No problem and don't worry about. After all if you don't
ask the question how will you get the answer?

Take care,
;DAE

- quote -

Hi Cal,

Correct each company would have its very own Schedule C.
When you say "make data for multiple Schedule C's", I'm
not sure exactly what you mean so bear with me. If you're
referring to importing your data into a Tax Program
(notice I don't say which) and automatically generating
multiple Sch. C's, neither Money or Quicken will help you
out. However you might be able to generate a different
tax summary report in Quicken for each company if you use
Quicken's classes. You would then have to enter the data
manually. Notice I said "might" b/c I don't use
classes/classifications in either program. I have no need
as of yet.

As you know, just because Money or Quicken allows
something does not make it the "right" thing to do.

Thanks and take care,
DAE

- quote -

"Cal Learner-- MVP" <via_newsgroup[at]please.tnx> wrote in message
news:hub2jv85iadb7l86vrifocn2fi244ec1lp[at]4ax.com...
- quote -

In Quicken, no problem. I have several Schedule C businesses, all tracked
in one file.

Dick and Doug, I appreciate your help. I'll try Money if I ever get the
chance and see for myself, but your posts tell me that classes in Money
aren't what I'm used to in Quicken -- and may not work at all for me.

I don't use the Business version of Quicken (I've been a Quicken user since
version 2 DOS and developed other means of handling invoices prior to the
introduction of the Business version). So, Doug, I see your point with
having a CO name on an invoice. I have no idea how that works in Quicken.
I jumped into this thread with tracking various business's cash flows in
mind via the use of classes.

Again, I appreciate your help and patience in trying to explain Money to me.

I'll keep lurking in this NG to monitor Money, but I'll try to keep my mouth
shut.

--


Rick Hess
New Orleans

Arrgh. Anybody (MVPs welcome!) that wants to jump in here, please be my
guest.

I will explain classification in Money. I believe it is very analogous to
the less abstract mechanism in Quicken, but haven't used Quicken to any
great extent since 1992, so can't say for sure.

Money allows three different named associations with every transaction
element. Each of the three named association can have two levels. In most
ways, Categories:Subcategories work just like
classification1:subclassification1 and classification2:subclassification2.
Each can have arbitrarily long lists of members.

Category has Category and Subcategory. E.g., Food:Groceries,
Automobile:Gasoline, Miscellaneous:Supplies. Categories also have associated
stuff like tax reporting attributes.

Classification1 can be named by the user. It can also have two levels. I
call mine Class (because I had first dabbled in Quicken and they called
theirs Class) and a typical Class:Subclass is Cell Phone123) 456-7890. If
I wanted, I could have Cell Phone123) 456-7890 (personal) and 123)
456-7890 (business). I also have classes for Automobile with subclasses for
each of the ones I've owned, Vacation with subclasses for each of the ones
we've taken, Property:[properties] and so on.

Classification2 can also be named by the user. I've never used this third
level. But I suppose you could call it something like CostCenter with
CostCenter:Subcostcenters like Businesses:Widgets, Inc. and
Hobbies:Recreational Substance Abuse. Someone once suggested that you could
use this for, say, Class2 with a Class:Subclass like Tax Year:2003. That's
one of the only good reasons I've ever heard for using the third level. I
suppose if you wanted to try to do the multiple independent businesses in
one data file thing in Money, that might be another good reason to use the
second classification.

Thus, you can assign a given transaction element like $12.75 to the
following, all independently and simultaneously:

Cat:SubCat: Automobile:Gasoline
Class:Subclass: Automobile:2003 Wombat XLS Eddie Bauer
CostCenter:Subcostcenter: Hobbies:Recreational Substance Abuse

for gasoline expenses for the Wombat to go and score a nickel bag.

Hopefully it is now clear that Categories and classification in Money are
two very similar things. Hopefully it is also clear that Categories and
classification aren't something you "share" with one another. They are
simultaneous, independent, variables. You have a height (category) and a
weight (classifiaction1) and a hair color (classification2). So do I. But
they are attributes for different things. "Sharing" a height and a weight
makes no sense. We both have each. They are largely independent.

Now I can report on all of this--FOR TRANSACTION-CENTRIC REPORTS. I can
report all income and expense transactions, regardless of category or
account, for Hobbies:Recreational Substance Abuse. Or I can just show
Automobile:Gasoline expenses for any reason and for any account, sorted and
grouped by Class or CostCenter. However, Net Worth of Automobile:2003 Wombat
XLS Eddie Bauer, for instance, makes no sense since net worth is not a
function of transactions. That's why you can't do it. And you can't display
the Automobile:2003 Wombat XLS Eddie Bauer balance in the account Checking.
It also has no meaning. And these latter issues are why it might be hard for
two people or two businesses to share the same Money data file using
classification to try to keep things apart. Classification only applies to
transactions.

Money can do most of the things with the two levels of classification that
it can do with Category and Subcategory. Exceptions: you can't find/replace
on them, and you can't easily move them to and fro.

If you really want to find out what Money can do with classification, D/L
the trial and play with it.

"Dick Watson" <littlegreengecko[at]mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:Of5rCw7WDHA.3924[at]tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
- quote -

I don't think we're connecting on this. I understand that accounts and
classes are different. I never said I wanted a net worth based only on a
class -- OR an account -- OR a transaction -- OR a category. But there are
instances where you might want to filter the data on any of those. I
suspect that the reason we're not connecting on this is perhaps what Money
calls a Class is considered a Subcategory in Quicken, as I will attempt to
illustrate below.

- quote -

I don't know if it's the syntax that's different, or if Money really doesn't
have the equivalent of Quicken's classes.

In your previous post you gave "Cell Phone:555-1212" as an example. In
Quicken, "Cell Phone" would be considered a category and ":555-1212" (what
you call a class?) would be considered a subcategory. If you have a second
cellphone, you might subcategorize ("Classify" in Money?) that one as
":555-2323".

Let's say these are personal cell phones that you use primarily for personal
use, but also occasionally use for the benefit of your employer. You might
want to track the business use of those phones separately for later
reimbursement by your employer. In Quicken, the syntax would look like
this: "Cell Phone:555-1212" for your personal use, or "Cell
Phone:555-1212/Job" for the SAME phone, but the business use of it. In
Quicken, we would call "/Job" a class. You might also be on business travel
and want to track your expenses separately. So, you could have
"Lodging/Job" or "Dining/Job". In Quicken, I could filter any report to
include or exclude "/Job" so that I could tell what was business use and
what was not. I could make a report that ONLY shows all expenses for
"/Job", no matter what the category. If you never used your second
cellphone ("Cell Phone:555-2323") for business, it would never show up in a
"/Job" report, even though that category & subcategory was included in the
parameters. Can't Money do this?


- quote -

But can I have shared categories with different classes? IOW, I might have
categories called "Rent", "Supplies", "Utilities:Water", etc. With those
SAME categories, I want to differentiate between rentals or personal use.
In Quicken, if I have 100 rentals I only need one category for
"Utilities:Water". Period. In Money, it sounds like I would need 101
categories (100 for the rentals and 1 for personal).

Extending this example, if I want to see all my income and expenses for 123
Big Pine Trail Drive, I select that property as a class report. All
transactions (no matter what the category or in what account, unless I
filter some out) will then produce a report for ONLY 123 Big Pine Trail
Drive.

It sounds like the only way to do this in Money would be to multiply my
categories 101 times.


- quote -

One can do this (I do) in Quicken, quite painlessly. But classes and
subcategories are two entirely different animals. I don't think you've used
an example that's the equivalent of Quicken's classes. I keep hoping a
Money user who's used classes extensively in Quicken will jump in this
thread and clarify it for both of us.

--


Rick Hess
New Orleans

"Dick Watson" <littlegreengecko[at]mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:ep00eH6WDHA.212[at]TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
- quote -

Thanks for your detailed response.

I still can't believe what I'm reading (I know I must be missing
something -- maybe it's this Louisiana heat getting to me).

I agree that a net worth report should (in most cases) include all accounts
and classes.

However, there are many cases where you might want to run reports sans
certain classes. Of course, this is even more important if you have a
business(s) that you're tracking.

One of my sources of income is rental property, so let's continue with that
example. You're saying that if you want to create cash flow reports for
various rental properties, that you must create separate files -- one for
each rental? In my case I own dozens of properties. For each property I
need to be able to create cash flow reports. So, in Money I would need
dozens of files? Would I be able to generate a report that draws data from
each of those files such as a total rental property cash flow report? How
about a net worth report that considers my real net worth - which would
include all rental properties? Would I need to re-create my list of
categories and other settings for EACH file?


- quote -

I don't think this is a great example, but I believe that the answer would
be yes, if privacy wasn't an issue. There would need to be a common set of
categories, but of course, sharing a file with one's neighbor isn't at the
top of my list. I am able to track several businesses plus many rental
properties all in one file. I can generate any type of P&L or balance sheet
my creditors request. And I can generate a net worth that includes
everything or excludes whatever I don't need.

Please don't misunderstand my motives for posting here. I'm not bragging
about Quicken. In fact, I hope Money can do what I'm saying Quicken can do
because I'm looking at switching.
--


Rick Hess
New Orleans

Some reports can be customized to be specific to certain classifications.
Others can't. Also, classifications apply to transactions and cannot be
applied to portions of, say, a cash account balance or just specific
accounts. This is why, for instance, the Net Worth computation knows nothing
about classification. What would it mean? Net worth = sumof(cash accounts) -
sumof(liability accounts). In this context, the fact that I charged some gas
last week to the classification Automobiles:CR-V means nothing. The
liability account balance is ($1,234.56). That's not allocated by
classification even though I could, say, generate an account transactions
report to tell by classification how the classifications contributed to the
changes in position last month.

Yes, you can use classification in Money to keep track of income and
expenses associated with multiple rental properties just fine all in one
data file. But if you want to keep track of the books for "Hess Rental
Properties" and also keep track of the books for "Hess Construction,"
classification will only get you so far in telling how each business is
doing in its own right. You won't have, say, separate cash flow positions by
classification. Imagine you and your neighbor trying to share one Quicken
file: would classification as practiced by Quicken work for both of your
needs? Permit me to doubt.

I said at the outset I was putting words in Doug's mouth--he's forgotten
more about D&B/P&B/SBE than I ever want to know.

"Rick Hess" <RHess51295[at]aol.com> wrote in message
news:#2#Mn25WDHA.652[at]TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
- quote -

"Dick Watson" <littlegreengecko[at]mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:O5xYEr5WDHA.3444[at]tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
- quote -


So, in your report customization you can't filter out data for different
classes -- even net worth? I can't believe that.

I was following another thread in this NG about rental property where it was
suggested to use different classes for different rental properties (I do
this in Quicken). But if you can't run a report ONLY on one class, such a
concept would be worthless in my eyes. I would hate to have to use multiple
files to accomplish this.


--


Rick Hess
New Orleans

Money supports two different vectors of classification, each with two
levels. I think Doug's point is probably that one file generates one, say,
P&L Statement, no matter how you use classification. (I've never used
P&B/D&B/SBE so I'm putting words in Doug's mouth.)

An analog in Deluxe is that even though I can create classifications to dice
and slice the transaction information--I have, for instance,
Automobile:CR-V, Cell Phone555)-1212, Computeresktop IV, and
Vacation:Hawaii 2k as some of my classifications, I can only get one Net
Worth value per data file.

"Rick Hess" <RHess51295[at]aol.com> wrote in message
news:#SG5Ze5WDHA.3248[at]tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
- quote -

"Doug Edwards" <dedwards[at]dellmail.com> wrote in message
news:0b5901c35b57$8cd1fc00$a601280a[at]phx.gbl...
- quote -

I'm a Quicken user looking for alternatives. This post caught my eye since
I can run several businesses with even the basic version of Quicken.

Doesn't Money have provisions for assigning payments in one category to
different people or entities? In Quicken, we use "classes" to differentiate
such things. For example, if you wanted to track medical expenses
separately for you and your spouse, you could use classes this way using the
same category. The Quicken syntax for this would be "medical/self" or
"medical/spouse". One can also run different businesses the same way within
the same Quicken file.

If Money doesn't have this equivalent, you just saved me a lot of time
evaluating Money any further.


--


Rick Hess
New Orleans

Not in one Money file. You will need 3 different files.

DAE

- quote -

Hi. Question for anyone. I'm an independent small
business owner and own 3 different small companies. Can
MS Money SB 2004 support multiple companies?