Account selection in the cash flow forecast

In the cash flow forecast, there could be entries for a particular category, and these entries are trended based on history, as opposed to being a scheduled bill or deposit. In the cash flow forecast, these entries will be shown to come out of a particular account.

The problem is, however, another account is normally used to pay for these items and Microsoft Money is not picking that up.

In Microsoft Money 2001, it is not possible to change the designated account for this spending. In later versions, it can be done in the categories section of the product (where you can select one or two accounts to use).

Microsoft Money uses an algorithm to calculate the account to use, in roughly the following manner:

Cash flow forecast items will come out of whichever checking (or current, for UK users)account has the most spending on a monthly basis. If no checking accounts have spending in them, the checking account with the most income in it is picked. If no checking accounts have income in them, the first checking account stored is used, then the first savings account, etc.

There is no workaround for MS Money 2001.

This article mainly applies to Microsoft Money 2001.