Latest AP, AR, and Payroll Documentation

Derek Atkins warlord at MIT.EDU
Thu Jul 31 00:25:10 CDT 2003


Ok, I've finally decided to read through what you've got.  If you
don't mind I plan to comment on some grammar and spelling as well
as conceptual issues...

I'll try to go by chapter/section number.  One overall comment -- you
use a lot of extra commas where they don't belong (I know this because
I have the same problem).

Jon Lapham <lapham at extracta.com.br> writes:

> News:
> 
> -AR, AP, and Payroll docs have been split into 3 separate chapters.
> -Added screenshots
> -Added to AR, description of the 15 "Edit Invoice" columns.
> -Added to AR, description of the 11 "Edit Bill" columns.
> 
> AR:
> http://www.jandr.org/temp/gnucashdocs/chapter11.html

11.1:

   Businesses have customers that own money

should be "that owe money"

Actually, I'm wondering how much of 11.1 belongs in a "Overview of
Business Features" rather than an introduction to Accounts Receivable?

11.2.1:

   Most likely, the prebuilt Business Account heirarchy will not be
   perfect for your needs, you will need to do some amount of manual
   adjustments forit to function well with your situation

should be "adjustments for it".  However, I would suggest some alternate
text:

   Most likely the prebuild Business Account hierarchy will not
   exactly meet your needs, however it should be close enough that it
   is recommended you begin with it.  You may need to adjust some
   accounts manually for it to function well with your particular
   situation, but the defaults should be adequate for many situations.


I would also add an additional note that says something to the affect of:

   Note that you do not need to create an individual A/R account for each
   customer.  GnuCash will keep track of customers internally and provides
   reports per-customer based on the internal tracking.

11.4.1:

The "Name" under the Billing Address frame should contain your contact's
name.  E.g., the "Name" should be "Bob McBob", not "ABC Inc".

11.4.2:

I'll point out that you don't necessarily need to set the criterion to
"Company Name" -- you can use the Company ID or any other string.

11.5.1:

I would change this from "New Invoice Registration" to "Creating a New
Invoice" and also change the text from:

   To send an invoice to a customer, you must first register it. This
   is accomplished using the application available at Business ->
   Customers -> New Invoice. The New Invoice window should be filled
   in appropriately

to:

   To send an invoice to a customer you must first create a new invoice.
   This is accomplished ....


You have:

   Date Opened - the date this Invoice was emitted.

This isn't quite true..  The "Date Opened" is the date this invoice
was created.  The date it's emitted is the "Post Date".


You have:

   Billing ID - The Billing ID. ???

The Billing ID is the customer's PO Number or other "customer
reference number" that you should use to identify your invoices to
this customer (and job, if you have one).


11.5.2:

You have:

   Invoiced? (unedittable) - X means the item has been invoiced, ???
   means the item has not been invoices (Derek?)

This is editable, but you can only edit items which are attached
somewhere else (e.g. they are chargeback items).  An "X" means the
item is attached to this invoice, an empty box means the item is not
attached to this invoice.  If the box is empty you can attach the item
to the invoice by first selecting the item row and then clicking in
this box.


You have:

   Tax Table (optional) - this is a popup menu of all the available
   tax tables. If you set the item as taxable and set that the tax has
   not been included in the unit price, then this tax table is used to
   compute the amount of tax.

The first part is correct, however the latter part is not.  The
taxtable is used regardless of the 'taxincluded' status.  The only
question is whether the tax is on top of or included in the value of
the line.  For example, if I say that there is 1 item of $100 with a
tax of 5%, if taxincluded is empty then subtotal = $100 and tax = $5,
whereas if taxincluded is true, then subtotal = $95 and tax = $5
(basically).


You have:

    Tax (unedittable) - computer tax for this item

I think should should be "computed" tax...


11.5.4:

You say:

   Before you can edit a preexisting invoice, you will need to unpost it.

This is true only if you want to edit a pre-existing, POSTED invoice.
You do NOT have to post the invoice until you are ready to print it
(indeed, you SHOULD NOT post the invoice until you are ready to print
it).


11.5.5:

You can also print from the main window: Reports -> Business Reports
-> Printable Invoice.  You can edit the invoice options to select the
invoice you want to print.


11.6:

You have:

   Owner Info - Billing ID - ??? Derek?.

The Billing ID is the customer's reference to this job (e.g. their PO
Number).  It's the "Billing Identificatoin" that they require on your
invoices to them.


> AP:
> http://www.jandr.org/temp/gnucashdocs/chapter12.html

12.2.1:

I've got the same comment about the note as 11.2.1 above.

12.4.1:

First, I've got the same comment about the "Billing Information" Name
-- this is supposed to be the name of the contact, not the name of the
Company.


You ask:

   Payment Information - Tax Included - this specifies whether tax has
   already been included in the bill. You can choose Yes, No, or Use
   Global. Yes means that the tax is already included in the bill, No
   means tax has not been included in the bill, and Use Global means
   to use the global tax (Derek?).

This is correct, except you use the "global tax table".  Note that
customer's have a similar setting that works the same.

12.4.2:

Same comment about the search functionality.


12.5.1:

Same comment about the naming of "New Bill Registration" -- should be
changed to "Creating a New Bill" and similarly change:

   When you receive a bill from a vendor, you must register it.

to

   When you receive a bill from a vendor and want to enter it into
   GnuCash, you must create a new bill.


You ask:

   Invoice Info - Date Opened - the date the Invoice was emitted by
   the vendor (Derek - or is this the date the bill arrived?).

This should be the date the invoice was emitted by the vendor.  The
date it was received should be the "post date".


You say:

   Billing Info - Billing ID - Your interal ID for this bill. Can be
   left blank and one will be assigned.

This is not correct.  First, this should be the vendor's ID for the
bill (e.g. their invoice #).  It can be left blank, but one will NOT
be assigned.  So, this is an optional entry.


12.5.2:

   Invoiced? (unedittable) - X means the item has been invoiced, ???
   means the item has not been invoices (Derek?)

See what I said about this in AR..  Honestly, this column can probably
go away from Bills, as it's not useful there (there is no "vendor
order" or anything.

   Billable - is this bill billable to a customer or a job?

This should say "is this item billable to the chargeback customer/job"

12.5.3:

Just like Invoices, you only post the bill when it is finished.  You
do not need to post it to close it; you should post it when you are
finished with it.  This isn't quite the same as with invoices, because
you tend to already know what the completed bill is when you are
entering it (unlike an invoice, which may be entered over a period of
multiple sessions).

12.5.4:

Same commend as with invoices -- you only need to unpost it if you
posted it.  You don't have to post a bill until you actually want it
to enter into the Chart of Accounts.


12.6:

you ask:

   Owner Info - Billing ID - ??? Derek?.

See my answer for invoices

> Payroll:
> http://www.jandr.org/temp/gnucashdocs/chapter13.html

13.3:

you say:

   GnuCash does not (yet) have an integrate payroll system.

This should be "integrated"


13.3.1:

You say:

   Include definitions and formulas for calculating each value.

This isn't a complete sentence..   What exactly do you mean?


13.3.3:

you say:

   Go to the account where the employee is to be paid, possibly the
   Asset:Checking account.

This is probably better phrases:

   Go to the account from which the employee will be paid, for example
   your Asset:Checking account.


13.4.2:

The "description" in your transaction should probably just be "E1",
not "E1 Paycheck", so that you could use the check-printing feature to
actually print the check.


> Derek, can you give those 15 "Edit Invoice" columns and 11 "Edit Bill"
> column descriptions a read-through?

Well, was that what you were looking for?  ;)

Note: be careful what you ask for...

> Quick links to what I'm talking about:
> http://www.jandr.org/temp/gnucashdocs/bus_ar_invoices1.html#bus_ar_invoiceedit2
> http://www.jandr.org/temp/gnucashdocs/bus_ap_bills1.html#bus_ap_billedit2

Enjoy!

-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
       warlord at MIT.EDU                        PGP key available


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