Ordered, paid and delivered in different months: choose the money-sheet date
By Erik Nilsen · Kroni2 min read
A purchase may have three dates: order, payment and delivery. For a monthly cash sheet, your family must agree which event places the expense in a period. Otherwise the same purchase may appear in two months.
Follow payment in this exercise
In a hypothetical example, an optional item costing 15 units is ordered on 31 October. Payment occurs on 2 November and delivery on 4 November. The dates and arbitrary amount are invented. This family's practice sheet records actual payments on their payment dates.
The purchase therefore belongs in November on this sheet. October contains a planned order but no payment of 15 for the item. November receives one expense of 15 rather than one at payment and another at delivery.
If other actual November purchases total 10, the month's sum is 10 + 15 = 25. October does not change because the order was placed then. You can note the order date as an explanation without creating another payment.
Label what each date means
A practical snag is your child entering 15 when ordering and an adult entering 15 when payment appears. Your family may then think the cost totals 30. Compare item, amount and all three events before adding.
This is a family cash exercise rather than a universal accounting rule. Another record may follow orders or deliveries, but label it differently. Keep one consistent definition within the same sheet.
Also check the actual payment. If money was paid on ordering instead, this agreed method places the expense in October. The delivery date alone does not establish when money went out.
Ask your family: “Which event does this sheet follow, and have we recorded it once?”
Clarify what the virtual balance represents
Kroni keeps track using a virtual balance and does not transfer money. Cash your child has received and amounts an adult still owes are different things. This exercise concerns money actually received. Agree how it fits your record so the same amount is not counted both as received and still unpaid. Read about allowance in Kroni.
