Feature request from German list: Disable editing of transactions

[Mike or Penny Novack]

my two cents

I think it would be wise to collect a precise definition of the formal 
requirements before making any design decisions.

   ABSOLUTELY -- determining requirements is the first step in design.

How about collecting translations of relevant sections of the actual laws in the wiki, to 
find the common denominator? 

   But that is overly optimistic. It is very unlikely that there will not be inconsistency in the requirements. What we will need is not so much a system (hard coded) that can satisfy all of them but PROCEDURES how to accomplish what is required under various conditions. I'll give a concrete example using the "problem" stated --- a POSSIBLE solution. 


>
>You are right, closed books  and uneditable transactions seem to be tied 
>closely together. I wonder whether that is enough though, in terms of 
>requirements set by law in some countries. I think in Norway one must 
>not be able to _make_ any transactions prior to the book closing date 
>either.
>
>On the other hand: I close my books manually every other month, in order 
>to get the numbers for the VAT form. But occasionally I find an error in 
>the previous period and then I correct that and the closing transaction, 
>and send in a revision of the form if necessary. I am not sure how I am 
>supposed to properly correct errors in previous periods if transactions 
>are prohibited.
>  
>
   Bastian -- you could, after the first closing and immediately 
preceding applying the "freeze" burn a copy of the file. Notice that I 
don't know whether the data indicating "frozen as of X date" would be 
kept in the books themselves or in some secondary file but it is data 
and will be in SOME file. In other words, the state immediately before 
the freeze can be saved and if necessary to later make changes (and then 
resubmit the tax reports) restored from this backup and a new "final" 
burned.

    BTW --- the process I am using here (I'm Treasurer of a 501(c)3 ) is 
to recognize that NO software freeze could stop me from editing the data 
(remember -- I made my living designing software). So I burn TWO copies 
and give one of these to another party. In the event of legal questions 
these could be compared.

Michael