Funds: FAQ

Do I need a separate GL account for each fund? No. A fund is a tag on each posted line, so one account holds lines in every fund at once. There is one Accounts Payable regardless of how many funds you use.

Why does one of my accounts have "Operating" in its name, then? That is only the account's name, chosen when your chart of accounts was set up. The split on your reports comes from the line tag, not from the name.

Which fund should I use? Operating, for almost everything. Reserve, when the cost should draw against reserve savings rather than operating funds. The two trust funds are for money you hold on someone else's behalf: rent held for an owner, or a deposit held for a resident.

Which expense types have a fund? All of them. Vendor bill, quick expense, reimbursement and direct payment each carry a fund, and it follows the expense through to payment.

Do I have to pick the fund again when I pay? No. Whatever you chose when recording the expense is carried through. The payment screen shows it back to you as a Fund label so you can confirm it.

Can I change the fund after recording an expense? Yes, while it is still unpaid. The change updates the tag on the posted entry and does not restart approval. After payment, void the payment first.

Does tagging Reserve move money out of a reserve bank account? No, those are two different things. The fund tag decides which pot the cost is charged to. The account you pay from decides where the money physically comes from. You choose them separately.

Why is my reserve expense missing from the budget? It is not missing, it is excluded on purpose. Reserve activity does not count against budget lines, does not trigger over-budget warnings, and does not carry over. This is true on both cash and accrual basis.

Does the same exclusion apply to trust funds? No. Only Reserve is excluded from budgets. Rent trust and Deposit trust keep ordinary budget treatment.

Why is the Reserve Fund Report cash basis only? By design. It reports reserve money that has actually moved rather than amounts accrued and not yet paid.

What happens if I void a paid reserve expense? The reserve reclass is reversed along with the payment. Your books return to where they were before, with no separate adjustment needed.

Can one journal entry have lines in more than one fund? Yes. Fund is set per line, so an entry can carry a mix where that is genuinely what happened.

Related: What a fund is · Troubleshooting funds