data management

[Eric Angell]

Hi,

I've been using GnuCash for my personal finances for several
years now, and I'm finally getting around to asking what others
do with their data from year to year.

I prefer not to have an enormous data file that simply continues
to grow, so I've been chopping my transactions up each January.
I save the file, e.g. '2003', copy it to the next year ('2004')
so that the account structure is preserved (I've recently seen
the export feature, though I'm pretty sure that wasn't there when
I started this practice), then I open the new file and delete all
the transactions from the previous year.  Sometimes it takes some
creativity with the Opening Balances account to preserve balances
and debts, but it's generally workable.

One upside to this is that I don't have enormous xac files
kicking around, since I keep the main files in smaller pieces
(2001 is about 160k, 2002 450k, 2003 600k, and 2004 530k so far).
I also gain an easy way to look at each year separately (handy
for taxes, etc), since either there isn't a way to do that with a
report or I can't figure it out.

However, I lose the ability to search through all of the data at
once, each transition is a pain (though I expect the export
feature will help greatly next time), and sometimes the required
creativity is less than straightforward.

So I guess the questions I have to ask of the list include "how
do each of you manage your older data?", and "are reports easier
to modify than I think?".

Thanks to all the devs for a really awesome product.  I don't
think I'll ever be able to go back to single-entry accounting...

-E

-- 
Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little
temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
        --Ben Franklin