Tracking your finances and their source is an important part of any campaign. In ISP, Budget Categories are a great way to understand where transactions occur and how they play a role in your committee’s finances.
Under the Lists tab, select Budget Categories. On the resulting screen, you will see a list of existing Budget Categories in your database. You can choose to view all Active, Inactive, or All Budget Categories.
To the left of each budget category is a red X that allows you to remove the Budget Category from the list. If it is in use (i.e., at least one transaction has that Budget Category selected), it will instead be made Inactive so it no longer appears in your list of Budget Category options when creating a transaction.
To the right is a hot dog menu with an option to Merge any budget categories that are duplicates of each other.
You can also click on each Budget Category to edit the name and which Parent Category it belongs to. Parent Categories are more global in purpose and can cover multiple similar Budget Categories. For example, you could have an Administrative Parent Category with Budget Categories such as Bookkeeping or Bank Fees linked to the Parent Category.
Upload Budget Categories
The Upload Budget Categories button at the bottom of your screen allows you to import Budget Categories used in another system. Your file will need to be in Excel or .csv format, and cannot exceed 500 rows.
Other Actions
1. Print – This will print the list of budget categories to a PDF.
2. Import Budget Categories – If you handle multiple accounts, you can import specific budget categories from one account into another. In the window that appears, choose the Category (or Categories), then click Import Budget Categories.
3. Delete Unused Categories- This will remove any categories that have not been used yet, allowing you to keep your list uncluttered.
4. Inactivate Old Categories – This is another tool to help keep your list free from categories that are no longer in use. Clicking this will move Active categories that have not been used in a while over to the Inactive designation and list. If you need to reactivate an inactive Budget Category, click on the red Inactive button.
