Explore how Budget Buddy organises every money pot you track. This guide walks through the default folder
structure, the controls on the Accounts page, and the forms you will use to create, edit, and maintain your
financial tree.
Start with the built-in structure
The Accounts area sits on the main navigation bar so you are never more than a single tap away from
reviewing or updating your setup. When you open the app, four ready-made root folders—Assets,
Liabilities, Income, and Expense—appear alongside a rich
library of sample subfolders such as Cash, Cards, Freelance, and Food to help you picture your finances from
day one.
These four top-level folders act as permanent anchors. You are free to rename, add, or move anything beneath
them, but the app protects the backbone by blocking any attempt to delete the core groups.
Hint
Use the starter tree as inspiration—rename, hide, or repurpose folders until they reflect your reality.
Warning
The Assets, Liabilities, Income, and Expense anchors cannot be removed. Reorganise by relocating their children instead.
Read the Accounts page at a glance
Two switches at the top let you decide whether to convert every total into a single currency and whether to
reveal hidden folders. Budget Buddy remembers both preferences, and the conversion option follows the currency
you chose for the summary bar or, if you have not chosen one yet, the main currency saved in Settings.
View options. Toggle multi-currency badges on or off and surface hidden folders only when
you need them; hidden items stay out of everyday pickers until you enable “Show hidden”.
Hierarchy controls. Each line represents a folder. Tap the arrow to expand or collapse its
subfolders—the indentation shows exactly how deep you are in the tree.
Totals and balances. Every total automatically rolls up everything inside a folder plus any
starting balance you set. Multi-currency view displays tidy badges per currency, while single-currency view
shows one converted figure with green for healthy values and red for overspending or money owed.
Quick actions. A coloured eye instantly reveals which folders are hidden, and the pencil
icon opens the edit form without leaving the list.
Hint
Keep “Show hidden” off for routine work, then toggle it on when you need to tidy or reassign archived folders.
Add or edit an account
Tap the plus button on the Accounts page to open the form and give the folder a clear, memorable name.
Choose where the folder lives in the hierarchy with the picker. Leave it blank to create a new top-level
folder under one of the four anchor groups.
Decide whether the folder supports more than one currency. For single-currency folders, pick the currency
from the selector before you continue.
Set the opening balance. Add as many currency rows as you need, remove rows you no longer want, and avoid
using the same currency twice—the form flags duplicates so you can correct them immediately.
Use the extra switches that appear when related features are enabled: turn on Supports Products to
track stock and sales, or open the Subscription section to capture the paying folder plus one or
more billing periods with start dates, optional end dates, costs, currencies, and recurrence rules. The
“Add Period” button records price changes, and the form checks every amount and date before it lets you save.
Decide whether the folder should accept transactions when it has subfolders and whether it represents gift
money. Gift folders tell the app to treat future spending as gifts instead of normal expenses.
When you edit an existing folder you can hide it, reorder its direct children with drag handles, or delete it
from the same screen.
Tap Save when you are done. The app reloads the tree automatically, stores new starting balances,
updates any child order you changed, and keeps subscription details perfectly in sync. The edit form fills itself
with the current information, remembers the payment folder for subscriptions, and prevents you from placing a
folder inside itself or inside one of its descendants.
Warning
Allowing transactions on a parent folder changes pickers across the app—they show a Done button as soon as you reach that folder.
Hide, reorder, or delete with confidence
Hide folders you no longer use to keep everyday pickers and reports tidy. Hidden folders disappear from default
views but are only a toggle away whenever you need to bring them back into focus.
Use the drag handles inside the Reorder Child Accounts section to change how subfolders appear. The app
saves the new order instantly.
When you delete a folder, Budget Buddy asks whether to remove the folder’s history or move those past entries
into another folder. Choose the option that fits, pick a destination when moving records, and the app completes
the transfer safely. Root folders stay protected and cannot be removed under any circumstances.
Assign special account roles
Enhance folders by turning on the specialised switches in the edit form when the related features are active.
Supports Products
Unlock stock and sales tooling on the transaction screen and review items later in the Products tab.
Subscription
Automatically list the folder in the Subscriptions tab so you can compare costs in your main currency and adjust future periods at any time.
Gift folder
Treat any spending from the folder as gifts, keeping your everyday expense totals clean and easy to read.
Allow Transactions
Keep recording straight into a parent folder even when subfolders exist, perfect for high-level categories you still want to post to directly.
Control currency choices and conversions
The Show in … switch converts every total into the currency chosen for your summary bar, or, if none is
set, into the main currency configured in Settings. Conversions rely on the exchange rates you have stored.
If a rate is missing, the app leaves that amount untouched so you can spot gaps and add the correct conversion.
You can change your main currency in Settings at any time, and the summary bar updates immediately.
Keep folders multi-currency to display per-currency badges, or lock them to a single currency and store a precise
opening balance for that individual money pot.
Daily tips
Treat the supplied structure as inspiration: rename, hide, or repurpose the sample folders so they mirror your
own accounts and spending categories.
Feature-specific toggles only appear when the related tabs are enabled in the Features screen, keeping the
form uncluttered until you need advanced tools.
A tidy hierarchy speeds up data entry because the app always knows each folder’s path and can offer quick
selection buttons when a folder is allowed to receive transactions.
The app keeps your “Show hidden” and currency view preferences and recalculates balances whenever you add,
edit, hide, or delete a folder, so your totals stay current without extra effort.