San Balance01Start with the movement test
Ask whether money entered an account, left an account or moved between two accounts you own. Use income when outside money actually arrives, expense when it actually leaves and transfer when ownership stays the same. If no balance changed, do not post a transaction yet. A bill received today but payable next week belongs in payment planning until it is paid.
02Record enough context to recognise the event
Choose the account that really received or paid the money, the date the movement occurred and a stable category that explains its purpose. Add a concise description that distinguishes the event from similar entries. Avoid putting account numbers, card details or secrets in descriptions. Consistent descriptions and categories make search useful and help you distinguish a duplicate from two legitimate purchases of the same amount.
03Separate transfers from spending
A transfer creates a linked source and destination effect. It should not appear in income or expense totals because the money remained yours. Credit-card payments, cash withdrawals and savings movements often need this treatment when both sides are accounts you track. If a fee is charged, record the transfer for the moved amount and a separate expense for the fee so each balance and the cost report remain explainable.
Example: Move AUD 400 from checking to savings: checking falls by AUD 400 and savings rises by AUD 400. Combined cash is unchanged, so neither income nor expense increases.
04Correct with refund, void or restore
Use a refund when money is returned from an earlier expense. Use void when an entry should no longer count, and restore if that decision was mistaken. These actions preserve why a total changed instead of silently rewriting history. Before correcting, check whether the problem is only a wrong category or description. Permanent deletion should be exceptional; an audit trail is more useful when reviewing exports or explaining a changed month.
05Prevent duplicate posting from payment plans
When a planned payment is marked paid, San Balance posts the actual outflow. Do not create a second manual expense for the same movement. If you entered the expense first, reconcile the payment occurrence before marking it paid. The same rule applies to linked debt: let the paid occurrence update the debt once. Duplicate posting usually reveals itself as a correct external balance paired with an overstated expense report.
06Use a repeatable review routine
At the end of a session, scan recent transactions for repeated amount-and-date pairs, unexpected accounts, uncategorised items and transfers recorded as income or expense. Then compare the ending account balance with a trusted source. If the balance differs, fix missing or duplicate movements before changing categories or reports. This sequence addresses the underlying ledger first, so later summaries remain trustworthy.