GNU/Cash for business

[Derek Atkins]

Hi,

You've got a number of incorrect statements in your guide.  I've
cc'd gnucash-devel so other people can see the answers.

> General
> GNU Cash is a wee bit buggy still, to put it mildly, but it actually
> works.  This howto describes common actions for business users and
> should get you going.

Ok, how is it buggy?  Could you enumerate the bugs that you've found?
I think saying "GNU Cash is a wee bit buggy still, to put it mildly"
is being very insincere at best, especially without explaining what
you mean.  At worst it's being subjective, and how-to guides are not
supposed to be subjective.

Also, unless you envision this to be a part of a larger document you
should provide pointers to gnucash resources, how to find help, where
to ask questions, where to submit bug reports, etc.

> Create an Invoice
> You can create an invoice but it doesn't look very good.  Also, the
> invoice may/may not show up in reports until some time has passed.  By
> the next day, all reports should be OK.  You may want to print a
> better looking invoice by some other means.

I think that whether the invoice "looks good" is very subjective and
should not be part of a howto.  Personally, I think the invoices look
just fine (although there is the issue of bug #84707).  Also, I don't
know what you mean about it not showing up in reports until some time
has passed.  The invoice should appear in all reports as soon as the
invoice is posted.  It's possible you may need to 'refresh' some of
the reports to get it to display, but it should be available
immediately.

If you have found a way to create an invoice, post it, and NOT have it
show up immediately, then please file a bug report, but do not report
incorrect information in the howto.

    * Click: Business, Customers, New Invoice
    * Type an Invoice number or leave it blank, to make GNU Cash make one up
    * Click: Select to select the customer to invoice
    * You can now create a New Customer if required, or type the
      Customer name and click Find
    * Select the Terms, type some Notes and click OK
    * Now you get an Edit Invoice dialogue
    * You can edit the invoice some more if required
    * Click the Enter button to record the invoice in Current
      Assets:Accounts Receivable

This is incorect.  You want to click the "Post" button to record the
invoice in your Accounts Receivable account.  The "Enter" button just
records the current item (in lieu of tabbing off the end or hitting
the enter key).

    * In this dialogue, the Print button remains greyed out, so you
      can't print the invoice from here.

This is also incorrect.  As soon as you post the invoice the "Print"
button will become un-greyed and you can print immediately.  I have
just tested this to make sure it didn't get broken, and yes, this
works as it is supposed to, so you are providing incorrect
information.

> Print Invoice
> Once you have created the invoice, printing it is not obvious.  You
> cannot print from the New Invoice dialogue.  The way to print the
> invoice, is from the Process Payment dialogue:

This is completely bogus.  Once you've posted the invoice the "Print"
button becomes active and you can print directly from the invoice
page.  I just tested this and it works fine, so you are either confused
or propagating incorrect information.

    * Click: Business, Customers, Process Payment
    * Payment Information dialogue opens
    * Click: Select
    * Company Name, Contains: type company name in text box
    * Click: Find
    * You can now View/Edit Customer, See Jobs/Invoices or Process a Payment
    * Click: Customer's Invoices
    * Click: View/Edit Invoice
    * Now you can click the Print button

None of this information is necessary.  As soon as you post the
invoice, you should be able to print it.  Similarly, you can shorten
this process by:

    * click: Business -> Customers -> Find Invoice
    * select the invoice number
    * click Find
    * click on the invoice
    * click view/edit
    * click the print button

However if you're already editing the invoice, you can just print
it as soon as you post it.  If you do not know the invoice number
then you can 

    * click Business -> Customers -> Find Invoice
    * Company Name contants: type in the company name
    * click find
    * select the invoice to print
    * click view/edit invoice
    * click the print button

> Receive Payment
> The problem with receiving a payment is to figure out what to enter
> into the Post To text box:

I don't understand this question.. The "post to" box should
automatically have your Accounts Receivable account listed.  At worst
you just need to select the proper A/R account is you have multiple
A/R accounts.  Do you, by chance, have multiple A/R accounts?  if so,
why?  You don't need multiple A/R accounts (and if you do, which one
you use should be directly obvious for each customer).

    * Click: Business, Customers, Process Payment
    * Payment Information dialogue opens
    * Click: Select
    * Company Name, Contains: type company name in text box
    * Click: Find
    * You can now View/Edit Customer, See Jobs/Invoices or Process a Payment
    * Click: Process Payment
    * Type the Amount into the amount box
    * In the Post To text box enter: Current Assets:Accounts Receivable

This should be automatic -- it will choose the first A/R account it
finds.  It should only be an issue if you have multiple A/R accounts,
but really, you shouldn't ever have multiple A/R accounts!

    * This account name is visible in the View Invoice dialogue in the
      Posted Account text box
    * In the Transfer Account text box, select Current Assets:Undeposited Funds CAD
    * Click: OK

Well, the Transfer Account box should be whatever account you are
using to deposit the payment funds.  I'm not convinced that using an
account "Assets:Undeposited Funds CAD" is at all portable, but it's
certainly fine if that's what you use...  But you should mention what
account you want to use here.  Selecting the Transfer account is,
IMHO, harder than choosing the Post To account.

Anyways, I hope I've helped.

-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