Invoice posted to placeholder account

[Derek Atkins]

Chris Bare <chris at ariescomputing.com> writes:

> I have my accounts receivables account set up as a placeholder account
> with several sub accounts. I noticed yesterday that I was able to post
> an invoice to the top-level placeholder.
> I assume this is a bug, but wanted to confirm that before I enter a bug
> report.

That would be a bug, however see below for why this shouldn't occur in
normal operation.  Also note that you you can make your parent account
be an "Asset" and then you wont have this problem.

> Also, the window that displays the AR list is very small, so if you have
> a setup like I do it is impossible to distinguish the various
> sub-accounts without scrolling. When you streach the window wide, the
> margins just get bigger. Should a put in a seperate enhancement request
> related to that?

Yes, file an RFE.

> Finally, is there a way to set the default account that invoices post
> to, or does it just use the first AR account.

No.  It just uses the "first" AR Account.  The original theory was
that you would only NEED one AR account (or maybe a handful), because
all the reports will give you per-customer information.  The only
reason I could fathom for needing multiple AR accounts is for multiple
locations.  For example, you own multiple properties and need to keep
track of the receivables separately.  However unless you're a huge
real-estate mogul, there is no real reason to have many AR accounts.

Frankly, my opinion is that if you are trying to have an AR account
per customer then you're using the program incorrectly.

> This is the second month that I've used gnucash to run my small business
> and I have to say I'm very pleased. The invoicing still has some rough
> edged, but handles the basics quite well. I'm also able to dowload and
> import my bank and credit card statements which savs a ton of time.
> Thanks again to all who have contributed to this project.

Thanks!  I'm glad all our work has been useful to you.  FTR, I have
been using Gnucash for my business, too, which is why I wrote the
business features in the first place. :)

> Chris Bare
> chris at ariescomputing.com

-derek

-- 
       Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
       Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
       URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
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