[GNC] Hierarchy of accounts & multiple currencies

[Michael or Penny Novack]

On 3/4/2023 4:19 AM, TimR via gnucash-user wrote:
> I am a new user, having imported a QIF from Quicken. In the import process I
> didn't follow the process thoroughly enough and I've ended up with a very
> flat hierarchy of accounts.
>
> 1.	How do I go about editing the hierarchy of accounts?
>
>   
>
> This in turn also means that accounts that are not in the majority currency
> (GBP) - such as USD or Kenya shillings - are creating false balances.
>
> 2.	What would you recommend as the best way to fix this?
>
1) You make one account the child of another (make it below in the 
hierarchy) by editing the account (under edit, you can select WHAT you 
want to edit and account is one of the choices). When looking at an 
account while under edit, one of the things you can do is assign a 
parent account (make the account you are editing a child of the other)

2) BEFORE looking at solutions, need to ask some questions about HOW you 
use the secondary currencies. Using it all the time? (many 
transactions?). Many transactions between the currencies? Or is it more 
the case that you have bank accounts in both, at any given time doing 
transactions in just one of them, and only rarely transferring funds 
between them. Also what are your reporting requirements with regard to 
these currencies?

Michael D Novack

PS --- Quicken isn't standard double entry bookkeeping. Importing your 
data from Quicken not going to be trivial because you probably somehow 
want to get "class" information translated to "account" specification. 
In other words, you can expect ex[port/import of data to be possible 
when moving data from another double entry app (say QuickBooks rather 
than Quicken)

     That means you might not want to export/import form  Quicken IF you 
still have Quicken available (to look at old data). You might instead 
opt to start new gnucash books using the equivalent of a Balance Sheet 
report out of Quicken (assuming Quicken can give you something like 
that. It is still relatively early in 2023 so if this were MY problem 
I'd likely choose this approach (assuming Quicken can give you a report 
of "all transactions since the start of 2023")