Adding an Account

Adding an account is as simple as steps 1, 2, and 3!

How to Add an Account

In your budget, click the Add Account button near the bottom of the left sidebar.
Choose whether or not you'd like to link the account—which requires a few extra steps.
Then, select your account type, give it a nickname, and enter today's balance. (If you linked the account, your balance will import automatically.)

The Starting Balance

You’re almost done setting up a new account in your budget when you're asked to input a Starting Balance. But what exactly is the Starting Balance?

It’s the transaction with the earliest date in your YNAB account register that represents all of your previous transaction history in one number. Because it's composed of past transaction history, you don’t want to include any pending transactions.

After the Starting Balance is added, your dollars are ready and waiting in Inflow: Ready to Assign to be assigned a job!

If you’d like to include past transactions from before your starting balance, you can! In your account register just edit the Starting Balance date and amount manually.

You can then direct import transactions from up to 31 days in the past. If you want transactions to go back even further, you can bring those into the fold through File-Based Import.