Transactions
Enter a transaction
You enter transactions one account at a time. Pick an asset or liability account, then add rows to its ledger. Each row names the other account involved, and Estate Bookkeeper records both sides.
Before you start
The matter needs at least two asset, income, or expense accounts. If it has fewer, clicking Add Transaction shows a guide that points you to the Accounts tab. See Set up accounts.
Steps
- Open the matter and click the Transactions tab.
- In View transactions for, choose the asset or liability account. You can type to search the list.
- The Add Transaction row appears below the ledger. If you don't see it, click Add Transaction.
- Fill in the row:
- Date. After you save a row, the next row starts with the same date. On an account with no transactions yet, it defaults to the matter's earliest transaction date. Otherwise it defaults to today.
- Check #. Optional.
- Description. Required.
- An amount in one of the two amount columns. See the next section.
- Account. The other account in the transaction. Required.
- Tags. Optional. Pick transaction tags, or choose Create New Tag.
- Press Enter or click the save icon at the end of the row.
To discard the row, press Esc or click the cancel icon.
Which amount column to use
The two amount columns are named for the account you picked:
- Asset account. Deposit for money coming in, Payment for money going out.
- Liability account. Increase when the debt grows, Decrease when it shrinks.
Enter the amount in only one column, and make it greater than zero.
Examples from an asset account such as Estate Checking:
- Interest received. Deposit, with an income account such as Interest Income in the Account column. Recorded as income.
- Attorney fee paid. Payment, with an expense account. Recorded as an expense.
- Money moved to another estate account. Payment, with the receiving asset account. Recorded as a transfer.
- Loan proceeds received. Deposit, with the liability account. Recorded as borrowing.
- Loan payment. Payment, with the liability account. Recorded as a repayment.
See Account types and when to use each for how each pair of accounts is labeled.
Description autofill
After you type at least two characters in Description, Estate Bookkeeper looks for the most recent earlier transaction on this account whose description starts with the same text. If it finds one, the match appears under the field with Enter to accept. Press Enter to fill in that description and its account.
Add a missing account from the row
The Account dropdown ends with Add new account. Choose it, pick Asset, Income, Expense, Liability, or Equity, fill in the account form, and save. The new account is selected in the row for you.
When you search the Account dropdown, the parent of each matching account stays visible above it, so you can tell apart subaccounts that share a name.