabs. In the personal space you also get Investments and Investment Types. The personal space and each company have their own tree: what you change in one does not show up in the other.
Each item shows a badge:
- Default — comes with the system. It cannot be edited or deleted, but it can be hidden.
- Custom — created by you or by someone in the company. It can be edited and deleted.
- Hidden — no longer shown in entry forms.
The tree: up to three levels
Categories are organized as category › subcategory › sub-subcategory. The third level is the last one: a sub-subcategory cannot have children.
- To create at the first level, click New Category. Enter the Category Name, the Type (expense or income) and a Color, then click Create.
- To go one level down, open the category and use Add subcategory. The Category field already shows the parent. Only the Subcategory Name is needed: the type comes from the parent.
- For the third level, use Add sub-subcategory on a subcategory.
Inside the default Food category, Marina creates the subcategories Groceries, Restaurants and Delivery. Inside Delivery, she creates Lunch and Weekend. At the end of the month she sees how much went to food, how much of that was delivery, and how much of the delivery was on weekends.
A name cannot repeat at the same level: two "Delivery" under Food is not allowed, but "Delivery" under Food and under Pets is fine.
Hide, delete and reorder
- Hide from forms removes the category, and everything below it, from the selection lists when you record an entry. Past entries keep it and reports still show it. To bring it back, use Show in forms. In a company, hiding only applies to you: your colleagues still see the category.
- Delete only works on a custom category, and only if no entry, entry item, budget or investment uses it or any of its subcategories. If it is in use, hide it instead.
- The move up and move down arrows change the order within the same level. The order applies to everyone in that space and is the same one shown in the forms.
When you record an entry
In the expense or income form, you choose the category and, if you want, the subcategory and sub-subcategory, in fields that open based on the previous choice. Only categories of the right type appear: in an expense, only expense categories. When an entry has items, each item can have its own category.
In a company: the category decides the income statement line
The management income statement uses the entry's first-level category. The default categories are already placed: Payroll under personnel; Loans, Bank Fees, Investments and Passive Income under financial result; Sales under operating revenue; all other expenses under administrative.
For the first-level categories you create in a company, the form has an Income statement line field. For expenses, the options are administrative, sales & marketing or payroll expenses, or financial result; for income, operating revenue, other revenue or financial result. If you don't choose, an expense counts as administrative and income as operating revenue. Subcategories follow their main category's line.
Marina created a Marketing category on the sales & marketing line. The studio's ads now show on the income statement as a sales expense, apart from rent and subscriptions.
Investment categories and types
In the personal space, the Investments tab groups your portfolio into buckets such as Fixed Income and Stocks, with a Color and an optional Description. The Investment Types tab holds the products, such as CDBs, Treasury bonds and Stocks, created with New Type. Both appear when you add an investment. An investment category in use cannot be deleted either.
Where this shows up in the rest of the system
- Expenses and Income — every entry picks a category from here.
- Reports › Category Analysis — totals by category and lets you drill down through the levels.
- Budget — the monthly cap is set per category.
- Reports › Income Statement — in a company, the first-level category decides the line.
- OFX import — when you classify imported transactions, you pick categories from here.
Where to go next
- Expenses and income (personal) — record entries using the tree you built.
- Budget — decide how much can go to each category in the month.
- Management income statement — see how the company's categories become the result.
- Investments — add your portfolio with category and type.
In short: use the default categories, add detail with subcategories and sub-subcategories, hide what you do not use instead of deleting it and, in a company, choose the income statement line of each category you create.