What are Category Types?
Category Types enable you to set up your categories as you would like them to be for internal reporting .... whilst still being able to view the reports you need when creating year-end accounts!
Category types are set by category, and category types themselves can be customised.
IMPORTANT: If your church/charity started using ExpensePlus prior to July 2024, you will need to do a one-time setup to assign category types to each of your income and expenditure categories.
Receipts & Payments
For churches and charities that create accounts on a receipts and payments basis, category types automatically enable you to view the Receipts & Payments statement report, which you will need when creating year-end accounts.
Accruals
For churches and charities that create accounts on an accruals basis, category types automatically enable you to view the Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) report, which you will need when creating year-end accounts.
The summary view exactly matches the data of the report that will appear within your accounts:
The detailed view of the same report provides a more detailed breakdown of data that appears in the notes to your accounts:
Customising Category Types
Whilst default category types are set up for all organisations, these can be customised if you wish to do so. Within the income & expenditure category settings screen, click the 'Edit Category Types' button.
Within the Category Types settings screen, you can add/edit/delete category types.
Top Tip: If you are unsure about updating your category types, consider leaving these as they are set up initially for you, as typically there isn't a need to change them (although you can change them if you would like to).
Adding Category Types
To add a category type, just click the 'add button' within either the 'income types' or 'expenditure types' section.
Editing Category Types
To edit a category type, just click the row you wish to edit.
IMPORTANT: Category types are not set per financial year, so any changes you make to the category types you have set up will affect all financial years!
Deleting Category Types
To delete a category type, just click the 'delete' button to the right of the category type where this option is available to select.
Note: A Category Type cannot be deleted if one or more categories have been linked to it from any fund in any financial year
Note: If you create accounts on a receipts and payments basis, it's not possible to delete the category types:
- Asset & Investment Purchases
- Asset & Investment Sales
Note: If you create accounts on an accruals basis, it's not possible to delete the category type:
- Depreciation
Category Type Sections
Category types are grouped into sections (blue lines) both within the category type settings screen and within the financial reports that category types appear within:
- Receipts & Payments Statement - receipts and payments based churches and charities
- Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) - accruals based churches and charities
Note: It's not possible to edit these, however within your financial reports, if no category types are added underneath a section, the section itself will not display.
Assigning Category Types to Categories
When adding or editing categories within the Income & Expenditure categories settings screen, there is a category type field which allows you to set the category type for each category:
