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 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <chapter id="makingmostof">
 <chapterinfo>
   <authorgroup>
     <author><personname><firstname>Joe</firstname><surname>(joe1011010)</surname></personname>
             <email>joe1011010_km@users.sourceforge.net</email>
     </author>
   </authorgroup>
   <date>2010-04-05</date>
   <releaseinfo>5.0.4</releaseinfo>
 </chapterinfo>
 
 <title>Making the most of &kmymoney;</title>
 
 <para>
   While you could go ahead, clicking some buttons and filling in some data,
   after a time, you could decide you have done it wrong and start again, even if
   you did read the documentation on each part of &kmymoney;.
 </para>
 
 <para>
   You will get a more effective system if you spend a little time planning how
   you are going to use &kmymoney;, so follow the steps given here.
 </para>
 
 <sect1 id="makingmostof.basicaccounting">
 <title>Basic Accounting</title>
 
 <para>
   Imagine your money as balls, or beans, and to stop them rolling around you
   keep them in a box, or pot. Accounting, or Bookkeeping, is the process of
   counting and keeping track of the beans in the pot, or several pots.
 </para>
 
 <para>
   You have some money in the pot marked <quote>Cash</quote>. You buy some goods,
   so you take some beans out of the cash pot and place them into another pot
   marked <quote>Supplier</quote>. The supplier gives you some goods in exchange
   for the cash, so you take the beans out of the pot marked
   <quote>Supplier</quote> and put them in the pot marked <quote>Goods</quote>.
 </para>
 
 <para>
   The goods have a value (the price you paid) so you still have the same amount
   of beans, some representing cash and some representing goods.
 </para>
 
 <para>
   In this case you have two movements of beans, or transactions. Each
   transaction needs two entries, one to take beans out and one to put beans
   in. This is called <quote>double entry bookkeeping</quote> or <quote>double
   entry accounting</quote>. The recording of the transactions is done in a
   <quote>Ledger</quote>; each pot is known as an <quote>Account</quote> or
   <quote>Ledger code</quote>.
 </para>
 
 <para>
   Now you take some goods and give them to a customer, who gives you some cash
   in exchange. The goods were worth some beans and, hopefully, the customer has
   given us more beans than that, so making a profit. To over simplify, the beans
   from the Goods pot come back as Cash, but we can split that as the <quote>Cost
   of Goods sold</quote> and <quote>Profit</quote>. This transaction has three
   entries; one side of the <quote>double entry</quote> has been split.
 </para>
 
 <para>
   This will be covered in more detail later on in this handbook.
 </para>
 <!-- **** don't forget to make sure this is actually covered, and linked to from
      here.  Also, I have removed "in setting up accounts for Businesses." and
      modified the section below, since we explicitly say that KMM is not for
      business use. -->
 
 <sect2 id="makingmostof.basicaccounting.personalaccounts">
 <title>Defining the accounts (personal records)</title>
 
 <para>
   Most accounts, or pots, above represent a measure of our <quote>Worth</quote>.
   The cash and goods represent our <quote>Assets</quote>; so does what we are
   owed if our customers have not yet given us the money. The money we owe, say
   if we had not paid our suppliers, are our <quote>Liabilities</quote>. These
   accounts are transferable to Cash and have a value.
 </para>
 
 <para>
   Any pots that cannot be valued are <quote>Income</quote> or
   <quote>Expense</quote>. Our phone bill (or the phone company to which we pay
   the bill) cannot be valued; we know how much we have paid, but not how much
   anyone else has paid.  We know how much our employer has paid us, but we do
   not know how much they have paid anybody else, or how much money they have
   left to pay us next month.  Although we cannot determine an actual value for
   these pots, it is useful to monitor how much we have put into or taken out of
   each of them.
 </para>
 
 <para>
   In some cases a supplier is a <quote>Liability,</quote> in others it is an
   <quote>Expense</quote>. This is something we need to consider and decide for
   each case. Similarly, you may set up a loan as a Liability, particularly if
   you transfer the money into your bank account, but it could be an Expense if
   it was to buy some furniture.
 </para>
 
 <para>
   Consider how you want to track and analyze your income and expenses. This will
   help you decide how to set them up in &kmymoney;.
 </para>
 
 <para>
   Finally, consider if you want everything in one set of accounts, or two or
   more. This may depend on the legal framework or just how you want to analyze
   things. Each set of accounts would be handled separately.
 </para>
 </sect2>
 
 <sect2 id="makingmostof.basicaccounting.businessaccounts">
 <title>Defining the accounts (business records)</title>
 
 <para>
   There are similarities to setting up accounts for personal use, but there are
   additional considerations, including legal guidelines and requirements.
   &kmymoney; does not explicitly address any of these issues, as it has been
   designed as a <quote>personal</quote> finance manager.  In addition, these
   additional issues are not addressed in this handbook, but you must be aware of
   them if you are going to attempt to use &kmymoney; for a business.
 </para>
 </sect2>
 </sect1>
 
 <sect1 id="makingmostof.mapping">
 <title>Mapping your finances to &kmymoney;</title>
 
 <para>
   So, collect up your papers and see the following sections for each item in
   &kmymoney;.
 </para>
 
 <sect2 id="makingmostof.mapping.accounts">
 <title>Accounts</title>
 
 <para>
   These hold a value. Transactions are created against one or more accounts.
 </para>
 
 <sect3 id="makingmostof.mapping.accounts.asset">
 <title>Accounts - Asset</title>
 
 <para>
   These are the accounts which hold your money and possessions that you wish to
   monitor. The following types are available:
 </para>
 
 <variablelist>
   <varlistentry>
     <term>Checking</term>
     <listitem>
       <para>
         Standard bank checking account.
       </para>
     </listitem>
   </varlistentry>
 
   <varlistentry>
     <term>Savings</term>
     <listitem>
       <para>
         Standard bank savings account.
       </para>
     </listitem>
   </varlistentry>
 
   <varlistentry>
     <term>Cash</term>
     <listitem>
       <para>
         Money in your hand or wallet.
       </para>
     </listitem>
   </varlistentry>
 
   <varlistentry>
     <term>Loan</term>
     <listitem>
       <para>
         Loans you make to someone else.
       </para>
     </listitem>
   </varlistentry>
 
   <varlistentry>
     <term>Investment</term>
     <listitem>
       <para>
         Money you invest.
       </para>
     </listitem>
   </varlistentry>
 
   <varlistentry>
     <term>Asset</term>
     <listitem>
       <para>
         Property, collections, &etc;
       </para>
     </listitem>
   </varlistentry>
 </variablelist>
 </sect3>
 
 <sect3 id="makingmostof.mapping.accounts.liability">
 <title>Accounts - Liability</title>
 
 <para>
   These are the accounts which represent your debts and money owed that you wish
   to monitor. The following types are available:
 </para>
 
 <variablelist>
   <varlistentry>
     <term>Credit card</term>
     <listitem>
       <para>
         Standard credit card account.
       </para>
     </listitem>
   </varlistentry>
 
   <varlistentry>
     <term>Loan</term>
     <listitem>
       <para>
         Loans made to you, mortgages, &etc;
       </para>
     </listitem>
   </varlistentry>
 
   <varlistentry>
     <term>Liability</term>
     <listitem>
       <para>
         Anything else you owe that is not a loan.
       </para>
     </listitem>
   </varlistentry>
 </variablelist>
 </sect3>
 </sect2>
 
 <sect2 id="makingmostof.mapping.institutions">
 <title>Institutions</title>
 
 <para>
   These are completely optional and can be used to group accounts, and show a
   total value for all accounts in each group.
 </para>
 </sect2>
 
 <sect2 id="makingmostof.mapping.categories">
 <title>Categories</title>
 
 <para>
   These represent non-managed income and expense accounts that do not have a
   value. The total value of transactions is shown against each category. A
   category or transfer account is required for each transaction.
 </para>
 </sect2>
 
 <sect2 id="makingmostof.mapping.subcategories">
 <title>Sub-Categories</title>
 
 <para>
   Categories can be split into sub-categories, but this relationship is only for
   display purposes, as the sub-category totals are not included in the higher
   level category total.
 </para>
 </sect2>
 
 <sect2 id="makingmostof.mapping.tags">
 <title>Tags</title>
 
 <para>
   Tags are very similar to Categories, as they are also non-managed accounts
   that do not have a value.  However, unlike Categories, the use of Tags is
   completely optional.
 </para>
 </sect2>
 
 <sect2 id="makingmostof.mapping.payees">
 <title>Payees</title>
 
 <para>
   These are optional for transactions. They are required for Scheduled
   transactions. A transaction history, with category, is shown against each
   payee.
 </para>
 </sect2>
 
 <sect2 id="makingmostof.mapping.schedules">
 <title>Scheduled transactions</title>
 
 <para>
   Where transactions occur on a regular basis, these can be set up against a
   Schedule. Transactions are created from a schedule; any that are overdue can
   be seen on the home page.
 </para>
 </sect2>
 </sect1>
 
 <sect1 id="makingmostof.usefultips">
 <title>Useful Tips</title>
 
 <para>
   Unless you keep your money under your mattress or under the floorboards, you
   probably make use of one or more institutions where you have accounts, which
   may be in credit or debit. In order to familiarize yourself with the way
   &kmymoney; works, choose an account you want to track with &kmymoney; and
   select the <menuchoice><guimenu>File</guimenu><guimenuitem>New</guimenuitem>
   </menuchoice> menu item in order to set up an account file.
 </para>
 
 <para>
   If you have used another personal finance manager, you may be able to import
   the data from it into &kmymoney;.
 </para>
 
 <para>
   If you have some regular receipts into or outgoings from this account, go to
   Payee and enter the names of both the payers and the payees involved; then go
   to Schedule and fill in a New Schedule for each recurring transaction. If you
   haven't entered the payee or payer, &kmymoney; will offer you the opportunity
   to do this in the middle of entering the schedule.
 </para>
 
 <para>
   To add other new transactions go to Ledgers; you can add new payees and
   categories in the middle of a transaction or by going to Payees or Categories
   before entering the transaction.
 </para>
 
 <para>
   You will probably find that the default Categories do not exactly match your
   needs; you can easily delete ones you know you are never going to need and add
   others that you need. But when you are entering a transaction, you only have
   to type a few letters of a category and &kmymoney; will offer you a drop down
   list of the matching categories from which to choose.
 </para>
 
 <para>
   You can add different accounts managed by different institutions; the
   preferred one will show when you open &kmymoney; but you can quickly switch to
   any of the others.
 </para>
 
 <para>
   When you make a payment, &kmymoney; will work out what the next check number
   should be; delete this if you are not making a check payment or edit it if
   the first check you enter is not check number 1. Alternatively, it is
   possible to switch off auto-increment of check numbers.
 </para>
 
 <para>
   Every so often you may get statements of your account from the institutions
   you use; you can reconcile your &kmymoney; accounts against these statements
   so that you have an accurate statement of the current state of your finances.
 </para>
 
 <para>
   If you go to Reports, you will find several default reports; to customize
   these, open one similar to the sort you prefer and then select 'New' (not
   'Copy'); you can then customize this to your needs and mark it as a preferred
   report if you wish.
 </para>
 
 <para>
   Though &kmymoney; is not intended for use in a business context, if you are
   running a business on your own and so do not need payroll functions, you will
   probably find that &kmymoney; is sufficiently customizable to meet your needs
   particularly as it comes with budgeting and forecasting features and you can
   export your customized reports via CSV into other applications.
 </para>
 </sect1>
 </chapter>