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How to Make Changes to your clients Expense Analysis (v2)

This guide provides clear instructions on how to adjust your client’s living expenses analysis in the v2 Excel report.

Dale Stephens avatar
Written by Dale Stephens
Updated over 2 weeks ago

You can still fine-tune your client's living expenses directly in Excel using the v2 report—just keep in mind a couple of key rules that make the process smoother and faster.

🚦 Important Rules for Editing

When editing your report:

  • Only update the Category (Column H) in the All Transactions tab.

  • Do not edit the Summary Category (Column I)—this updates automatically based on the Category.

  • You must use the categories provided in the Summary Categories tab of the report in column A.

Use only the categories listed in the Summary Categories tab (Column A).

  1. The Summary Categories tab includes:

    • Category (green) – what you assign to each transaction

    • Summary Category (blue) – calculated for you

    • Category Type (red) – determines which summary it's included in

      • Expense Summary (HEM-related)

      • Other Outgoings Summary

Example

If you tag a transaction as Gambling, it will automatically be included under Recreation & Entertainment → Expense Summary (HEM-related).

❌ Removing Transactions from the Expense Summary

To exclude a transaction from the HEM-related summary:

  1. Go to the All Transactions tab.

  2. In Column H (Category), change the category to Unreported, or any other category in the Summary Categories tab that makes more sense and belongs to the Outgoings category type.

This moves the transaction to the Other Outgoings Summary.

Example

If Uber or Cabcharge payments were work-related, not personal:

  • Update Category (Column H) to Unreported

Initial category = Taxi

New category = Unreported

Those transactions are moved to the Other Outgoings Summary automatically.

🔄 Changing a Transaction’s Category

  1. In the All Transactions tab, update Column H (Category) to the one you want.

  2. Excel will automatically:

    • Update the Summary Category in Column I.

    • Place the transaction in the correct summary of the report.

Example

If Kmart purchases were clothing-related:

  • Change the Category (Column H) to Clothing

  • These will now appear in Clothing and Personal Care, in the Expense Summary

Initial category = Retail

New category = Clothing

📊 How to Calculate the Average Per Category Per Month

  1. Copy the totals from your summary
    ​

  2. Paste them into the next column (or anywhere outside the Pivot Table)
    ​

  3. Calculate your monthly average:

  • In a new cell, type =, click the total (e.g. $2,257), then divide by the number of full months in your report
    ​

Tip on Months

Most reports cover whole periods (1, 2, 3, 6, or 12 months).
Partial months are typically at the start and end of the pivot table.

  • Part months (green)

  • Complete months (blue)

  • 6-month totals (red)

Want to double-check? You can view the number of days retrieved in your client’s completed request.

🎥 Video Walkthroughs

Prefer to see it in action? Here are some quick videos to help:

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