budgeting
Aaron Peromsik
aperomsik@mail.com
Thu, 23 Nov 2000 00:23:56 -0500
> From: James LewisMoss <jimdres@mindspring.com>
> Date: 21 Nov 2000 03:08:01 -0500
>
> I want my budgeting system ...
>
> ... to add transactions automatically
> ... to mark transactions as automatically added so I can make sure
> they are ok.
> ... to remind me to add items.
I guess this is as good a place as any to introduce myself... I'm a
Quicken user interested in switching to GnuCash if the right things
happen with respect to scheduled transactions. By day, I'm a CAD
software developer. I don't have much free time to contribute to GnuCash
development, but I'll start by joining the discussion and take it from
there.
Quicken draws a distinction between "budgeting" functionality
and "scheduled transactions." I find the scheduled transactions useful
as reminders, but I don't use the auto-entry functionality because I
don't want things entered as paid until I actually mail the check.
On the other hand, having things entered in the register in advance
would be useful for cash flow management. Currently I duplicate my
scheduled transactions for the next couple months in a StarOffice
spreadsheet to help me decide how much money gets transferred from
savings to checking in time to pay the bills. If Quicken -- or more
likely, GnuCash -- would have some in-between state for scheduled
transactions which show up in the register but are not really entered
yet, this task would take a lot less duplicative effort.
What I'm suggesting is something like this: we have an option which lets
the user include in the register all scheduled transactions for a
user-determined amount of time in the future. 30 or 60 days would suit
me. Creation of scheduled transactions should be possible right in the
register. The balance displayed on each line should include the
displayed scheduled transactions. The summary line at the bottom should
show both the "real" current balance and the balance including the
displayed scheduled transactions. This would let me see right in GnuCash
the information I am currently calculating in StarOffice without
re-entering all my planned expenses for the month.
Then there should be an easy way to point at a "scheduled" entry in the
register, and with one click convert it from "scheduled" to "entered."
Even aside from the fact that it would help me with my cash-flow
analysis, I think this kind of UI is a lot more streamlined than the way
scheduled transactions are handled in Quicken.
What do other people think of these suggestions?
-- Aaron Peromsik