Expense Transactions without assigned Card.
John D. Landry
via web
I am a Contractor, and when I am in the field, it would be extremely beneficial if I could enter expense transactions for miscellaneous purchases as they occur in a format that mirrors that in AE Desktop.
A simple example: I purchase fuel for a piece of equipment from a vendor that I will never utilize again. I would enter the transaction on AE Desktop in the "Spend Money" window, as follows:
Card: I would leave this field blank, since I will never utilize
the vendor again.
Check #: Db. Card (what I use to indicate Debit Card Purchase)
Pay to the Order of: Joe's Fuel Supply (NOT a vendor I want to
setup in AE, as I will never use them again)
Account Name: Fuel Expense (Category setup in AE)
Amount: $185.00
Job #: 785 (Job Setup in AE)
Memo: Diesel Fuel for Excavator
Right now, I would be forced to setup a Card File for, in this case, Joe's Fuel Supply, which I would never utilize again. This would greatly inflate the size of the Card File, and data file size, and would continually lengthen the time it takes to sync the data with Dropbox and with my iPad or iPhone.
Why doesn't the "Spend Money" functionality on AE Mobile mirror that of the desktop. If the input fields are the same, then the corresponding data import/export are the same, and would require no additional data manipulation or creation.
Because the data fields are different, when I import a transaction, AE Mobile assigns a "transaction number" that I have to go and change on AE Desktop. This is a tedious and unnecessary step, which reduces the efficiency and benefit of using AE Mobile.
Please address this issue immediately.
Right now I have to do too much data manipulation (or data creation in the form of entering vendor card files that I will never utilize again), and it is just easier to save up my receipts and enter them on AE Desktop when I get back to the office, which defeats the entire purpose of having a mobile application. The idea of a mobile application is to allow the user to enter data whenever, and wherever, most convenient.
As an aside, when I enter personal finance information on iBank (or Pocket Quicken historically), for example, I don't have to re-enter or edit the information when I sync it to iBank Desktop (or Pocket Quicken historically). That is how AE Mobile should work.
Support Staff 2 Posted by Simon on 24 Feb, 2011 10:56 PM
Thank you for your feedback. They are currently looking into having the Spend Money functionality mirror that of Desktop. As a workaround is create a Misc. Card that you can tie all Spend Money Transactions that you normally would not attach a Card to when recording the transaction.
3 Posted by John D. Landry on 25 Feb, 2011 05:31 AM
Simon,
Thanks for your reply. I am anxiously awaiting the ability to enter expenses in the field, which will be possible with a few minor changes. This will be a phenomenal productivity enhancement for me!
Sincerely,
John D. Landry
President & C.E.O.
Total Quality Contracting, LLC
• DBE • MBE • SBE
1801 W. Nighthawk Way
Phoenix, Arizona 85045-1633
(602) 828-2917 - Office Phone
(602) 865-7111 - Facsimile
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4 Posted by JDLandry on 07 Apr, 2011 06:30 PM
Still waiting for AE Mobile Expense functionality to mirror that of the desktop. For me, this is the most beneficial feature of AE Mobile. It is not practical for me to use the Application without this functionality. Please add this functionality ASAP.
Thanks!
5 Posted by Todd on 11 Apr, 2011 07:07 PM
Hi John,
I am happy to tell you that AEM v1.2 does allow you to record a Spend Money transaction without specifying a card.
Also, you mentioned in your original post that you disliked the way AEM assigns a transaction number - and that is very high on our list to enhance (frankly, we're not crazy about it either...). What would you like to see happen here? What transaction number, sequence, format would help you the most?
Looking forward to your continued feedback.
Todd @ Acclivity
6 Posted by John D. Landry on 11 Apr, 2011 07:54 PM
Todd,
How does it work?
For example, if I purchase fuel from Chevron for $175.00, how would I enter the transaction? Where do I denote that the purchase is from Chevron? If I were entering the transaction on AE Desktop, I would enter the transaction number as "Db. Card", to denote that the purchase was made with my debit card, and the payee would be Chevron, and the expense account would be Fuel Expense, and the Job Number would be a job number that I already setup on AE Desktop.
As far as the transaction number is concerned, I would simply make it an alphanumeric field (like AE Desktop), and let the user enter whatever they like. It would be nice if AE Mobile could keep track of the last check number used if the user selected a check as the payment method. In a perfect world, the field would be handled exactly like the desktop version.
The more the mobile version mirrors the desktop version the better from both a user standpoint, and from a data transfer standpoint as well.
Please advise about how I would enter my sample transaction from above.
Thanks!
Sent from my iPad
7 Posted by Todd on 11 Apr, 2011 08:11 PM
Hi John,
For this example we'll have to leave the transaction # part out of the discussion since its not editable (I will be posting on that separately...). If you want to denote the purchase is from Chevron you can just skip the card field at the top and put Chevron in the memo (or just setup a Chevron Card in AE on the desktop....). AEM will add in "Card not Specified" as the vendor.
As for transaction numbering and mirroring AE on the desktop in AEM - we're finding that that's not always practical. Keeping transaction or check numbers sequential with multiple users in AED and or in AEM in real time is a real challenge, as the files you sync up to Dropbox won't necessarily reflect transactions other AEM users have entered and not yet posted (and that's just one example).
Hope this helps.
Todd @ Acclivity
8 Posted by John D. Landry on 11 Apr, 2011 08:26 PM
If I put Chevron in the Memo field, I will have to edit the transaction on AE Desktop to make it the Payee, correct? If I have to do ANY data manipulation or correction on imported data, that makes the mobile application useless to me. I may as well just enter the data on AE Desktop.
Sent from my mobile phone.
9 Posted by Todd on 11 Apr, 2011 08:40 PM
Hi John,
You do bring up another topic we're looking at; the use of the Payee field, rather than the Card field, in Spend Money - and how that interacts with an imported transaction. That is one area where we do want to bring more of the desktop workflow to AEM, we just need to work out some details.
For now tho, given the Payee field is not there, using the memo field or an actual card are your best bets.
Todd @ Acclivity
10 Posted by John D. Landry on 13 May, 2011 05:01 PM
Any update on when AE Mobile expense transaction reporting will mirror that of the desktop? (i.e. When will AE Mobile's "Spend Money" window mirror that of the Desktop version?) This will allow me to enter misc. field purchases (Fuel purchased from Chevron, etc.) without having to create a needless card. This is the biggest feature for AE Mobile for me. Without it, I have no reason to use AE Mobile.
11 Posted by Todd on 13 May, 2011 05:17 PM
Hi John,
We've not forgotten about this, but I don't have a specific time frame for implementation.
Todd @ Acclivity
12 Posted by Jeffrey Mendelson on 25 May, 2011 02:49 AM
I would also like to see a receive money where I can just enter the amount , date, acct # and not have to go through making a sale
13 Posted by John D. Landry on 24 Jun, 2011 10:50 PM
Still waiting on on AE Expense Tracking to mirror the desktop version. Any timeline on the update?
14 Posted by Todd on 25 Jun, 2011 01:12 PM
Hi John,
No timeline for this right now, thanks for your patience, it is on our list.
Todd @ Acclivity
15 Posted by kimbakat on 09 Sep, 2011 06:21 PM
I created a card called "ADMIN EXPENSE" with the ID # "AD EXP" for just office expenses (Non client costs). AND...
I created a card called "PRODUCTION EXPENSE" with the ID # " "PRO EXP" for film production costs.
I ONLY apply ANY incidental expenses that do not need checks written to them or are NOT frequent/monthly vendors.
If we do not spend more than approx $600 to that vendor in a year....they do not get a card. We use the either of the 2 EXPENSE Cards.
Plus when you have to sort any of the windows..it helps to have those organized by that expense when finding "rogue" transactions and the amounts.
This dividing the two into ADMIN and PRODUCTION works well..and helps us divide for tax purposes.
16 Posted by J.D. Landry on 12 Sep, 2011 07:52 PM
Still waiting on AE Mobile to mirror the expense transaction functionality of AE Desktop. It has been 8-months since the request to have AE Mobile Expense Transactions mirror that of AE Desktop, and still no luck.
For me, that is the most beneficial reason to use AE Mobile. I have yet to utilize it to date, because the main functionality that I am looking for still has not been implemented.
I have this functionality on my Personal Finance side with iBank. REALLY need it on the business side.
Please get this functionality implemented. A good mobile program should mirror the desktop version. There should be no need to jurry-rig any information between the two. It should be a seamless integration. The data, and all of the corresponding fields, should be the same, which makes mapping and syncing data seamless. Please address this major shortcoming ASAP.
Support Staff 17 Posted by Simon on 13 Sep, 2011 12:44 PM
It is still being implemented for a future release. There is no update as far as when it will be incorporated. We are looking at being able to give the user to edit the Check# on Spend Money Transactions. Currently you can record Spend Money Transactions without having to enter in a Card.
18 Posted by John D. Landry on 26 Oct, 2011 12:57 PM
Any update on this? It has been 8-months. Are there really no plans to implement this? If so, just tell me so I can stop asking, and delete the App. For me, this would be the Primary benefit of AE Mobile. Without it, the program offers no value to me, which is why I have not used it to date.
Support Staff 19 Posted by Simon on 26 Oct, 2011 01:23 PM
We recently released v1.5 out that has some minor bug fixes as well as the ability to select from your Custom Lists & Fields. Also released AccountEdge Mobile in Canada as well. We are looking to have Spend Money mirror a little more like how Spend Money works on Desktop. I recommend taking a look at our blog for the most up to date information regarding all of our AccountEdge Products:
http://acclivity.tumblr.com/post/11889521060/best-laid-plans