Tracking via categories vs tags?

[gandalfmeister]

Hi
I'm new and getting to grips with MMEX to run the accounts for a charity I'm treasurer of.

As a charity we run multiple events per year to raise money. Members want reporting to be done "per event" (e.g. how much profit did we make running the BBQ on Bonfire night, or How much did the dog show raise, and what were the costs, or what were the costs to organise the carnival week?) Some of these events span reporting months (to prepare and run, and collect monies from etc), hence members like to see event specific reporting. Our organising body likes to see monthly reports of income vs expenses etc (Its all cash based accounting) and our auditor (HMRC) needs trial balance and P&L of course

So - Do I set up "Categories" in the style of a Chart of accounts, and "Tags" for our Activities?
However from what I've seen, reporting only seems to allow "group by" Categories - and I don't see any way to "group by" Tags?

Should I flip the usage of Categories and tags as part of my setup?
I'm a bit confused and don't want to get it wrong from the outset. Suggestions please
Thx

[frankieorabona]

Hi and welcome to MMEX!

If you need event-based reports, the best approach is to use Categories for income/expense types (e.g., Event Income, Donations, Material Costs) and Tags for events (e.g., BBQ Night, Dog Show).

Unfortunately, MMEX only allows grouping by Categories, while Tags are not supported in built-in reports. A workaround is exporting data to CSV for detailed analysis in Excel/Google Sheets.

Another option is to create a separate Account for each event, but this may become impractical with multiple events. Alternatively, you can use Custom Reports to filter by Tags, but you wouldn’t have a graph.

If grouping by Tags is crucial, consider submitting a feature request on GitHub (Feature Requests).

These are some ideas, but I recommend waiting for other replies, as there may be additional solutions I haven’t considered.

Hope this helps!