Unintended consequences / retrograde behaviour re 2.6.16 fix of Bug 603379 - Prevent changing some Account Options if it has transactions.

[Wm]

On 07/05/2017 15:30, Frank H. Ellenberger wrote:
> Hi,

[JohnR not Wm said]
> Am 03.05.2017 um 02:11 schrieb Wm via gnucash-devel:
> 8X---
>> I'll stipulate that Stock and Mutual Fund behave exactly the same, as do
>> Bank and Cash, so those four should be collapsed into two.
> 
> In theory the is a difference, but currently  not implemented in GnuCash
> between Bank and Cash:
> 
> Cash must never be below zero.

That is not an issue in accounting.  It is an issue in banking, it is an
issue in business and personal finance.  But in accounting?  Nope.
Accounting does not care.

I've also just checked and my actual gnc Cash account has sometimes gone
into the apparent red when I've recorded transactions in a natural order.

e.g. out for a meal, I pay, people give me the money.

are you really saying in accounting a Cash account must never be below
zero?  It happens all the time in real life ... and accounts should
reflect not dictate, after all.

It is possible people use these differently[1], but I think if gnc
prevented the entry above it would upset people.

[1] I call what is in the pockets of my clothing a Cash account and
don't think it needs a new name, it is the cash I have on me.

IMO the Asset and Liability types are over divided.  Unless they are
doing something useful they should be consolidated longer term.

Also it is silly in modern banking, my current account provider offers
me a free overdraft.

If I use that ofverdraft facility does my account change from a Cash
account to a Bank account in gnc?  No.  The definition is artificial.

In summary I disagree strongly with Frank and say differences between
Cash and Bank should be removed because they do not reflect natural
accounting.

I say further that issues of very personal finance like "your cash
cannot go below zero" are issues that gnc passed by when it stopped
being a personal finance nanny copy of another piece of software.

-- 
Wm