sorting of transactions within day

[Mike or Penny Novack]

marcus.wolschon at googlemail.com wrote:

>Hello,
>
>what sorting is used for the transactions
>within a single day?
>I would like to make sure the transactions
>get the same sorting-order they have on
>the bank-account to make comparing both
>easier for the user.
>Could this be done my modifying the time
>in the postedDate or should I look somewhere
>else?
>
>
>Marcus
>  
>
You would first have to look at "what rule does the bank follow" with of 
course no expectation that any two banks would be following the same 
rule. That should be enough to convince you that nothing done at the 
Gnucash end could guarantee the same order except the ability to define 
a complex set of rules for order.

When choosing a bank, an important consideration is whether for 
transactions on the same date they process "debits before credits" or 
"credits before debits" as that can influence whether or not you get hit 
with "overdraft penalty charges" or even have checks bounce for 
insufficient funds. You MIGHT find a bank which used "time of day" but I 
have never encountered any. Take a look at the fine print and you will 
probably see things like "deposits will be credited as of the close of 
business on the day made" or even "deposits made after X time of day  
will be credited as of the following business day" (the last is the only 
place I have seen "time of day" taken into consideration).

Keep in mind that for checks coming back to the bank, their arrival and 
entry into the bank's records is random with respect to when written and 
entered in GnuCash. The only thing that would be the same in both places 
is the check number and the date written.

Michael