> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.lightpost.app/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.lightpost.app/add-on-features/financial-management/finance-categories.md).

# Finance Categories

Finance Categories let you segment your income and expenses into funds and set yearly budgets to track giving and spending against targets.

## What is a Finance Category?

A **Finance Category** is a fund or bucket that you record income or expenses against. Categories are how Lightpost segments money so you can report on it, and they are where you set the **budgets** that let elders and deacons see their standing against a yearly target.

A typical congregation might create categories such as:

* Regular Contribution
* Special Contribution
* Missions Support
* Building Fund
* Benevolence

Each category is marked as either **income** (money coming in) or an **expense** (money going out), and can optionally be exposed to members for [Online Giving](/add-on-features/online-giving.md) contributions or reimbursement requests.

{% hint style="info" %}
Finance Categories are available when either the **Financial Management** or **Online Giving** feature is enabled for your account. You'll need an admin role with finance permissions to manage them.
{% endhint %}

## Finding Finance Categories

From the admin area, open **Finance** in the sidebar. On the main Finance page, click the **Finance Categories** card (it shows the number of categories and active budgets), or use the **Categories** breadcrumb. This opens the Categories list at **Finance → Categories**.

## Managing categories

The **Categories** list is the home for everything in this section. From here you can:

* **Search** for a category by name.
* **Filter** the list using the **Filters** button. You can filter by minimum budget, maximum budget, budget year, and category type (Income, Expense, Contribution, Reimbursement).
* **Export** the current list to Excel with the **Excel** button.
* **Reorder** categories by dragging the handle (≡) on the left of each row. The order you set here controls the order categories appear elsewhere in the app, such as when members choose a category while giving.

Each row shows the category **Name**, its budget for the current year, and **Type** badges indicating whether it is an Income, Contribution, Expense, and/or Reimbursement category. Click a category's name to open its detail page.

## Creating a category

1. On the **Categories** page, click **Add Category**.
2. Fill in the **Category Information**:
   * **Category Name** — the name members and admins will see (e.g. "Special Evangelism Fund"). *Required.*
   * **Accounting Code** — an optional code from your accounting system (e.g. `5000-101`).
   * **\<Year> Year Budget** — an optional starting budget for the current year, entered in dollars (e.g. `1200.00`). If you enter an amount here, Lightpost automatically creates a budget for the current year so you don't have to add one separately. You can always add or change budgets later.
   * **Income Category?** — check this if the category represents money **coming in**.
     * **Contribution Category?** — when income is selected, check this to show the category to members as something they can give toward with Online Giving.
   * **Expense Category?** — check this if the category represents money **going out**.
     * **Reimbursement Category?** — when expense is selected, check this to show the category to members as something they can submit reimbursement requests against.
   * **Description** — optional notes about the category.
3. Click **Save Changes**.

{% hint style="info" %}
A category is either **income** or an **expense** — the two are mutually exclusive. Choose Income for contributions and other money received, and Expense for money the congregation spends.
{% endhint %}

## Editing a category

1. From the **Categories** list, click the category name to open it.
2. In the left sidebar, choose **General Settings**.
3. Update the **Category Name**, **Accounting Code**, **Description**, and — depending on the category type — the **Contribution Category** or **Reimbursement Category** option.
4. Click **Save Changes**.

The category detail page also has an **Overview** tab, which summarizes the current-year budget, the number of transactions recorded against the category, and which type flags (Income, Expense, Contribution, Reimbursement) are enabled.

## Setting budgets

Budgets are set **per year, per category**, so you can keep a history of each year's target and compare actuals against it. A category can have one budget for each year.

To manage budgets:

1. Open a category from the **Categories** list.
2. In the left sidebar, choose **Budgets**. This lists every budget for the category by **Year**, along with its **Description** and **Budget** amount.

### Add a budget

1. On the **Budgets** tab, click **Create a Budget**.
2. In the dialog, set:
   * **Budget Year** — choose the year this budget applies to. Years that already have a budget are not shown, so you can't create duplicates.
   * **Yearly Budget** — the budget amount in dollars (e.g. `12000.00`).
   * **Description** — optional notes.
3. Click **Create Budget**.

### Edit or delete a budget

1. On the **Budgets** tab, click **Edit** on the budget's row.
2. Update the **Yearly Budget** amount or **Description** and click **Save Changes**, or click **Delete** to remove that year's budget.

{% hint style="info" %}
Budgets are tracked yearly. As income or expenses are recorded against a category, Lightpost compares the totals to that year's budget so leaders can see how much of the budget has been used in near real-time.
{% endhint %}