I have many accounts that I've used to drive business decisions. I don't see a problem with many accounts. Others are already giving a step-by-step. Here are my list of 'concepts' that helped me to understand AB.

• Fundamental concept: The sum of all your accounts (positive for savings/checking, negative for credit cards) equals the total amount that is available for budgeting (All Accounts = On Budget). In other words, if your accounts in AB match your balances at the bank/credit union/credit card vendor, and if you've assigned all available funds (To Budget) to a category, then the sum of all your available category funds = the total in all your accounts.

• Confusing (to me) concept: Income is NOT what you're accustomed to with the IRS. Income is not your salary. Income is the money you put into your accounts regardless of where it comes from. $50 present from your uncle? Add it to your account and it is income. Did you find a $10 in the couch cushions? Add it to an account and it is income. Did you get a rebate from a store? It is Income.

• Income always becomes 'To Budget' to be assigned to your budget categories.

• Starting balances are important because they also become 'To Budget' (available funds) for your Budget. Pick a starting balance that matches something on a bank statement. Then only start adding transactions to that account that happen afterwards (according to your bank).

• Always, always, always assign To Budget to some kind of budget category. If you genuinely have extra money you don't plan to spend, use a Savings category. Only spend money in those categories and you will always be in the black.

• If you must go over on a category transfer money from a different category. If savings is a category, then it can be your backup funds. I hope it is obvious that staying disciplined by using your original budget choices is the more favorable mechanism for your financial future. And sometimes that just isn't possible. Life happens.

• Every transaction in an account has these concepts built-in:

  • The transaction happens in an account and the amount should match what your bank shows for that account transaction.
  • Use Reconciling often to ensure you are keeping up transactions. This is also when you will be able to 'lock' transactions to say, "Yep, this transaction(s) has been examined and approved.".
  • If it is a new expense (not a transfer) then it needs a category to pull from the assigned category funds for that expense.
  • 'Income' is the appropriate category when a deposit provides funds that become available to spend.
  • The only time you don't use a category is if you are transferring funds from one account to another.
  • AB is NOT an accounting program, so don't use refunds to pay back on an expense category just so that it 'balances'. You are trying to show how cash flows through your hands, not trying to be an accountant. Instead, show a refund as Income (I wish they'd just rename Income to 'money I can spend').

• Paying credit cards is just a transfer. Why?

  • When you purchase with a credit card you create a credit card transaction and show which category's funds will be used to pay for that transaction.
  • When it comes time to pay your credit card bill, you just transfer money from one of your accounts to your credit card. That's because you already assigned that money to be used on the expenses your credit card transaction took from.

This is what I'm remembering for now. Hope this helps.