Reports

Reports

Curl Budget provides powerful reporting tools to help you understand your financial patterns. Whether you want a big-picture view of income vs. expenses or a detailed breakdown of specific spending areas, reports give you the insights you need.

Available Reports

Cash Flow

The Cash Flow report shows your income and expenses over time as an overlapping area chart. It's your primary view for understanding the flow of money through your accounts.

What it shows:

• Income (money coming in)
• Expenses (money going out)
• Net cash flow (income minus expenses)
• Budget lines and progress

Best for:

• Monthly financial overview
• Seasonal spending patterns
• Tracking income trends
• Budget performance over time

Explorer

The Explorer lets you drill down into your spending with flexible grouping and filtering. It's your tool for answering specific questions about where your money goes.

What it shows:

• Spending breakdown by any dimension
• Transaction details within each group
• Trends over time for specific categories

Best for:

• "Where did my money go?"
• Comparing spending across categories
• Finding unusual transactions
• Deep analysis of specific areas

How Reports Handle Your Data

Transfers Are Excluded

Transfers between your accounts don't appear in reports. Moving money from checking to savings isn't spending or income—it's the same money in a different place.

Duplicates Are Handled

Duplicate transactions only count once. The hidden duplicates don't inflate your spending totals.

Income Is Separated

Categories marked as income appear in the income section, not expenses. This keeps your expense totals accurate.

Pending Transactions Included

Pending transactions are included in reports. Your spending reflects your actual commitments, even before transactions fully post.

Filtering Reports

All reports support filtering to focus on specific data:

Date Range

• Preset ranges: This month, last month, this quarter, this year
• Custom ranges: Any start and end date
• Comparison periods: This month vs. last month

Accounts

• All accounts
• Specific accounts
• Exclude accounts

Categories

• All categories
• Specific category or subcategory
• Exclude categories

Tags

• All transactions
• Transactions with specific tags
• Transactions without certain tags

Combining Filters

Filters combine to narrow your view:

• "This month" + "Chase Card" + "Food & Dining"
• Shows only this month's food spending on your Chase Card

Budget Integration

Reports integrate with your budgets:

Budget Lines in Cash Flow

The Cash Flow report can show budget reference lines:

• Your spending vs. your budget over time
• Whether you're on track
• Implied budget ranges when filters are applied

Budget-Aware Grouping

The Explorer can group by budgeted vs. unbudgeted spending:

• See how much went to budgeted categories
• Identify untracked spending

Using Reports Effectively

Weekly Check-In

Use reports for a weekly financial review:

1. Open Cash Flow for the current month
2. Check if spending is on pace
3. Review budget progress
4. Drill into any concerning categories with Explorer

Monthly Review

At month end:

1. Compare income vs. expenses in Cash Flow
2. Check net cash flow (positive = saved money)
3. Review top spending categories in Explorer
4. Adjust budgets if needed

Trend Analysis

Look at longer periods to spot trends:

1. Set date range to last 6 or 12 months
2. Look for seasonal patterns in Cash Flow
3. Identify categories that are increasing
4. Plan adjustments accordingly

Answering Questions

Reports help answer common questions:

"Why was this month expensive?" → Explorer: Group by category, compare to last month

"Am I saving more than last year?" → Cash Flow: Compare this year vs. last year net flow

"Where does my grocery money actually go?" → Explorer: Filter to Groceries, group by merchant

"How much do I spend on subscriptions?" → Explorer: Filter to relevant categories or tags

Data Accuracy

Reports are only as good as your data:

Ensure Accurate Categorization

• Review uncategorized transactions regularly
• Use Auto-Rules for consistent categorization
• Check that AI categorization is correct

Handle Transfers Correctly

• Review detected transfers
• Manually mark any missed transfers
• Exclude any incorrectly marked transfers

Tag Consistently

• Use consistent tag naming
• Apply tags to all relevant transactions
• Create rules for automatic tagging

Related Features

• Categories - How transactions are classified
• Tags - Additional transaction dimensions
• Budgets - Spending limits that appear in reports
• Transfer Detection - Why transfers don't appear