Account Types

JE-PFM categorizes every financial account into one of five types. The account type determines how balances are calculated, how transactions are displayed, and how the account appears in reports.

Checking Accounts

Checking accounts are your primary transactional accounts. Deposits (paychecks, transfers in) appear as positive amounts. Withdrawals, debit card purchases, and outgoing transfers appear as negative amounts. The balance shown on your dashboard reflects the most recent balance reported in your last OFX/QFX import.

Savings Accounts

Savings accounts work the same way as checking accounts from a data perspective. Deposits are positive, withdrawals are negative. JE-PFM groups savings accounts separately on the dashboard so you can see your liquid savings at a glance.

Credit Card Accounts

Credit card accounts track revolving debt. Charges and fees appear as negative amounts (money you owe). Payments and credits appear as positive amounts (reducing what you owe). The balance represents your outstanding debt.

When categorizing transactions, credit card charges are treated the same as debit transactions — a grocery purchase on a credit card counts toward your grocery budget just like one from a checking account.

Investment Accounts

Investment accounts include brokerage accounts, IRAs, 401(k)s, and other retirement accounts. Transactions may include contributions, withdrawals, dividends, and trades. JE-PFM imports whatever your institution includes in the OFX export. Note that not all institutions include investment transactions in standard OFX files — some only report cash transactions.

Loan Accounts

Loan accounts cover mortgages, auto loans, student loans, personal loans, and lines of credit. Payments appear as positive amounts (reducing the balance owed). The balance represents the remaining principal. Interest charges and fees appear as negative amounts.

Automatic Detection

When you import an OFX/QFX file, the account type is detected automatically from the file's account type field. You can override this if the detection is incorrect by editing the account from its detail page.