Spurious/Incorrect values on Account Balance Graph
Ray J
via web
On 27th March I opened a new UK savings account with a single deposit (transferred from another account). The transaction file therefore has only one entry in it - the initial deposit. The account start date is set to that of the first transaction - 27th March.
If I graph this with the Net Worth graph on that single account then all seems fine - I have tried with various date and "grouped by" combinations.
However, when I try and use the Account Balance graph with default of "year to date" it introduces a spurious incorrect value into the graph, as follows (month names & values taken from pop-up which appears over graph point):
"March 2010" zero
"April 2010" (approx) 20% of full deposit (made on 27th March!)
"May 2010" 100% of full deposit
Even stranger, if I choose "All Dates", then the graph starts with a "March" figure of 100%, but this then DROPS! to the same 20%ish figure as above, in "April"!
This drop doesn't however occur if I choose custom dates which extend several months into the future - instead it flatlines at the correct 100% value (but still has the 20% ramp-up value).
Any ideas welcome!
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2 Posted by ljb on 15 Apr, 2010 07:33 PM
I haven't looked at your All Dates issue, but I can explain a little about the graphs.
The Net Worth graph is showing the value on each reporting date. It doesn't care about the values between dates, which makes sense to me for Net Worth: you want to see the progression over time as a series of snapshots. So if you group weekly, it will show you the net worth on each Sunday.
The Account Balance graph is showing you Average Daily Balance for the period which ends on the date of each point. (I'm describing how it seems to work, not trying to justify whether this is correct, by the way.) For example, if you are grouping weekly, it produces a point every Sunday with the average daily balance for that Sunday and the previous 6 days. When grouping by month, this can be a little odd, since the February 2010 point is showing the average daily balance for mostly January. It also explains what seem to be extra points on the graph. For example, if you deposit $100 on Wednesday, the next Sunday point will show 5/7 of the amount, and the Sunday after that (assuming no other activity) will show the full amount.
Hope this helps. (None of this is documented in the Final Draft manual, by the way, unfortunately.)
3 Posted by Ray J on 19 Apr, 2010 10:21 PM
Thanks again!
I can half see the logic of this for looking backwards (though I think I'll stick with the net worth graph as being more meaningful). However, it seems to me that the final drop in value of the graph in the all dates selection must be a bug as it makes no real sense.
4 Posted by ljb on 20 Apr, 2010 02:31 AM
I agree the "all dates" graph is really weird. (You can get the same thing with custom dates.) I don't know if I would call this a bug - maybe more generously an 'edge case'. It seems to happen only with a narrow range of 3 dates: the report start date, the account start date, and the first transaction date. If you get them just right, the first point in the report shows the full balance, the next shows a lower value (due to the average daily balance of a period with the deposit in the middle), and the third and subsequent points show the full balance again. So you get a V shape. (Your screen-shot has only the drop, because your report ended before it went back up.)
That first point is wrong, but it seems to be forced by the account start date. If you push the account start date to an earlier date, the report looks normal. It is a very weird case, and reproducible, and I'll write it up as a bug report if someone on the MD staff wants me to.
5 Posted by Bill Yoder on 23 Mar, 2011 07:15 PM
I am using build 751, java 1.6.0_20 on windows xp3. I stopped using graphs when I noticed the same problem with the account balance graph. I could really use a good net worth or account balance graph. My current build does not offer a net worth graph. The account balance graph is accurate only if grouped by days, but this produces an ugly graph. I don't understand the reasoning for averaging balances. I don't care about the average balance but need to know what the balance is on a certain date. If I had that I could select appropriate dates or groups and get an accurate picture of my worth over time.
Support Staff 6 Posted by Angie Rauscher on 23 Mar, 2011 09:01 PM
Bill,
We've added a lot of improvements and new options for graphs and reports in Moneydance 2011, which is currently available for preview/beta use. You may find it better meets your needs, and if you'd like to check it out you can find more information on our blog.
Please let me know if I can be of further assistance,
Angie Rauscher
Moneydance Support
7 Posted by Bill Yoder on 24 Mar, 2011 03:44 PM
Thanks for the quick response. I had hoped that 2010 would have fixed this but it didn't. I downloaded the full version of 2011 but I'm reluctant to replace my working program until I have a stable one. I have a nearly empty partition and would like to create a separate test program but I'm concerned the registry entries will get confused. Is there a way to install 2011 so my computer will not confuse the two programs? Is it reasonable to even attempt this?
MoneyDance 2010r (751)
Java 1.6.0_20
Windows XP sp3
1G memory, plenty of disc.
Support Staff 8 Posted by Ben Spencer on 24 Mar, 2011 07:39 PM
Moneydance doesn't touch the windows registry. It stores all its settings in a series of files in a folder called .moneydance that is under your windows user account folder.
If you want to install Md2011 and have it completely separate from MD2010 you should log into windows with a different windows user account and be sure to install MD2011 in a different location on disk than MD2010.
I am not certain that it would be worth going to the trouble. I do not think that the algorithm for generating the account balance graph has been altered.
Sincerely
Ben Spencer
Moneydance Support
9 Posted by Bill Yoder on 24 Mar, 2011 10:40 PM
Thanks. That answers my question. I seldom do things wothout a good reason, I guess I'll just wait for 2011 to settle down.