Categorization of transactions

[Manfred Usselmann]

Hi,

On Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:33:47 -0700
Dennis Muhlestein <djmuhlestein at gmail.com> wrote:

> > I expect it would take some clever and complex programming to add such a 
> > feature to Gnucash, with a consequently greater risk of bugs and data 
> > loss and generally of screwing things up. 
> 
> I don't think this feature request is meant to be part of the accounting 
> you do with GC.  It's meant to be an easy way to find/classify 
> transactions.

If it's completely optional, it probably wouldn't hurt and maybe useful
in some corner cases. There is already one specialized tag: tax
relevant. But in general you should use sub accounts to find and
classify transactions. 

> > You are supposed to have multiple sub-accounts: that approach keeps 
> > things tidy.  Generating different reports for each vehicle is actually 
> > pretty easy: start with the Transaction Report and select carefully.  We 
> > keep track of both RRSPs and rental properties under a general 
> > investment account, and each property has its own set of sub-accounts.  
> > Saved specialized reports take care of the need for thorough analysis 
> > very well.  You may not like the detailed and repetitious work that is 
> > required to set them up, but once they're done you know exactly what's 
> > going on.
> 
> You ought to be able to add multiple tags/categories to a transaction 
> I'd think.  You can't do that with a subaccount.  Example: The fuel was 
> bought for the car but I also want to denote that it was me who bought 
> it, (suppose I like to track when I buy gas vs when my wife buys gas.) 
> Do I need two master accounts now, one for me and one for my wife, each 
> with all the same subaccounts? 

No. This is something you get automatically by the doulble entry system
of GnuCash.

> Suppose I have a type of item I have three or four classifications for.
> Each new tag requires double the master accounts.  

Not if you create you account tree in a sensible way with a clear structure.

In your case you could have something like

expenses
 - travelling
   - cars
     - car 1
       - fuel
       - insurance
       - tax
       - ...
     - car 2
       - fuel
       - insurance
       - tax
       - ...

assets
 - liquid funds
   - cash
     - cash me
     - cash wife
   - bank accounts
     - ...
liabilities
 - credit card 1
 - credit card 2
 - ...
    
If you want to see only fuel costs it's easy to create a report which
selects only the 'fuel' accounts.

It's immediately visible which credit card or which wallet was used to
buy the fuel...

With tags you have more work during the entry of your transactions. You
need to to enter the two accounts and additionally select the tags.

Manfred