Use case: rebates

Sun Jul 3 08:11:31 EDT 2005

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Mark G. Woodruff wrote:
| * the purchase of a capital asset

Make a transaction from the credit card to Assets:Fixed Assets for the
value of the asset.

| * the sales tax paid on it as both part of its cost
| basis and as something I can get a report on at the
| end of the year

So the credit card transaction now becomes a split so that you send the
capital cost to Assets and the tax to an Expense - probably
Expense:Tax:Sales Tax or similar. That will allow you to see all the
money spent in this way in a report of your taxes.

| * the terms of the purchase, when the payment will be
| due on my credit card

That is best done in the reconcile dialog. When you receive your first
credit card statement, reconcile it in GnuCash and set the reconcile
date to the statement date. Then, when you reconcile the next credit
card statement from that company, GnuCash will offer you a date that is
one month on from the last reconciled date.

| * the terms of the rebate

A scheduled transaction? GnuCash cannot be expected to record this as
the terms of the rebate require a real payment, not just a GnuCash
transaction. At least with an SX, you get a prompt (configurable) when
you start GnuCash that reminds you that a real-world payment needs to be
made.

| I want to know when the next payment will be due on my
| credit card, and how much it will be.

That's more difficult. The calculation depends on your terms and
conditions and once you get into cash advances, running balances,
interest rate changes it gets hard to write one calculation method that
covers all cards.

| I also want GnuCash to remember the rebate under
| Accounts Receivable, and the terms of the rebate (that
| it should be paid within 12 weeks of the postmark, in
| this case).

That's the SX.

~ I'd like to be reminded if the rebate
| isn't paid on time, so I can pursue it further,

You mean if the company don't pay it to you? That's when you next
reconcile the account - the value of the SX will show up and if it isn't
on the account statement then you have a problem.
:-)

| as we
| all have to do so often on rebates. I furthermore want
| to be able to pull a report at the end of my tax year
| that shows how much sales tax total I've paid,

Those reports already exist.

| so I
| can get the appropriate deduction. I'd also like it to
| tell me what the appropriate depreciation schedule
| would be for this type of asset it is.

Depends on your tax situation, you'd need to do this yourself - maybe
with another SX.

You could use the Memo field for that. Others will have ideas for
handling such things too.

| Too much to ask for? I hope not; this is a very common
| transaction.

GnuCash already covers it too, and more.

| I know that the current version of
| GnuCash can't do all of this.

I disagree. The current GnuCash CAN deal with all such transactions -
all that is needed is a little time getting used to the program and how
such things would be done by an accountant.

Future versions will stick v.closely to the existing model. There's no
plan or incentive to move away from double-entry, 'best practice'
accounting methods, portability etc.

| There seems to be a fundamental difference between
| tasks that real people do that need to be modeled in
| an accounting program (buying a product at Best Buy or
| Circuit City), and how it's handled in an accounting
| program. So far, GnuCash is very model-centric.

And that is a GOOD THING. It's always good to follow 'best practice'!

| It
| forces the user to learn how the program stores data,
| and to enter the data in the way the program wants it,
| rather than the other way around.

Not true. GnuCash follows normal accountancy rules as far as possible
and that is the future direction of the project, too. If you approach
your accounts as an accountant would do, you will find GnuCash does
precisely what your accountant would expect. I am not an accountant but
I require GnuCash to support the principles and methods that my
accountant used before I started doing it all myself. Lots of other
users have an absolute requirement that GnuCash produces data that
satisfies their own accountants.

| This is a big
| handicap to usability.

Not true. Quicken sacrifices 'best practice' on the altar of convenience
and you've only just moved from that program, so it's hardly a model for
GnuCash!

| Is this something the
| development team is tackling, or is Yet Another
| Accounting Program required?

No and no. If you want to handle your accounts in the best possible
manner, GnuCash is all you need.

| I really appreciate the development that's been done

I'm sure all the developers are grateful for such comments. If GnuCash
saves you money, you could always make a donation via the SourceForge
project page!
:-)

(Donations currently accumulate until someone comes up with a suitable
way of spending them.)

| I hope
| GnuCash turns into a life-line for all concerned.

It already is! (and has been for several years!)

- --

Neil Williams
=============
http://www.codehelp.co.uk/
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http://www.biglumber.com/x/web?qs=0x8801094A28BCB3E3
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