Manual accounts, cash, and updating a balance yourself

For anyone who wants to add cash, add an account SortMe cannot connect to, record a one-off transaction, or set and update a balance by hand.

Most of your accounts connect automatically through Akahu and update on their own. For everything else — cash, an unsupported card, or a balance you want to enter yourself — SortMe gives you a few manual options. This article explains each one and when to use it.

Adding cash or a manual balance

SortMe does not have a separate "cash account" or "offline account" screen. Instead, you add cash and any other balance you cannot connect as a manual item in Net Worth.

Open the Growth (Net Worth) page from the left-hand sidebar menu.
Scroll to Assets & Liabilities and tap Add Asset or Liability.
For cash on hand, choose the type Cash. For something you owe, choose a liability type such as Debts.
Enter a name and the Current Value (your starting balance).
Tap Save.

Your manual item now counts toward your Net Worth. This is the way to "set a starting balance to work from" for anything that is not a connected bank account.

Updating a balance by hand

How you update a balance depends on the account type.

Manual items (cash, and anything you added by hand): find the item in Assets & Liabilities, hover over it, and tap the $ icon. A box titled "Value as of: [date]" appears — type the new balance and tap Update.
Connected bank accounts: these update automatically from your bank, so there is no manual balance to edit. If a connected balance looks wrong, it is a sync question, not something you set by hand — see How quickly will my transactions show?

A card or provider is not in the connect list (for example Q Mastercard or a store card)

Some cards and lenders — store cards, "Q" cards, and similar — cannot be connected through Akahu. You have two ways to still track them:

To keep the transactions: download a CSV statement from that provider and import it into SortMe. This creates an account and brings in the real transactions. See How to import CSV Bank Transactions into your SortMe account.
To track just the balance: add it as a manual liability in Net Worth (Add Asset or Liability), and update the amount owing by hand with the $ icon.

Frequently asked questions

I have "Budget" accounts with my bank (for example Kiwibank). How do I use these with SortMe?

Connect them just like any other account — there is no special setup. A "Budget" account is treated as a normal connected account. Its transactions and balance flow into SortMe the same way, and you can use SortMe's own Budget page to plan your spending across all your accounts.

Can I add a manual transaction to a connected bank account?

When you add a transaction you can optionally link it to any account for reporting, but it will not change that account's balance. Connected balances always come from your bank.

What is the difference between a manual asset and a connected account?

A connected account syncs its transactions and balance from your bank automatically. A manual asset is a single balance you enter and update yourself, with no transaction history unless you import one by CSV.

Still stuck? Email us at support@sortme.com.