Finding and Fixing Errors

Pagemonth Budget Spreadsheets all have built-in safeguards against carrying errors forward from either the Cashflow or the Budget side, the main one being the need for the twin end balances to agree to the penny.

Yet errors do occur, and it is possible to carry them forward from any given month where they occur to subsequent months, even for all remaining months of the year, which may display twin end balances in perfect agreement even though the original month in error displays disagreement between its end balances!

How is this possible?  It depends upon three things:  where the errors are, the amounts entered, and  whether they were repeated on both cashflow and budget sides.  Let's take these one at a time:

First, errors made on only the Cashflow side are the easiest to locate and correct, because nothing in cashflow is carried forward to tthe next month or beyond, including its End Balance, which will likely.not agree with the Budget side End Balance.  That is because the Budget side End Balance is the amount each month that is duplicated automatically as the next month's Beginning Balance, which is in turn added to or subtracted from with each Cashflow row entry.  The error in the previous month's cashflow is therefore not carried forward from month to month in column D balances, and may not even be noticed in future months.

To locate a Cashflow error, however, is very easy. because it produces a column D balance that is also wrong,  To find and correct it simply look for the differnce between the twin End Balances. which will be the amount of the error, then check what the amount  should have been by glancing at its correct amount on the Budget side--again displaying the difference discrepancy amount.  Once the error is corrected the End Balances should agree again and you can gi forward.

As for Cashflow errors in amount entered, if the amount is correct, look at its column D formula to make sure it was added or subtracted by the correct operand sign internally. either + or -.  The wrong sign will of course produce the wrong balance.  Also check to see if any amount earned or spent was simply not entered.  And lastly check if any amount was a only part of a larger amount on the Budget side such as a weekly or extra cash withrdrawal.  For example, all category 110 "cash" withdrawals for the month added together need to total the Budget side item 110 amount for the entire month.

Budget side errors are relatively even easier to find and correct because they depend on fixed locations in the Regular or Other Income, Regular or Other Expenses blocks.  When they do occur, as in Cashflow, it can be simply not entering an item in any of the blocks, or in the wrong block.  Or it can happen if a Budgeted amount isn't available on the date it was budgeted to be, or in an amount it wasn't budgeted to be.  A delayed paycheck deposit at the bank due to holidays or wekeends, for example, or a change in deductions you weren't planning on, or if you're fortunate, perhaps a promotion that kicked in or a bonus you received unexpectedly.  None of these are usual, and all need to be adjusted for on both Cashflow and Budget sides when they do occur.

As for the third type of error, the error in cashflow which is repeated on the budget side, it is perhaps the hardest to notice of the three types.  It often requires crosschecking against your bank statements and online account pages to see if something happened that somehow you didn't notice or enter properly in your spreadsheet,   Our Pagemonth Budgets are not linked electronically to any bank information as are many other home budgets such as Mint.  That has both pro's and cons.  We feel our pro's by far outweigh the cons, because bank data is never completely current as income and expenses flow in and out at different times, and budgets such as Mint cannot project current balances beyond the data the bank has at any given time, as Pagemonth can and does.

So if your error month's data is repeated on both cashflow and budget sides, both end balances will display no error at all anywhere that month until you reconcile your bank statement or current month's transactions on their website.

In summary, your Pagemonth Budget is not a substitute for balancing your checking account but an aide in doing so.  If things aren't coming out right, check the bank site information against your Pagemonth information and your checkbook.  A fee may have been charged that you didn't enter, or perhaps even authorize, and it is possible for bank data itself to be erroneous on rare occasions.  A phonecall during bank hours can often clear things up.