Accounts
Accounts represent where your money lives — checking and savings at a bank, credit cards, loans, investments, or cash on hand. Big Picture Money tracks balances and transactions per account so you can see net worth and spending in one place.
What you can do
- Add manual accounts with a name, type, currency, and opening balance
- Track balance — choose whether the account counts toward Home, net worth, and balance-based goals (turn this off for Payment app accounts like PayPal when a cash balance is not meaningful)
- Loan purpose — when you add a loan, say what it is for (auto, home, student, and so on) so payments from checking categorize correctly
- Edit account details when names, starting balances, or Track balance change
- Archive accounts you no longer use — they stay in your data but hide from everyday lists
- Reorder accounts to control how they appear on the Accounts page
When you create an account, Big Picture Money also creates a pinned view for that account under Transactions in the left navigation. Use Views to manage those shortcuts.
You can also create accounts while mapping a bank connection.
Two kinds of balance
| Kind | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Ledger | Opening balance plus transactions in the register — used for running balance and Reconcile |
| Bank (institution) | Current balance from your bank connection when sync provides one — preferred on Home and in net worth |
When the two disagree after the first sync, use Align to bank.
Track balance
| Track balance | Effect |
|---|---|
| On | Account appears on Home Account balances; included in net worth and balance-linked goals |
| Off | Hidden from the Account balances widget; excluded from net worth; goals that sum balances ignore it (you can still link the account) |
Defaults: on for checking, savings, credit card, loan, investment, and cash; off for Payment app and Other. You can change the setting anytime on create or edit.
Hiding the Balance column on a view (see Choose register columns) only changes the register layout — it does not remove the account from net worth. Use Track balance for that.
Account types
Each account has a type that helps reports and net worth treat it correctly. See Account types for definitions.
Where accounts appear
- Accounts in the left navigation — full list and management
- Views under Transactions — pinned account views open each account’s register (see Views)
- Home and Reports — summaries that roll up accounts with Track balance on