Understand reports

Reports

Historical, read-only analysis of spending and merchants over any period you choose.

Last updated 2026-07-20

Use this page when you want to analyse a period you choose — the last 3 months, a custom range, last year — rather than the calendar year the dashboard grid shows. It ranks where money went and which merchants took it, and compares the period against the one before.

Every figure is calculated by fixed rules from real transactions, and nothing here changes your data — reports read the ledger; they never write to it.

Before you start

  • Reports are only as good as the categorization underneath them — a quick pass over uncategorized transactions pays off immediately.
  • If your history spans currencies, make sure exchange rates exist for the periods you'll be looking at.

How to use it

  1. Pick a period: last 30 days, last 3 or 6 months, year to date, a previous year, or a custom range. Most periods also show a comparison against the equivalent previous period.
  2. Switch between the three tabs: Overview for what changed against the previous period, Spending for where money went, and Merchants for who it went to.
  3. Filter by labels to narrow transaction-derived report views to a project, trip, or event. The math stays the same — only the set of included records changes.
  4. Use View transactions where a figure maps exactly to ledger rows. The Transactions page opens with the report period and compatible account, category, status, and label filters visible. Derived subscription equivalents, forecast values, asset valuations, balance snapshots, contribution-room estimates, and other figures without an exact transaction set are deliberately not linked.
  5. Export the current view as a CSV file if you want to work with the numbers elsewhere.
  6. If the optional AI explanation feature has been turned on for your installation, you can request a plain-language summary of the report. It only restates figures that were already calculated — it never computes numbers and never gives advice — and it's off by default.

What affects this page

  • Posted transactions in the period, with their types and categories — spending means real expenses only, and refunds and reimbursements are shown separately rather than netted against anything.
  • Edits you make elsewhere: fix a category or add a missing transaction, and the affected figures update the next time you look.
  • Exchange rates dated to each transaction — foreign-currency amounts convert at the rate in effect on their date.
  • The period and comparison boundaries, resolved in your profile's timezone.

What does not affect this page

  • Projected and pending entries — reports count posted actuals only. The future lives on the Forecast page.
  • Budgets — targets don't change what happened.
  • Labels — filtering narrows the view but never changes how any amount is classified or counted.
  • Transfers and credit-card payments — internal movements are never mixed into spending or income.

Common mistakes

  • Expecting planned or forecasted items to appear. Reports are actuals only; a planned rent entry joins them when the real payment is recorded.
  • Comparing a partial month against a full one and reading it as a drop. Check the period boundaries before drawing conclusions.
  • Treating a savings rate of "Not available" as an error. When a period has no income, a savings rate cannot be calculated, and TallyFolio says so rather than showing a misleading number.
  • Coming here to read a whole year category by category. That is what the dashboard grid does; Reports ranks a period rather than laying twelve months side by side.

FAQ

Where did the Cashflow, Categories, Investments, Net worth, and Details tabs go?
Categories and Cashflow are better answered by the dashboard grid, which reads across twelve months instead of ranking one period. Investments, Net worth, and Details restated figures that the Holdings, Accounts, and Transactions pages already own, so Reports keeps only the three views that are genuinely period analysis.
Does the AI explanation calculate anything?
No. Every value is computed by the deterministic report engine first; if the feature is enabled, the explanation only restates those figures in plain language. It never calculates, never advises, and it's off by default.
Why is an amount excluded from a converted total?
No exchange rate covers that transaction's currency and date. It's excluded and noted rather than converted one-to-one — add a rate in Settings to bring it in.
Can I get the numbers out of a report?
Yes — every report view exports the currently filtered data as a CSV file, including native and converted amounts with the exchange-rate dates used.

Where this lives in the app

Related articles

  • The year grid

    Read a whole year at once: categories down the side, months across the top, and the totals on the right.

  • Transactions

    Every money movement in TallyFolio is a transaction. Learn the types, the statuses, and how to keep them categorized.

  • Exchange rates

    TallyFolio supports CAD, USD, EUR, and GBP with exchange rates you enter yourself, dated for when they apply.

  • Export your data

    Download your record as CSV files, restore core data from a TallyFolio export ZIP, or export just the filtered view you're looking at.