Colin Wright <cdwright@gwi.net>
2009-08-03
1.0

# Forecast

## What is a Forecast?

In &kappname;, a Forecast is a prediction of the balances of Accounts during a specified future period of time.

Forecasts can be predicted using one of two methods.

Scheduled and Future Transactions

  &kappname; uses a combination of future transactions already entered into the ledgers and the entries in the Schedule.

History-based

  &kappname; uses values from past transactions in the ledgers to predict future transactions.

The forecast method and forecast period can be set in the &kappname; Settings, in the Forecast pane.

&kappname; Forecast provides a summary, showing the predicted balances at account cycle dates and the expected difference between the starting and ending balances. The length of the account cycle can be set by the user. The summary also displays messages about significant predicted changes to the accounts during the forecast period.

As well as the summary, &kappname; Forecast also allows you to view day-by-day balances and view the minimum and maximum balances for each forecast account cycle.

By default the Forecast is created for 90-days, with 30-day account cycles using Scheduled and Future Transactions.

## Viewing Forecasts

You can view a Forecast by clicking the appropriate icon in the navigation pane at the left hand side of your &kappname; window.

The Forecast window is split into three tabs

### Summary Tab

The Summary tab is split vertically into two halves.

#### Account Summary

The Account Summary contains a grid displaying a row of information for each Asset and Liability.

The following columns are displayed:

Account

  The name of the Asset or Liability account

Current Balance (Current)

  The current balance of the account is displayed.

Account Cycle Balance

  The Forecast period is split into account cycles. The default account cycle length is 30 days, but can be set by the user.

  The first account cycle date is the first Forecast date. By default this is the current date plus one account cycle, but can change depending on the "Day of Month to start Forecast" setting.

  Remaining account cycle dates are determined by adding the account cycle length to the previous account cycle date. This is continued until the calculated account cycle date would be beyond the Forecast period.

  For each account cycle date the predicted balance is displayed.

Total Variation

  The rightmost column displays the predicted difference in value between the balances at the start and end of the forecast. If the predicted end value of the account (in terms of net worth) is less than the start value the whole row is highlighted in red.

#### Key Summary Information

The bottom half of the Summary tab displays noteworthy information about accounts. This includes:

Assets below zero

  A message is displayed for any asset for which the value starts or will drop below zero during the forecast period.

Liabilities above zero

  A message is displayed for any liability for which the value starts or will rise above zero during the forecast period. Note that the value of a liability is the negative of its ledger balance, since a positive balance indicates money owed.

### Details Tab

The Details tab contains a grid displaying a row of information for each Asset and Liability.

Account

  The name of the Asset or Liability account

Dates

  For each date in the Forecast period a column displays the predicted balance of the account on that date. The date columns are in ascending order from left to right.

Total Variation

  The rightmost column displays the predicted difference in value between the balances at the start and end of the forecast. If the predicted end value of the account (in terms of net worth) is less than the start value the whole row is highlighted in red.

### Advanced Tab

The Advanced tab contains a grid displaying a row of information for each Asset and Liability. The information is split into columns as follows:

Account

  The name of the Asset or Liability account

Minimum Account Cycle Balance

  For each account cycle number <n> in the Forecast period the following columns are displayed:

  Minimum Balance (Min Bal <n>)

    The minimum predicted balance during the account cycle

  Minimum Balance Date (Min Date <n>)

    The date on which the balance reaches its predicted minimum.

Maximum Account Cycle Balance

  For each account cycle number <n> in the Forecast period the following columns are displayed:

  Maximum Balance (Max Bal <n>)

    The maximum predicted balance during the account cycle

  Maximum Balance Date (Max Date <n>)

    The date on which the balance reaches its predicted maximum.

Average

  The average balance of the account during the forecast period