account organization

[Louis Mandelstam]

On Tue 01 Apr 2003 07:43, Andrew Pimlott wrote:

> I don't know how it works with your friends :-), but I'm talking
> about stuff like I buy dinner one night, he buys another.  It all
> belongs in one account so I can see that it evens out.  Yes, this is
> anal, but it works out so nicely in double entry accounting that I
> can't resist.
>
> Plus, I have proof when I say "you bought last time".

I don't see anything wrong with keeping stuff like this in your accounting 
journal, though I only include transactions with an acknowledged monetary 
value, like "Mate, could I borrow a couple of bucks for a few days?  Looong 
month" or my shopping with my girlfriend (horrors!) and finding some item she 
can't quite afford but which she looks dead sexy in, resulting in a split 
transaction, involving a total split to e.g. my credit card, a split in my 
"Gifts" expense account and a split in her "Assets:Debtors" account in my 
system.  Then we just recon at the end of the month.

I don't include things like "I'll buy dinner tonight, you get it next time".  
I might split such a stransaction between my own entertainment expense and a 
gifts/donations expense, depending on the situations.   Helps to keep the 
budget under control (which one unfortunately needs to run seperately from 
GnuCash at this stage - great pity that, but understood.  At least the 
reports allow me to fill in my actuals in the budget for the month pretty 
easily).

I generally don't open both an Asset and a Liability account for each friend.  
Some people seem to generally tend to owe me, and others tend to be owed.  
The former I keep in Assets and the latter under Liabilities.  If I 
temporarily end of up owing an amount to an Asset/Debtor, it simply has a 
negative value for a while.  Doesn't seem to kill me.

-- 
Louis Mandelstam, InfoSat (Pty) Ltd   [http://www.infosat.net]