Fw: Enquiry about budgets

[Fiona - software]

It was suggested that I forward this email onto your group by John Carter to help with my enquiries.  He has been very quick in responding to my queries but hightlighted that is not a developer, only a user.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John R. Carter, Sr." <john at jrcarter.com>
To: "Fiona - software" <feesmailbox-software at yahoo.com.au>
Cc: <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 01, 2009 8:12 AM
Subject: Re: Enquiry about budgets


> On Dec 31, 2008, at 5:21 AM, Fiona - software wrote:
> 
>> I am currently evaluating GnuCash as an alternative to Quicken Plus  
>> which is crashing all the time for me.
>>
>> When you set up a budget, is there some means where you can pick and  
>> choose any sub-account to make up a budget without pulling in the  
>> whole account?
>>
>> ie.  Activities
>>         Scouts
>>             Fees
>>             camps
>>          Dancing
>>             Fees
>>              Concert expense
>>
>> I want to set up an "Essentials Bills" Budget where I want to only  
>> see Scout Fees and Dance Fees.  I don't want to see any other sub- 
>> accounts relating to Scouts and Dancing.
> 
> When you create a new budget, you get all accounts and subaccounts in  
> the budget. When you create the budget report, you can select which  
> accounts and/or subaccounts to include/exclude.
> 
>> Also, does GnuCash prompt you highlighting when you have exceeded  
>> your budget when you are entering a transaction? And gives you the  
>> opportunity to adjust the budget figure?
> 
> There doesn't appear to be any trigger that flashes a warning should  
> you attempt to exceed your budget in any given account. I have not  
> even seen anything like that in Quicken. But since gnucash is open  
> source, I see no reason to suspect that a Python script couldn't be  
> added for this feature. Since entries in gnucash generally occur after  
> the fact, it seems unnecessary to put such a trigger in place since  
> creating a budget report will show any such overruns.
> 
> The idea is that one should be looking at a budget report on those  
> accounts of interest as frequently as necessary in order to monitor  
> and manage expenses in those accounts. For some, this may only be once  
> a month. For others, it may be every day.
> 
> If anything, there could be a script in place to create a budget  
> report automatically at the end of the day or at the end of a  
> financial reporting period.
> --
> John Carter 


----- Original Message ----- 
From: Fiona - software 
To: John R. Carter, Sr. 
Sent: Thursday, January 01, 2009 2:44 PM
Subject: Re: Enquiry about budgets


thank you for replying so quickly.


In relation to your comment below:

There doesn't appear to be any trigger that flashes a warning should  
you attempt to exceed your budget in any given account. I have not  
even seen anything like that in Quicken. But since gnucash is open  
source, I see no reason to suspect that a Python script couldn't be  
added for this feature. Since entries in gnucash generally occur after  
the fact, it seems unnecessary to put such a trigger in place since  
creating a budget report will show any such overruns.

In Quicken Plus 2008 it brings up a pop up screen highlighting that you have exceeded your budget, and asks whether you want to have your budget updated to reflect the new figures?  If you answer yes, it adjusts the figures for that account you are doing at the time of the transaction to reflect the new figure.  This in turn highlights to you that you may need to re-review your budget.

Also, when you look at your budget in Quicken, it tells you the totals for each period you are interested in (ie. per month, per quarter, per year).  It allows you to specify for each account/sub-account the period each budget amount is to apply to. Refer to below




As I have a set amount put aside each month for essential bills per pay so I need to see if that amount is still enough or whether it needs to be adjusted.  It would be good to see a report showing, say the last 12 months, with each month's total for the selected income and expense accounts(ie. total for all selected income account and a total for all selected expense accounts).  

I know I can do this through the Income Statement report of GnuCash but I need to go in to the options to change the period for each month rather than seeing it as one whole report.  Refer to below.





Thank you once again. Fiona



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