Very very new ?

[Dave Peticolas]

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On Fri, 2001-11-16 at 18:14, P. Pitts Dockman wrote:
> I think I still have a 10 yr learning curve ahead of me and being 50+ am =
not=20
> overly encouraged.  I am certainly more of a user than a hacker and most=20
> certainly a gosh awful programer.
>=20
> That said, I was wondering why there is not a Postable? t/f field in the=20
> account record. The way I set up accounts the majority of the parent acco=
unts=20
> would be non-postable; ie in English that's what the word 'other' is for.=
 A=20
> parent 'Utilities' might have children 'Heating Oil', "Elec", "Propane" a=
nd=20
> "Other". There is no cause to be able to post to the parent "Utilities" a=
nd=20
> if the these parent accounts are not shown in the drop down listings of a=
=20
> register proper account selection is improved.
>=20
> Look for my patches in about a year but as I work would appreciate any fe=
ed=20
> back as to why this should not be a user selectable feature?

There is no reason why that feature shouldn't be there and many
other people have requested it. As with most things in free software
development -- and, indeed, life in general -- the only real question
is "who will bell the cat?" :)


> In for a dime in for a dollar, let me pass another concept/issue along th=
at=20
> I'll be looking at.  From my accounting perspective the whole account=20
> parent->child concept is inverted. Any postable account of a certain type=
=20
> needs to capture specific transaction information.  The parent should not=
=20
> impose limits on the child, rather the child need to capture what is requ=
ired=20
> and pass to the parent what ever information the parent can handle (often=
=20
> only signage of a debit/credit amount.) I concur currency is an exception=
 as=20
> both parent and child need to talk about apples and apples.
>=20
> What I am exploring is opening equity parent accounts to children of any=20
> type.  From both a business model and personally (the wife has a shop and=
 I=20
> run a farm) equity accounts should be able to summarize=20
> profit-center/enterprise activities.  I recognize that a chart of account=
s is=20
> not a replacement for a report writter that says Store-X is in a strip ma=
ll=20
> within the eastern region of territory 2-Monte Carlo. Maybe only 5% of us=
ers=20
> may utilize such a feature but I can not think of any accounting reasons =
to=20
> preclude it.

That's an interesting idea. We've discussed the problems with
the rigid hiearchy before and talked about implementing parallel,
unconstrained hierachies for other kinds of classification. The
context then was the need to group transactions in separate
categories. For example, you might want an 'Automobile' classification
that includes expenses such as gasoline, repairs, etc. and also
car loan payments.

People have also requested features similar to what you are talking
about, specifically the ability to have separate charts for personal
finances & business in the same data file.

Anyway, please feel free to ask questions on this list.

dave


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