Categories are used to divide or classify transactions within Quicken. Examples are income and expense groups on Schedule F, the Ohio Commercial Farm Account Book categories, or those recommended from an accountant or tax preparer. Specific examples of categories might be Grain Sold or Feed Purchased. Each category is designated as tax or non-tax related for report and summary purposes.
There are three different methods for adding categories to your account. First, they can be set up ahead of time. Second, they can be set up as transactions are entered into the register. And third, they can be imported into a file using a QIF file. There are detailed instructions on how to import categories at the end of this chapter in the section Importing A Pre-Defined Set of Categories And Classes.
From the menu bar Click Finance and Click Category&Transfer List. This will open the CATEGORY & TRANSFER LIST window. The buttons on this window's toolbar include the following:
New - create a new category or sub-category
Edit - change the selected category
Delete - delete the selected category
Report - create a report on the selected category
Options - change the properties of the category list
How Do I - help in the Category&Transfer List window
X - close the Category & Transfer
List window.
You may also Click Category from the Main Toolbar (if added) to open the CATEGORY
& TRANSFER LIST window.
To set up categories ahead of time, Click
New button on the Category and Transfer List window toolbar
within the window. This gives you the SET UP CATEGORY window where you
will begin entering information for your new category.
First, you must enter the name
for your new category (e.g., Grain Sold). Second, you are asked to give a
description. While this is not mandatory, it is useful to provide detailed
information about the category for future reference. This information can be
accessed in the CATEGORY & TRANSFER LIST window. Third, you
will be asked to enter a Group for the category. Make sure this field is blank.
(Categories may be grouped for budgeting purposes. See Quicken Help for more
information on Category Groups.) Fourth, you are asked to select the type
of category you are setting up: income, expense or subcategory (more on
subcategories later). Fifth, make sure the Spending is not discretionary
box is left unchecked. Sixth, you need to decide if the category is tax
related. If it is, you need to Click Tax-Related. If it isn't a
tax related category, leave this box blank.
Lastly, you may want to designate the tax form and line on the tax form this category corresponds to. You can choose from the complete list of tax forms and lines from the pull-down menu. These last two choices are optional and are dependent on the level of detail you wish to obtain on reports. It is recommended that you at least designate whether the category is tax related or not. Click OK when finished.
Categories can also be set up as you are making transaction entries into the register. Simply enter information into entry fields of a transaction as you normally would. When you arrive at the category field, enter the name of the new category. Quicken will prompt you with a NEW CATEGORY window asking DO YOU WANT TO CREATE A NEW CATEGORY WITH THE NAME "NEW CATEGORY NAME"? Click Yes. This will take you to the SET UP CATEGORY window where you will follow the same procedures as described in the previous paragraphs.
To edit a category you first need to have the CATEGORY & TRANSFER LIST window opened. Point to the category you wish to edit and Click to highlight the category. Click the Edit button on the CATEGORY & TRANSFER LIST window toolbar. This will give you the EDIT CATEGORY window where you can change the various different components related to a category: Name, Description, Group, Type and Tax Sections. Click OK when finished.
To delete a category, highlight the category to be deleted in the CATEGORY & TRANSFER LIST window. Click the Delete button from the CATEGORY & TRANSFER LIST window toolbar. You will be prompted with a Delete Category window stating "YOU ARE ABOUT TO PERMANENTLY DELETE A CATEGORY." Click Delete Category. Click OK. You also have the option to replace the category by Clicking Replace Category. This selection and selection of a category from the adjoining pull-down menu enables you to merge the deleted category with the category from the pull-down menu.
Subcategories are a further breakdown of an income or expense category designated by a colon ':' between the category and subcategory in the category field when entering a transaction. For example, the Repairs category may have two subcategories, Building and Machinery to separate transactions and their associated dollar amounts for summarizing (e.g. Repairs:Building).
Subcategories are set up in the same way as categories, except when you designate "Type" in the SET UP CATEGORY window, Click Subcategory of, Click the adjacent down arrow to view the pull down menu. Click the category that the subcategory is to be assigned to.
Subcategories are edited in the same way categories are edited.
To merge categories you must first make one category a sub-category of another. To do this highlight the category that is to be merged. Click the Edit button on the CATEGORY & TRANSFER LIST window toolbar as you would to edit a category. In the EDIT CATEGORY window, under Type, Click Subcategory of. Click the drop down arrow to view the pull down menu to select the category you wish to merge into. When this category is selected, Click OK. The first category selected is now a subcategory of the second.
Next Click the subcategory (former category) that is to be merged. Click the Delete button from the CATEGORY & TRANSFER LIST window toolbar. You will be prompted with a window asking DELETING SUBCATEGORY. MERGE SUBCATEGORY WITH PARENT? Click Yes. Your categories are now merged.
Classes are a second way of classifying your transaction data so you can summarize by enterprise, landlord, property or farm, e.g., corn, soybeans, wheat, hogs, beef.
Classes may be set up in the same three ways categories are set up: 1) ahead of time, 2) as you enter transactions, 3) imported into a file using a QIF file.
From the menu bar Click Finance and Click Class List to open the CLASS LIST window. The CLASS LIST window toolbar buttons are as follows:
New - create a new category or sub-category
Edit - change the selected category
Delete - delete the selected category
Report - create a report on the selected category
How Do I - help in the Class List window
X - close the Class List window.
You may also Click Class from the Main Toolbar (if added) to open the CLASS LIST window.
To set up classes ahead of time Click the New button from the CLASS LIST window toolbar. The SET UP CLASS window will then appear allowing you to enter Name and Description for the class. Click OK when done.
When entering category and class information in the category/class field of a transaction the category name is followed by a backslash '/' to separate it from the class which is typed in following the '/' (e.g. Fertilizer/Corn) .
To set up classes as you enter transactions, enter your transaction information as you normally would. When you get to the Category field enter your category followed by '/.' Next, enter the new class name. Click Enter. You will then be prompted with the SET UP CLASS window. Proceed from here as you did when setting up classes ahead of time.
Editing and deleting classes require the same steps as for categories, except the edit and delete commands are accessed in the CLASS LIST window toolbar.
A further breakdown of a class, is designated by a colon ':' between class and subclass in the category/class field when entering a transaction (e.g., Fertilizer/Corn:field1). Subclasses are created, edited and deleted in the same way as classes.
You may need to have a printed copy of your Category & Transfer List and Class List for quick reference when you begin entering data in Quicken. These printed lists may serve as useful tools as you learn how to properly categorize and assign classes to transactions.
To print a copy of a Category & Transfer List, Click Finance from the menu bar and Click Category & Transfer List to open the CATEGORY & TRANSFER LIST window. Click File from the menu bar and Click Print List. Click OK from the PRINT window.
To print a copy of the Class List, Click Finance from the menu bar and Click Class List to open the CLASS LIST window. Click File from the menu bar and Click Print List. Click OK from the PRINT window.
One of the advantages of Quicken is the ability to create your own categories and classes for your farm record system. However, some record keepers prefer to use a pre-defined set of categories and classes rather than creating their own. The following Category & Transfer Lists were created by OSU Farm Management Specialists. The first list, contained in the FARM&HOME.QIF file, is fairly detailed and contains farm, home and personal categories, classes and suggestions for accounts. The second Category & Transfer List is contained in the FARM.QIF file and contains the same farm categories and classes, but fewer family living and personal categories than FARM&HOME.QIF.
Both lists are available from your local OSU Extension office or can be downloaded from the OSU Extension website. Instructions on how to download a file and how to import one of these QIF files into your Quicken program follow in this chapter under Downloading a ZIP File, Unzipping a ZIP File and Importing a QIF File.
FARM&HOME CATEGORY/TRANSFER LIST - the following categories are in the FARM&HOME.QIF file. Home/personal categories start with an "H", other categories are farm business categories.
| CATEGORY | TYPE | TAX | DESCRIPTION |
| CCC Loan | Inc | IF NOT USING LIABILITY ACCOUNT | |
| CCC Loan as Inc | Inc | Tax | CCC Loan Inc or Redeemed |
| Custom Work | Inc | Tax | |
| Gas Tax Refunds | Inc | Tax | |
| Gifts Recieved | Inc | ||
| Govt Payments | Inc | Tax | Government Payments |
| Grain Sold | Inc | Tax | Crop Sales |
| HDiv&Int | Inc | Tax | Nonfarm Interest & Dividends |
| HOtherInc | Inc | Tax | Other Nonfarm Income |
| HWages | Inc | Tax | Nonfarm Wage Income |
| Inc, Int | Inc | Tax | Interest Income |
| Inc, Invest | Inc | Tax | Investment Income |
| Inc, Rents | Inc | Tax | |
| Loan Receipts | Inc | IF NOT USING LIABILITY ACCOUNT | |
| LS Sold | Inc | Tax | Livestock Sales |
| PBreedLT | Sub | Tax | Form 4797, Long Term Capital Gains |
| PBreedST | Sub | Tax | Form 4797, Short Term Capital Gaines |
| PFeeder | Sub | Tax | Purchased Feeder Livestock Sold |
| RBreedLT | Sub | Tax | Form 4797, Long Term Capital Gains |
| RBreedST | Sub | Tax | Form 4797, Short Term Capital Gains |
| RMarket | Sub | Tax | Raised Market Livestock Sold |
| M&E&B Sold | Inc | Tax | Mach & Equip & Other Cap Assets Sold |
| LT | Sub | Tax | Form 4797, Long Term Capital Gains |
| ST | Sub | Tax | Form 4797, Short Term Capital Gains |
| Milk Sold | Inc | Tax | |
| Other Farm Inc | Inc | Tax | |
| Patr Div-C | Inc | Tax | Cash Portion-Qualified Patronage Dividend |
| Patr Div-NC | Inc | Tax | NonCash Portion-Qualified Patronage Div |
| Poultry & Eggs | Inc | Tax | |
| Refund, Tax | Inc | Tax | State & Local Tax Refunds |
| Wool & LS Prod | Inc | Tax | Other Livestock Products |
| Auto & Truck | Exp | Tax | |
| Bank Charge | Exp | Tax | Bank Charges For Farm Account |
| Capitol Purch | Exp | IF NOT USING ASSET ACCOUNT | |
| CCCGrCost | Exp | Tax | Expense of Grain with CCC Loan as Income |
| Chemicals | Exp | Tax | Crop Herbicides, Insecticides, Supplies |
| Drying&Storage | Exp | Tax | |
| Dues | Exp | Tax | |
| Feed Purchased | Exp | Tax | |
| Feeder LS | Exp | Tax | Feeder Livestock Purchased For Resale |
| Cost | Sub | Tax | Purchase Cost Deducted At Time Of Sale |
| Purch | Sub | IF NOT USING ASSET ACCOUNT | |
| Fees | Exp | Tax | |
| Fert & Lime | Exp | Tax | Fertilizer & Lime |
| Fuel & Lube | Exp | Tax | |
| HAuto | Exp | Personal Auto Expense | |
| HCharity | Exp | Tax | Charitable Contributions |
| HClothing | Exp | ||
| HFamily Draw | Exp | IF NOT USING A CASH ACCOUNT | |
| HFood | Exp | Groceries & Restaurants | |
| HGifts | Exp | ||
| HHouseImpr | Exp | Furniture, Appliances, Repairs | |
| HInsurance | Exp | Auto, Life, Personal | |
| HInterest | Exp | Personal Interest | |
| HIntMort | Exp | Tax | Deductible Home Mortgage Interest |
| HMedical | Exp | Tax | Health Insurance, Doctors, Prescriptions |
| HMisc | Exp | Tax | Miscellaneous Home & Perosonal Expenses |
| Insurance | Exp | Tax | Farm Insurance |
| Interest Exp | Exp | Tax | Interrest Expense |
| Interest, Mort | Exp | Tax | Mortgage Interest Expense |
| Lease | Exp | Tax | Lease Payments |
| Loan Principal | Exp | IF NOT USING LIABILITY ACCOUNT | |
| Mach Hire, Truck | Exp | Tax | Machine Hire & Trucking |
| Marketing | Exp | Tax | Marketing Charge |
| Brdg&Cap | Sub | Tax | For Breeding LS & Cap Asset Sales |
| Crops | Sub | Tax | For Crop Sales |
| Mkt LS | Sub | Tax | For Market Livestock Sales |
| Other | Sub | Tax | For Other Farm Related Sales |
| Misc | Exp | Tax | Miscellaneous Farm Expense |
| Payroll | Exp | Tax | Payroll Expenses |
| Comp FICA | Sub | Tax | Employer Paid FICA |
| Comp MCARE | Sub | Tax | Employer Paid Medicare |
| Gross | Sub | Tax | Gross Wages Paid |
| Pre-Tax | Exp | Tax | Pre-tax Deductions |
| Dent Ins | Sub | Tax | Pre-tax Dental Insurance |
| Life Ins | Sub | Tax | Pre-tax Life Insurance |
| Med Ins | Sub | Tax | Pre-tax Medical Insurance |
| Pre-Tax, Spouse | Exp | Tax | Pre-tax Deductions, Spouse |
| Dent Ins | Sub | Tax | Pre-tax Dental Insurance |
| Life Ins | Sub | Tax | Pre-tax Life Insurance |
| Med Ins | Sub | Tax | Pre-tax Medical Insurance |
| Prof Services | Exp | Tax | Accounting, Legal, Consultants |
| Rent | Exp | Tax | Cash Rent Paid |
| Repairs | Exp | Tax | Repairs & Maintenance |
| Building | Sub | Tax | Building & Fence Repairs |
| Mchy | Sub | Tax | Machinery Repairs |
| Resale Items | Exp | Tax | Other Items Purchased For Resale |
| Cost | Sub | Tax | Cost of Items Deducted At Time Of Sale |
| Purch | Sub | IF NOT USING ASSET ACCOUNT | |
| Seed & Plants | Exp | Tax | Seeds & Plants Purchased |
| Subscriptions | Exp | Tax | |
| Supplies | Exp | Tax | General Farm Supplies |
| Supplies LS | Exp | Tax | Livestock Supplies |
| Tax | Exp | Tax | Taxes Paid |
| Federal | Sub | ||
| FICA | Sub | Soc Sec Tax - Farm & Non-Farm Earnings | |
| Hprop | Sub | Tax | Home Property Tax |
| Other | Sub | Tax | |
| Property | Sub | Tax | Farm Property Tax |
| State | Sub | Tax | State Tax |
| Utilities | Exp | Tax | |
| Electric | Sub | Tax | Farm Share |
| Heating | Sub | Tax | Farm Share |
| Hutilities | Sub | Home & Personal utilities | |
| Telephone | Sub | Tax | Farm Share |
| Vet & Med | Exp | Tax | |
| Workers Comp | Exp | Tax | Workers Compensation |
Classes are another way of classifying (in addition to categories) farm record data by enterprise, landlord, farm, etc. The following classes would be possibilities for a crop/livestock farm and are included in the FARM&HOME.QIF file and the FARM.QIF file.
Beef
Corn
Dairy
Gen Farm
Hogs
Home
Soybeans
Wheat
The following accounts are types of suggested accounts to be set up and used in lieu of several of the categories identified in the above list. These are not part of the FARM&HOME.QIF file or the FARM.QIF file, but would need to be created by each record keeper. See the ACCOUNTS chapter for information on creating accounts.
| [CASH] | Cash | Cash account for recording taxable & non-taxable cash transactions |
| [LOAN] | Liability | Liability account(s) for recording loan disbursements & loan principal payments |
| [RESALE INV] | Asset | Asset account(s) for recording feeder livestock purchased for resale |
| [CAP PURCH] | Asset | Asset account(s) for recording capital purchases |
The FARM.QIF category & transfer list contains the same farm business categories, classes and accounts as listed above, but significantly fewer home/personal categories.
The downloading procedure varies depending on the Internet browser you are using. Instructions for both Netscape and Internet Explorer follow.
For Netscape, go to the OSU Extension website [http://www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~agnatres/software], Click Farm Management, Click on farm&home.zip (or farm.zip) and Click Save File... to open the Save As... window. Click on the down arrow to the right of Save in:, Click [C:] and point to the folder to the right that has the drop down description CREATE NEW FOLDER and Click. NEW FOLDER will appear in the list of folders and will be highlighted. Type UNZIPPED to replace NEW FOLDER and Click to the side away from the folder. Double Click on the UNZIPPED folder to place in Save in: and Click Save to complete the downloading process. Close the Netscape window.
For Internet Explorer, go to the OSU Extension website [http://www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~agnatres/software], Click Farm Management, Click on farm&home.zip (or farm.zip) to open the File Download window. Within this window, Save this file to disk should be Clicked on. Click OK and the Save As window opens. Click on the down arrow to the right of Save in:, Click [C:] and point to the folder to the right that has the drop down description CREATE NEW FOLDER and Click. NEW FOLDER will appear in the list of folders and will be highlighted. Type UNZIPPED to replace NEW FOLDER and Click to the side away from the folder. Double Click on the UNZIPPED folder to place in Save in: and Click Save. Click Close when the download is complete. Close the Internet Explorer window.
The file(s) you have downloaded are not in the QIF format needed for importing into Quicken. The next step is to unzip the file and transform it into a QIF format. Click the Start button in the lower left corner of your computer's screen, Click Programs and Click Windows Explorer. At the top of the left column, Click on the drop down arrow (or use the scroll bar if there is no drop down arrow) and Click on [C:] if it is not already highlighted. With [C:] on top, all the folders and files on the C drive are shown below in the left column. Click on the UNZIPPED folder that contains your zip file(s).
On the right of the Exploring window Double Click on farm&home (or farm) to open the WinZip window. (See the Note below if you have trouble at this point.) Click I Agree, Click Next> as many times as needed by the program and Click Unzip Now. The program creates a new folder with the same name as your zip file, places the QIF file in it and opens it. Click X to close the farm&home folder. Click Close to exit the WinZip program. You should now see on the right side of the Exploring window the name of the zip file(s) you downloaded and a folder(s) with the same name that contain the QIF files. Click X to close the Windows Explorer program.
If you followed the above instructions, downloaded farm&home.zip into the UNZIPPED folder on the C drive and unzipped the file, the location of the farm&home.qif file is C:\unzipped\farm&home. This location is important when you import this QIF file into Quicken.
**Note** The above instructions assume that the WinZip program is already loaded on your computer. When you Double Click on farm&home.zip, if your computer asks you which program you want to use to open farm&home.zip, you do not have the WinZip program on your computer. You can download it free at [www.winzip.com]. Once it is downloaded, it then has to be installed before it can be used.
Before importing, a file must have been created and contain at least one account. A cash account is the easiest to create for this purpose. **Note** Your file must not contain any of Quicken's preset category lists. If it does, go to If You Make A Mistake in the Getting Started chapter and follow the instructions.