Transparency

Given that I’m in the payments industry (and a certified nerd, according to many), it may not surprise you to learn that I thoroughly analyze my own personal transactions each week in an ongoing effort to improve my spending habits. I began using Finance Works recently in order to add some automation to the process. The application, similar to Mint.com, enables me to pull all of my transaction information into a single view, categorize individual transactions as I see fit, and track my categorical spend (Do I really spend that much at Red Box???).


The program is an amazing spend management tool, but, like any data mining tool, its effectiveness is constrained by the quality of the data it mines. In the case of Finance Works and Mint.com, the constraint is lack of line-item purchasing information consumers can obtain from a credit or debit card transaction.


For instance, I buy both groceries and dog food at the same store. But without line-item purchasing information about the transaction, I must “blindly” make the decision to categorize the $30.00 I spent at Sunfresh as either “Groceries” or “Pet-Related Expenses” (or refer to paper receipts and split the amount among the two categories, but even I have my limits). And assigning an erroneous category to the transaction undermines the accuracy of the pretty little pie charts I enjoy reviewing so frequently on Finance Works.


And that’s just me. Imagine the implications of missing out on line-item purchasing information if you were responsible for spend management at a corporation! It’s no wonder private label commercial cards and P-Cards that offer line-item transaction details have grown in popularity. Maybe one day this will even give way to line-item data for consumer card transactions. Until then, my pie charts and I will just have to do without.