The balance is the heart of KUENTAS. It shows you exactly how much each person spent, how much they owe, and who owes who — all calculated automatically.
How does the balance work?
KUENTAS calculates the balance smartly:
Total spent
The sum of all expenses you paid
Your share
What you're actually responsible for based on how expenses were split
Final balance
The difference: positive = you're owed money, negative = you owe money
How to view the balance
Enter the trip
Tap the trip from the main screen.
Check the summary
At the top you'll see a summary with the trip total and your personal balance.
View full details
Tap "View balance" or the participants section to see each person's breakdown.
Understanding the numbers
If your balance is +$500, you overpaid and the group owes you $500. Time to get paid back!
If your balance is -$500, you underpaid and owe the group $500. You'll need to cover that difference.
If your balance is $0, you're all square! You paid exactly what you owed.
Optimized debts
KUENTAS doesn't show you every cross-debt between everyone. Instead, it optimizes payments so you need the fewest possible transfers.
For example, if:
- Juan owes Pedro $100
- Pedro owes María $100
Instead of 2 payments, KUENTAS suggests Juan pays María $100 directly. Much simpler!
Multiple currencies
If the trip has expenses in multiple currencies, the balance is shown converted to the trip's main currency. You can see the per-currency breakdown by tapping the balance.
Automatic updates
The balance updates automatically whenever:
- A new expense is added
- An existing expense is edited
- An expense is deleted
- A payment between participants is recorded
- Contributions to the shared fund are added
If the trip has a shared fund, each participant's contributions are also reflected in the balance. Money put into the fund is deducted from what you owe.