Cash Flow

Compare your budgeted forecast against actual spending. Go to Cash Flow to get started.

This feature requires a Hierarchy Budget subscription.

What It Shows

The cash flow page answers: How does my actual spending compare to my budget?

For each time period, you see:

  • Forecast - What you budgeted (from monthly and periodic items)
  • Actual - What you actually spent (from categorized transactions)
  • Variance - The difference between forecast and actual

View Options

Switch between time periods using the buttons at the top:

View Shows
Weekly Each week’s forecast vs actual
Monthly Each month’s forecast vs actual
Quarterly Each quarter’s forecast vs actual
Annual Each year’s forecast vs actual

Navigation

Period selector: Click any period pill to jump to that timeframe.

Arrow buttons: Move forward or back one period at a time.

Visible periods: Click the calendar icons to show 1-5 periods simultaneously.

Balance Cards

At the top of each visible period, you’ll see:

  • Start - Opening balance for the period
  • End - Closing balance for the period

These show how your account balances change across time.

The Cash Flow Table

Each row represents a category or summary:

Income row: Shows total income forecast vs actual income transactions.

Expense categories: Each category shows its forecast and actual amounts. Categories are organized by Maslow level.

Net row: Total income minus total expenses.

Drilldown

Click any cell to see what makes up that number:

Forecast Tab

Shows the budget items contributing to the forecast:

  • Monthly income items
  • Monthly expense items
  • Periodic items falling in this period

Each item shows its name, source type, and amount.

Actual Tab

Shows the categorized transactions that make up actuals:

  • Transaction date
  • Description
  • Category
  • Amount

Summary Bar

At the top of the drilldown, you see:

  • Forecast - Total forecasted amount
  • Actual - Total actual amount
  • Variance - Difference (green if favorable, red if unfavorable)

How Forecast Is Calculated

The forecast comes from your budget setup:

  1. Monthly income - From Monthly Budget income items
  2. Monthly expenses - From Monthly Budget expense items
  3. Periodic items - From Periodic Budget, allocated to their scheduled months

How Actuals Are Calculated

Actuals come from your categorized transactions:

  1. Transactions from Accounts
  2. Filtered to the time period
  3. Grouped by category
  4. Assigned to Maslow level based on category

Uncategorized transactions don’t appear in cash flow. Categorize them at Categorize Pending.

Reading the Variance

For income:

  • Positive variance (green) = Earned more than expected
  • Negative variance (red) = Earned less than expected

For expenses:

  • Negative variance (green) = Spent less than expected
  • Positive variance (red) = Spent more than expected

For net:

  • Positive variance (green) = Better than budget
  • Negative variance (red) = Worse than budget

Tips

Start with monthly view: It’s the most intuitive for comparing to your monthly budget.

Drill down on variances: Large variances reveal where your budget doesn’t match reality.

Categorize transactions: Uncategorized transactions won’t appear. Keep up with categorization for accurate actuals.

Check periodic items: Make sure periodic expenses are scheduled for the right months.

Related Pages