Different debit/credit dates.

[Matthew Vanecek]

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On Sun, 2002-10-13 at 12:21, J=F6rg Pommnitz wrote:
> Matthew Vanecek wrote:
>=20
> >Dates only matter if you're bank account is low on fuel and you're
> >anxious for the fresh gas to hit the taank...
> >
> >=20=20
> >
> I beg to differ. There are people who have accounts that *PAY* interest.=
=20
>  If you move money
> from one of these to another one than the amount of interest depends on=
=20
> the debit and
> credit dates (e.g account "a" stops paying interest when the money=20
> leaves and account "b"
> starts paying interest when the money arrives).
>=20

That's still insignificant, according to accounting rules.  You record
the transfer on the day the transfer occurs, and when you receive your
statement, you reconcile the account and create a transaction for the
interest that the account received.  Even if you are trying to calculate
the interest yourself, you  would probably use a spreadsheet or business
calculator or similar tool, and record the results in your accounting
package.  But the only use I could see for that is to check the figures
your investment firm puts on your statement.  I have to admit, though,
that I've used my spreadsheet quite a bit for similar purposes...

There may be specialized accounting rules I don't know about, of course,
but in general accounting the emphasis is on balanced debits/credits and
the period the transaction occurs in (where a transaction is a composite
of 2 or more debits/credits), and it does not allow/recognize/consider
important a different date for each detail of a given transaction.

Again, all my information comes from Accounting books I currently am
reading or have read, and the courses I had in college.  I understand
what you are saying, but I think it is something computerized accounting
systems were generally not designed to handle.

This is why cash accounting is so difficult, and why accrual accounting
seems to be the norm.  Anyhow, I'm not saying you're wrong for wanting
such a feature; I'm just pointing out that it's generally not common
practice, and the accounting systems I've used don't support such a
feature.  I don't even wholly disagree with you--it's just too much a
pain in the butt to worry about, when the accrual method works just fine
for most.
--=20
Matthew Vanecek
perl -e 'print
$i=3Dpack(c5,(41*2),sqrt(7056),(unpack(c,H)-2),oct(115),10);'
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*****
For 93 million miles, there is nothing between the sun and my shadow
except me.
I'm always getting in the way of something...

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