Budgeting using existing gnucash

[Dale Alspach]

I just tried a little experiment and was able to manufacture a budget using
the current (1.8.5) gnucash. I created a budget only for 2003 due to a small
limitation noted below. 

Step 1. Export the accounts to budget03 (any name)

Step 2. Create 4 new accounts: Current Assets, Current Income, Current
Liabilities, Current Expenses.

Step 3. Go to the Scheduled transaction editor and enter scheduled
transactions for each budget item as follows:

Set the start date for January 03 and the correct day of the month for the
transaction. Mark create automatically, max out create in advance, (this is
the limitation mentioned earlier), enter the details of the
transaction,e.g.,
Description        Account             Debit    Credit
My Salary	       Current Income               2000
                   Current Assets      2000

or

Mortgage Payment   Current Assets                1000
                   Current Liabilities 1000
or

Food               Current Assets                 250
                   Current Expense      250

etc. If I want to use my existing accounts, the accounts are already there
for selection.

Once I have my scheduled transactions created, I have the transactions
automatically created by selecting Since last run. The year is filled out
with transactions. If I wanted to use my existing accounts, I could go into
each asset and liability and set its opening balance for the budget year.

This experiment suggests that it may be possible to create a budgeting
system with very little new code. A crude beginning could be made by
automating the first two steps, relabeling the GUI for the scheduled
transaction editor and (I would guess tweaking the code a little) to
produce transactions in advance over a period. Some extra editing features
would be nice. For example if I made a budget as above and decided 250 was not
really enough for food, I should be able to change the amount in the editor
and have the changes propogated. By exporting the accounts one has account
ids to
produce budget vs actual reports. Some arrangement would need to be made
for resynching if the account tree in the actual accounting portion is
modified.

The budget transactions above are simple, but by using the existing
gnucash features the user can create whatever transactions are desired.
Also notice that the delta budgeting that has been discussed over the last
few days could be implemented by following the model budget transactions
above and hiding the fact that the other account is Current Assets.

I know nothing about the actual gnucash code, so what I am suggesting may
have too many drawbacks.

My 2 cents.

Dale Alspach