Cash Flow report vs. Income Statement

[Derek Atkins]

Ken Heard <ken at heard.name> writes:

> Ulrike Fischer wrote:
>
>> As a windows user I didn't find the format of the documentation
>> foreign. I had more problems with some assumptions about money
>> transactions e.g. tax concepts or all the allusion to checks -- I
>> haven't filled a check for years (ok that was a lie, I have used
>> one recently as a gift and the man at my bank had to go to the
>> cellar to find the blanks).
>
> One of the tasks of an editor is to test the assumptions in any text.
> What may be obvious to the coder is frequently not obvious to the
> average user.

Note that not assumptions are going to work for all people in all
places.  At some level you need to pick some examples that are
general enough that the average person could APPLY the example to
their own personal use.  Not everyone uses checks.  Not everyone
uses credit cards.  But seriously, is the CONCEPT of a check or
the CONCEPT of a credit card so foreign that you couldn't translate
the expense transaction to your personal method of payment?

>> And while it is fine if a documentation starts at the "intelligence
>> level of a 12 year old", I prefer them when they don't stop there. 
>
> What I meant that the *language* should be at the level of a 12 year
> old, not that the content should be.  There is a difference.
>
>> I
>> would really like some thorough, detailed, complicated descriptions
>> for a grown-up e.g. about the various columns in the account tab,
>
> Since these are nowhere explained in the documentation I took the
> trouble to figure them out.  I have not however had the time to post the
> results to the list.  I will, in time.

Posting it as a patch to the documentation would be even better.

>> what happens if you close a book, how the business part actually
>> works, or what actually are the effects if you change the type of an
>> account from say expense to income. 
>
> There is as yet no good documentation about end of year closing (closing
> book).  There is a description of the difference between an expense
> account and an income account if you dig deep enough.

This feature was added after the last rev of the documentation.
Right now I know of nobody actively working on the documentation.
We could definitely use someone to take on that role.

Any volunteers?

> Regards, Ken Heard

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-derek

-- 
       Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
       Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
       URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
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