r19660 - gnucash-docs/branches/2.2/guide/C - Expand and add GnuCash Other Assets
Yawar Amin
yawaramin at code.gnucash.org
Fri Oct 15 22:23:15 EDT 2010
Author: yawaramin
Date: 2010-10-15 22:23:14 -0400 (Fri, 15 Oct 2010)
New Revision: 19660
Trac: http://svn.gnucash.org/trac/changeset/19660
Added:
gnucash-docs/branches/2.2/guide/C/ch_oth_assets.xml
Modified:
gnucash-docs/branches/2.2/guide/C/Makefile.am
gnucash-docs/branches/2.2/guide/C/ch_accts.xml
gnucash-docs/branches/2.2/guide/C/gnucash-guide.xml
Log:
Expand and add GnuCash Other Assets
Fix #630652. Patch author: Tom Bullock (tbullock at nd dot edu)
(cherry picked from commit 9648ccb5712c03db2da9a80e0e4c0688923555bd)
Modified: gnucash-docs/branches/2.2/guide/C/Makefile.am
===================================================================
--- gnucash-docs/branches/2.2/guide/C/Makefile.am 2010-10-15 20:25:22 UTC (rev 19659)
+++ gnucash-docs/branches/2.2/guide/C/Makefile.am 2010-10-16 02:23:14 UTC (rev 19660)
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
ch_bus_ap.xml \
ch_bus_pay.xml \
ch_budgets.xml \
+ ch_oth_assets.xml\
appendixa.xml \
appendixb.xml \
appendixc.xml \
Modified: gnucash-docs/branches/2.2/guide/C/ch_accts.xml
===================================================================
--- gnucash-docs/branches/2.2/guide/C/ch_accts.xml 2010-10-15 20:25:22 UTC (rev 19659)
+++ gnucash-docs/branches/2.2/guide/C/ch_accts.xml 2010-10-16 02:23:14 UTC (rev 19660)
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
<!--
(Do not remove this comment block.)
- Version: 2.0.0
- Last modified: July 9th 2006
+ Version: 2.2.1
+ Last modified: September 26, 2010
Maintainers:
- Chris Lyttle <chris at wilddev.net>
- Author:
- Jon Lapham <lapham at extracta.com.br>
+ Tom Bullock <tbullock at nd.edu>
+ Chris Lyttle <chris at wilddev.net>
+ Authors:
+ Jon Lapham <lapham at extracta.com.br>
Updated Bengt Thuree <bengt at thuree.com>
Originally written by Carol Champagne.
Translators:
@@ -127,13 +128,18 @@
tracking and handling of certain accounts. There are 6 asset accounts
(<emphasis>Cash</emphasis>, <emphasis>Bank</emphasis>,
<emphasis>Stock</emphasis>, <emphasis>Mutual Fund</emphasis>,
- <emphasis>Accounts Receivable</emphasis>, and <emphasis>Asset</emphasis>
+ <emphasis>Accounts Receivable</emphasis>, and <emphasis>Other Assets</emphasis>
), 3 liability accounts (<emphasis>Credit Card</emphasis>,
<emphasis>Accounts Payable</emphasis>, and <emphasis>Liability</emphasis>,
), 1 equity account (<emphasis>Equity</emphasis>), 1 income account
(<emphasis>Income</emphasis>), and 1 expense account
(<emphasis>Expense</emphasis>).</para>
+ <para><emphasis>Please Note:</emphasis> For all &app; asset accounts, a
+ <emphasis>debit</emphasis> (left-column value entry) increases the account
+ balance and a <emphasis>credit</emphasis> (right-column value entry)
+ decreases the balance.</para>
+
<para>These &app; account types are presented in more detail
below.</para>
@@ -192,21 +198,28 @@
</listitem>
<listitem>
- <para><guilabel>Asset</guilabel> For personal finances, use this
- type of account to track "big-ticket" item purchases that
- significantly impact your net worth. Generally, you can think of
- these as things you insure, such as a house, vehicles, jewelry, and
- other expensive belongings.</para>
+ <para><guilabel>Other Assets</guilabel> No matter how diverse they
+ are, GnuCash handles many other situations easily. The group
+ category, "Other Assets", covers all assets not listed above.</para>
+
+ <para>Accounts are repositories of information used to track or record
+ the kinds of actions that occur related to the purpose for which the
+ account is established.</para>
+
+ <para>For businesses, activities being tracked and reported are
+ frequently subdivided more finely than what has been considered thus
+ far. For a more developed treatment of the possibilities, please read
+ the descriptions presented in
+ <xref linkend="chapter_other_assets" /> of this Guide.</para>
+
+ <para>For personal finances a person can follow the business groupings
+ or not, as they seem useful to the activities the person is tracking
+ and to the kind of reporting that person needs to have to manage his
+ financial assets. For additional information, consult
+ <xref linkend="chapter_other_assets" /> of this Guide.</para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
- <tip>
- <para>For all &app; asset accounts, a <emphasis>debit</emphasis>
- (left-column value entry) increases the account balance and a
- <emphasis>credit</emphasis> (right-column value entry) decreases the
- balance. (See note later in this chapter.)</para>
- </tip>
-
<para>The second balance sheet account is
<emphasis>Liabilities</emphasis>, which as you recall, refers to what
you owe, money you have borrowed and are obligated to pay back some day.
@@ -421,7 +434,7 @@
but we know they exist). You have <guilabel>income</guilabel> in the
form of a salary, and <guilabel>expenses</guilabel> in the form of
groceries, rent, electricity, phone, and taxes (Federal, Social
- Security, Medicare) on your salary. Simple, isn't it?</para>
+ Security, Medicare) on your salary.</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="accts-examples-toplevel2">
Added: gnucash-docs/branches/2.2/guide/C/ch_oth_assets.xml
===================================================================
--- gnucash-docs/branches/2.2/guide/C/ch_oth_assets.xml (rev 0)
+++ gnucash-docs/branches/2.2/guide/C/ch_oth_assets.xml 2010-10-16 02:23:14 UTC (rev 19660)
@@ -0,0 +1,456 @@
+<!--
+ (Do not remove this comment block.)
+ Version: 2.2.9
+ Last modified: September 19, 2010
+
+ Maintainers:
+ Tom Bullock <tbullock at nd.edu>
+
+ Author:
+ Tom Bullock <tbullock at nd.edu>
+
+Translators:
+ (translators put your name and email here)
+-->
+
+<chapter id="chapter_other_assets">
+ <title>Other Assets</title>
+
+ <sect1 id="accts-oa1">
+ <title>General Concepts</title>
+
+ <para>This chapter presents many additional accounting treatments for
+ frequently encountered business and less-frequently found personal activities
+ that need recording in accounting books. The explanations below cover both the
+ description and purpose of the activity, and they include also the usual
+ accounting treatments (bookings or recordings) for these transactions.</para>
+
+ <para>These concepts have evolved over centuries of experience by those
+ keeping accounting records and will help you maximize your record keeping's
+ utility and meaningfulness.</para>
+
+ <para>This section introduces categorization of assets in the balance sheet
+ based on time or the asset's useful life (current and long-term). Sometimes
+ assets are also considered from the standpoint of their <emphasis>liquidity
+ </emphasis>, which is regarded as how close or distant the asset is from
+ being turned into cash. Near-cash assets are relatively quickly converted
+ to cash (e.g., accounts receivable), while assets requiring rather a long
+ time to convert to cash are considered to be relatively <emphasis>fixed
+ </emphasis> in their non-cash state (e.g., heavy equipment, buildings, land).
+ [Fixed does not mean they were repaired!]</para>
+
+ <para>You should find that current assets parallel those with more liquidity,
+ while long-term and fixed assets are those with much less liquidity. Finally,
+ below you will find a few assets that could be either current or long-term
+ based on the nature of the facts constituting them.</para>
+ </sect1>
+
+ <sect1 id="accts-oa2">
+ <title>Other Assets Described</title>
+ <sect2 id="accts-oa3">
+ <title>Current Assets Described</title>
+ <para><guilabel>Current Assets</guilabel> are those activities whose
+ normal expected life would be one year or less. Such activities could
+ be tracking reimbursable expenses, travel advances, short-term loans
+ to a friend or family member, prepaid expenses, annual insurance
+ premium amortization, and so on. The individual entity could have
+ many other kinds of short term activities that reflect what it is
+ doing. [These asset types are explained individually below.]
+ </para>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2 id="accts-oa4">
+ <title>Long-term (Fixed) Assets Described</title>
+ <para><guilabel>Long-term (Fixed) Assets</guilabel> are those
+ activities whose normal expected life exceeds 1 or more years. This
+ grouping covers both tangible and intangible assets. Examples of
+ tangible assets are land, buildings, and vehicles (cars, trucks,
+ construction equipment, factory presses, etc.) Intangible assets
+ include such things as patents, copy rights, goodwill, etc. Because
+ the lives of some of these assets show wear and tear and deterioration
+ in value over time, businesses and individuals can allow for that
+ diminution in value by calculating depreciation on such assets. For
+ example, land normally does not depreciate, but buildings do, as do
+ equipment and vehicles. [These asset types are explained individually
+ below.]</para>
+ </sect2>
+ </sect1>
+
+ <sect1 id="accts-oa5">
+ <title>Current Assets</title>
+ <para>This section explains short-term receivables, reimbursable expenses,
+ travel advances, prepaid premiums, prepaid rent, suspense or wash accounts.
+ </para>
+
+ <sect2 id="accts-oa6">
+ <title>Short-term Receivables</title>
+ <para><guilabel>Short-term Receivables.</guilabel> This kind of account
+ is useful to reflect an agreement made with someone you trust.
+ Suppose you lent someone $500 and he agreed to repay you $50 a month.
+ If he paid on time, the loan you made would be paid off within a year,
+ which is why it is classified as a short-term receivable. So you
+ could record that loan initially in this account tree: Other Asset>
+ Current Asset>LoanToJoe. At the time you gave him the money your
+ entry is debit (increase) LoanToJoe $500 and credit (decrease) Bank
+ $500. Each time you receive Joe's payment you record $50 debit
+ (increase) to Bank and credit (decrease) LoanToJoe.</para>
+
+ <para>[Note: don't become confused by the use of the word "Loan".
+ "Loan-To" is the tipoff that you really have a receivable, that is,
+ you will receive from Joe, the money you previously loaned. Until he
+ actually pays the money owed you, you reflect his debt in your books
+ by an account describing your expectation -- you will receive the
+ money owed you, hence the word "receivable".]</para>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2 id="accts-oa7">
+ <title>Reimbursable Expenses</title>
+ <para><guilabel>Reimbursable Expenses.</guilabel> This kind of activity
+ is one in which you spend your own money on behalf of someone else
+ (your employer, perhaps) and later you receive repayment of what you
+ spent. The case might be a business trip. The employer has a policy
+ of covering (paying for) all expenses that he authorizes. After the
+ trip is over, the employee submits a report listing dates and amounts
+ spent with receipts for all the expenditures. The employer reviews
+ the report and pays for all items that he considers belongs to his
+ business. [Normally, employees know in advance what the employer will
+ reimburse, so only those items are recorded as a reimbursable expense
+ on the employee's books.]</para>
+
+ <para>Because a business trip can involve different kinds of expenditures
+ (air travel, lodging, transportation at the destination, etc.),
+ different kinds of expenditures would be recorded in the one account
+ as long as the expenditures all related to the same trip. In other
+ words, if a second trip is made before the first is fully settled, a
+ second account for a different event could be set up. It would make
+ sense to do this, if it would help to keep separate all the details of
+ one trip from those of another. It is up to the person making the
+ trip to decide how much trouble it would be to put separate trips in
+ separate accounts or to put them all in the same account. The trip
+ taker should remember that the account must be reconciled in order to
+ know with certainty that all he spent has been reimbursed to him.</para>
+
+ <para>Recording the expenditures on the trip would be much the same.
+ That is, if you paid trip expenses by cash you would debit (increase) the
+ reimburseable expense account for the money paid in cash, because it
+ is a receivable to you until it has been reimbursed to you. The credit
+ offsetting your expenditure would decrease the account that shows the
+ cash in your pocket or the account from which you drew the cash for
+ the payment made. If you paid by credit card, the debit side would be
+ the same as just described, but the credit would be an increase to the
+ credit card company account on your books.</para>
+
+ <para>When you received your reimbursement, then the journal entry (or
+ transaction) to record receipt of the funds from the employer would be:
+ debit (increase) Bank for the check amount and credit (decrease) the
+ reimbursable expense account for the check amount.</para>
+
+ <para>If it turns out that the reimbursable expense account is not
+ zero balance after processing the employer's payment, then it means that
+ there is a difference between you and the employer in handling the expense,
+ which difference needs to be investigated. If the balance is a debit
+ (a positive balance), your account has some money that was not reimbursed.
+ If the balance is a credit (a negative balance), you were paid for more
+ than what you recorded as due you. In both of those situations you should
+ reconcile the difference between what you recorded and what was paid.
+ That effort should disclose exactly what is causing the discrepancy.
+ You will need to contact the employer's bookkeeper to know what was paid,
+ if the reimbursement check was not accompanied by a detailed list of the
+ items being paid you.</para>
+
+ <para>In the event the employer refused to reimburse you for an
+ expenditure, that effectively makes it your expense. In that case, you
+ would make this entry: debit (increase) your own Expense
+ (appropriately named) and credit (decrease) the Reimbursable Expense
+ account. That entry should result in a zero balance in the
+ Reimbursable Expense account. If not, reconcile until you identify
+ the difference.</para>
+
+ <para>[Sometimes there are small differences that don't match an
+ individual entry. In those cases divide the amount by 2 or by 9. If
+ the unresolved amount is divisible by two, it suggests that both you
+ and the employer entered the item in the same manner: both as debits
+ or both as credits. If it is divisible by 9, then likely one of you
+ transposed adjoining numbers; e.g., one entered 69 and the other
+ entered 96. If the difference is divisible neither by 2 or by 9, then
+ it could be that more than one error is present.]</para>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2 id="accts-oa8">
+ <title>Travel Advances</title>
+ <para><guilabel>Travel Advances.</guilabel> These are very similar to
+ Reimbursable Expenses. The difference is that someone gives you his
+ money first; you spend it, and then you give a report accounting for
+ what you spent it on. The report is supported by invoices establishing
+ who, what, where, when, and how much for each expenditure. In the
+ Reimbursable Expense case, you spent your money first and later
+ recovered it.</para>
+
+ <para>In the Travel Advance case when you receive the advance, you
+ record on your books this entry: debit (increase) Bank for the travel
+ advance amount received (say, $500); credit (increase) short-term
+ liability -> Travel Advance ($500). This is a liability, because
+ you are not gifted with the money, but only loaned it for the purpose
+ of having funds to spend when doing the employer's business.</para>
+
+ <para>Frequently, the way these monetary arrangements work is that at
+ the beginning of the salesman's employment, he receives the advance
+ and monthly (or more frequently) turns in a report about who, what,
+ where, when, and how much he spent. The money in the report is paid
+ to him in the amount the report asks for, assuming all was approved.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>During the period after receiving the advance and before filing
+ a request for reimbursement report, he can record his expenditures into
+ the advance liability account. If he does that, the balance
+ in the account will show how much of the advance he has not yet spent
+ (assuming the Travel Advance balance is a credit). If no mistakes have
+ been made and all expenses are approved, then the sum of the unspent
+ account balance and the reimbursing check amount will equal the original
+ travel advance amount.</para>
+
+ <para>That he records the travel expenses to this advance account (and
+ not to his own expense accounts) makes sense, because he is spending
+ his employer's money for the employer's authorized expenses. He is
+ not spending his own money for his own books to record as his expenses.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>When he receives the report reimbursement (say, $350), he debits
+ (increases) Bank, and credits (increases) again the Travel Advance
+ liability account, assuming that previously he had been recording
+ expenditures to the travel advance account. Tracking activity in this
+ manner causes the account always to show the amount that he owes the
+ employer.</para>
+
+ <para>See the Reimbursable Expense discussion above for what to do if
+ the employer does not accept an item the employee put on the travel
+ advance reimbursement request report. The difference resolution effort
+ is essentially the same for both types of accounts.</para>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2 id="accts-oa9">
+ <title>Prepaid Premiums or Prepaid Rent</title>
+ <para><guilabel>Prepaid Premiums or Prepaid Rent.</guilabel> Some types of
+ expenses are usually billed as semi-annual or annual amounts. For
+ example, the insurance industry will bill home insurance annually,
+ while car insurance premiums can be annual or semi-annual. For those
+ that pay an amount that covers several months or a full year, the
+ proper accounting treatment is to reflect in each accounting period
+ the amount that expresses the benefit applying to that period.</para>
+
+ <para>In the case of someone who pays a full-year's insurance premium
+ at the beginning of the insurance period, the entry to record this is
+ debit (increase) Prepaid Insurance Premium for say, $1200, and credit
+ (decrease) Bank for $1200.</para>
+
+ <para>Then a monthly recurring journal entry (scheduled transaction)
+ is created that debits (increases) Insurance Expense $100 and credits
+ (decreases) Prepaid Insurance Premium $100. This technique spreads
+ the cost over the periods that receive the insurance coverage benefit.
+ Businesses following generally accepted accounting practices would
+ normally use this technique, especially if they had to present
+ financial statements to banks or other lenders. Whether individuals do
+ depends on the person and how concerned they are to match cost with
+ benefit across time periods. Another factor influencing use of this
+ technique would be the number of such situations the person encounters.
+ It is relatively easy to remember 1 or two, but more difficult if
+ having to manage 10 to 20. You would set up as many or as few as proved
+ useful and important to you.</para>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2 id="accts-oa10">
+ <title>Suspense or Wash Accounts</title>
+ <para><guilabel>Suspense or Wash Accounts.</guilabel> The purpose of
+ these accounts is to provide a device to track "change of mind" situations.
+ The objective of these accounts is to provide a temporary location to
+ record charges and credits that are not to be included permanently in
+ your books of record. When the transactions reflected in these accounts
+ have been fully completed, Wash/Suspense accounts will normally carry
+ a zero balance.</para>
+
+ <para>For example, say in the grocery store you see canned vegetables on sale,
+ so you buy 6 cans at $1 per can. Say that the total purchases were $50.
+ When you come home and are putting things in the cupboard you discover
+ you already had 12 cans. You decide to return the 6 you just bought.
+ Some persons in this situation would charge (increase) the whole bill
+ to Grocery Expense; and when they returned the cans, they would credit
+ (decrease) Grocery Expense. That is one way of handling that. The effect
+ of this method is to leave recorded on your books the cost of items that
+ you really did not purchase from a permanent standpoint. It is only
+ when the items have actually been returned and the vendor's return
+ receipt has also been recorded that the distortion this method generates
+ will then be removed.</para>
+
+ <para>Actually, there are several treatments, depending on when and how
+ the original transaction was booked/recorded and when you decided to
+ return the items purchased. Basically, did you change your mind before
+ you recorded the transaction or after doing so?</para>
+
+ <para>If you decided to return the items after recording the purchase
+ transaction, you may originally have charged Grocery Expense for the full
+ amount ($50) of all items. In that scenario, what you kept and the amount of
+ the items to be returned were grouped into one account. You could edit the
+ original transaction and restate the amount charged to the Grocery Expense
+ account to be the difference ($41) between the total paid ($50) for groceries
+ and the value of the items to be returned. That leaves the returned-item
+ value as the amount ($6) you should record to the Suspense account.</para>
+
+ <para>Obviously, if you decided to return items before you recorded your
+ purchase, then you would book the original entry as a charge to Grocery
+ Expense for the amount kept ($41) and as a charge to Suspense for the
+ amount returned ($6). The off-setting credit ($50) to cash or credit
+ card is not affected by these treatments.</para>
+
+ <para>When there are several persons shopping and at different vendors,
+ there can be a case where there are several returns happening at once
+ and in overlapping time frames. In that case the Wash Account is
+ charged (increased) at time of changing the mind, and either Bank or
+ Credit Card is credited. When the return occurs, the reverse happens:
+ Bank or Credit Card is debited for the cash value of the returned items
+ and the Wash/Suspense Account is credited in the same amount.</para>
+
+ <para>If the wash account has a non-zero balance, scanning the debit
+ and credit entries in the account will show the non-matched items.
+ That is, debits not matched by offsetting credits indicate items
+ intended to be returned but not actually returned yet. The reverse
+ (credits not matched by offsetting debits) indicates that returns were
+ made but the original charge was not recorded in the Wash Account.</para>
+
+ <para>These differences can be cleared up by returning unreturned items
+ or recording charges (debits) for items already returned. The mechanics
+ of doing that likely will be finding the original expense account the
+ item was charged to and making an entry like: debit Wash Account, credit
+ original expense. It also could be as described above where the original
+ recording is adjusted by adding a charge to Wash/Suspense account and
+ decreasing the amount charged to the original account.</para>
+ </sect2>
+ </sect1>
+
+ <sect1 id="accts-oa11">
+ <title>Short or Long-term Assets</title>
+ <para>This section explains why some types of assets may be short or
+ long-term and presents an example.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>An example is deposits (e.g., utility, rental, security). If the
+ deposit agreement contains a provision to recover the deposit at the
+ end of a year, the treatment could be that of a short-term asset.
+ However, when the agreement is that the deposit holder returns the
+ funds only upon successful inspection at the end of the relationship,
+ then at the start of the relationship or agreement, the person paying
+ the deposit has to decide whether to write it off as a current expense
+ or to track it for eventual recovery at the end of the agreement
+ (not infrequently, moving to a new location).</para>
+
+ <para>Whichever decision is made, the accounting treatment is to debit
+ (increase) expense [assuming the write-off decision] or debit (increase)
+ Deposits Receivable [assuming the intent is to recover the deposit in
+ the future] and credit (decrease) Bank for the amount of the deposit
+ (if paid by cash) or credit (increase) credit card if paid using that
+ payment method.</para>
+ </sect1>
+
+ <sect1 id="accts-oa12">
+ <title>Long-term (Fixed) Assets</title>
+ <para>This section illustrates long-term assets (those whose useful lives
+ exceed 1 year) and discesses these types: land, buildings, leasehold
+ improvements, intangibles, vehicles and other equipment.</para>
+
+ <sect2 id="accts-oa13">
+ <title>Land</title>
+ <para><guilabel>Land</guilabel> is not a wasting asset. That is, it
+ does not get used up over time and rarely suffers damaage such that it
+ loses value. For that reason, it usually is recorded at cost at the
+ time of purchase. Appreciation in its value over decades is not recorded
+ and is not recognized in any way on the books of the owner. It is only
+ after land has been sold that sale price and purchase cost are compared
+ to calculate gain or loss on sale.</para>
+
+ <para>Land is frequently sold/purchased in combination with structures
+ upon it. That means that the cost has to become separated from the
+ cost of structures on it. Land valuation is usually part of the trans-
+ fer of ownership process and its value is shown on the purchase documents
+ separately from that of any structures it supports.</para>
+
+ <para>Land values shown on purchase documents frequently arise from the
+ process of value determination managed by assessors whose job it is
+ to assign values to land for tax purposes. Local and regional areas of
+ a state or province use the values determined by assessors in their tax
+ formulas, which provide revenues for local and regional governing
+ authorities to finance their required community services.</para>
+
+ <para>Should land be acquired in a situation not subject to a history of
+ land valuation by a formal valuation system, then the purchaser can appeal
+ to real estate agents and an examination of recent sale transactions for
+ information that would allow calculating a reasonable amount to express
+ the value of the land.</para>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2 id="accts-oa14">
+ <title>Buildings</title>
+ <para><guilabel>Buildings</guilabel> are the man-made "caves" in which
+ much of life's human interaction occurs. These structures are wasting
+ assets, because in their use they or their components gradually wear.
+ Over time they begin to lose some of their function and they can suffer
+ damage due to planetary elements or human action.</para>
+
+ <para>Accepted accounting practice is to record the cost of the building
+ determined at time of ownership transfer (purchase) or at conclusion of all
+ costs of construction. Because buildings are frequently used for decades,
+ and due to the need to be able to calculate gain or loss on sale,
+ accounting practice preserves the original cost by not recording declines
+ in value in the account containing the original purchase or construction
+ cost.</para>
+
+ <para>Instead, the depreciation technique is used to show [in the
+ balance sheet] the structure's net book value [original cost reduced by
+ accumulated depreciation]. Depreciation is a separate topic treated
+ elsewhere in this Guide.</para>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2 id="accts-oa15">
+ <title>Leasehold Improvements</title>
+ <para><guilabel>Leasehold Improvements.</guilabel> When a business does
+ not own the building where it does business, and instead has a long-term
+ lease, it is not uncommon for the business tenant to make improvements to
+ the premises so that the structure obtains both function and appearance
+ that enhances conducting its business activities.</para>
+
+ <para>In these cases, the expenditures that the business incurs are recorded
+ in a Leasehold Improvements account: increase (debit) Leasehold Improvements,
+ decrease (credit) Bank or increase (credit) a suitable liability account
+ [which could be a liability to a contractor or a bank or a credit card,
+ etc.].</para>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2 id="accts-oa16">
+ <title>Vehicles or Equipment</title>
+ <para><guilabel>Vehicles or Equipment</guilabel> of all kinds usually
+ last for several years, but their useful lives are much shorter than
+ that of assets that have little movement in their functioning. Because
+ they do wear out over time, common accounting practice in business is
+ to record depreciation using life spans and depreciation methods
+ appropriate to the nature and use of the asset. Frequently, the life
+ and depreciation methods chosen are influenced by what is permitted per
+ national tax regulations for the kind of asset being depreciated.</para>
+
+ <para>Usually, businesses depreciate their assets. Individuals can
+ do so as well to the degree that taxing authorities permit. Very wealthy
+ persons employ accountants and attorneys to track and manage their
+ investments and assets holdings to take advantage of all tax benefits
+ permitted by law.</para>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2 id="accts-oa17">
+ <title>Intangibles</title>
+ <para><guilabel>Intangibles.</guilabel> The mechanics of accounting (debiting
+ and crediting appropriate accounts) for these assets are relatively simple,
+ much the same as for any of the above assets. Where the difficulty lies
+ is in their valuation, which is an advanced topic and not something that
+ individual persons and small businesses would likely encounter. For that
+ reason further discussion of items such as patents, copyrights, goodwill,
+ etc. are left until someone has an actual need for such information.</para>
+ </sect2>
+ </sect1>
+ </chapter>
+
Modified: gnucash-docs/branches/2.2/guide/C/gnucash-guide.xml
===================================================================
--- gnucash-docs/branches/2.2/guide/C/gnucash-guide.xml 2010-10-15 20:25:22 UTC (rev 19659)
+++ gnucash-docs/branches/2.2/guide/C/gnucash-guide.xml 2010-10-16 02:23:14 UTC (rev 19660)
@@ -16,14 +16,15 @@
<!ENTITY chapter13 SYSTEM "ch_bus_ap.xml">
<!ENTITY chapter14 SYSTEM "ch_bus_pay.xml">
<!ENTITY chapter15 SYSTEM "ch_budgets.xml">
+<!ENTITY chapter16 SYSTEM "ch_oth_assets.xml">
<!ENTITY appendixa SYSTEM "appendixa.xml">
<!ENTITY appendixb SYSTEM "appendixb.xml">
<!ENTITY appendixc SYSTEM "appendixc.xml">
<!ENTITY appendixd SYSTEM "appendixd.xml">
<!ENTITY legal SYSTEM "legal.xml">
<!ENTITY GFDL SYSTEM "fdl-appendix.xml">
-<!ENTITY manrevision "2.0.1">
-<!ENTITY date "8th Oct 2006">
+<!ENTITY manrevision "2.2.1">
+<!ENTITY date "September 26, 2010">
<!ENTITY app "GnuCash">
<!ENTITY vers-unstable "2.3.15">
<!ENTITY vers-stable "2.2.9">
@@ -37,10 +38,11 @@
-->
<!--
(Do not remove this comment block.)
- Version: 2.0.1
- Last modified: Oct 8th 2006
+ Version: 2.2.1
+ Last modified: September 26, 2010
Maintainers:
- Chris Lyttle <chris at wilddev.net)
+ Tom Bullock <tbullock at nd.edu>
+ Chris Lyttle <chris at wilddev.net>
Translators:
(translators put your name and email here)
-->
@@ -52,6 +54,11 @@
<edition>V&manrevision;</edition>
<copyright>
+ <year>2010</year>
+ <holder>Tom Bullock</holder>
+ </copyright>
+
+ <copyright>
<year>2006</year>
<holder>Chris Lyttle</holder>
</copyright>
@@ -253,7 +260,7 @@
<ulink url="http://bugzilla.gnome.org"
>GNOME Bug Tracking System</ulink>.
</para>
-<!-- Translators may also add here feedback address for translations -->
+<!-- Translators may also add here a feedback address for translations -->
</legalnotice>
</bookinfo>
@@ -273,6 +280,7 @@
&chapter13;
&chapter14;
&chapter15;
+&chapter16;
&appendixa;
&appendixb;
&appendixc;
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