Vendor Credit Memos in Gnucash

[Cameron Thorne]

I've run in to a problem with Gnucash that I am trying to figure out
how to work around.  I am hoping that there is some functionality
built in that I have overlooked.

I use Gnucash for my personal accounting.  I've been using it for
several years on various platforms and versions.  Currently I use
Gnucash 1.8.12 on Mac OS X.  I have 2.0.1 compiled and installed for
testing, but haven't made the switch yet for my "production" file.

I just started using the customers and vendors functionality for the
first time.  I just went back to school, so I am using this business
module to track my education.  Let me explain how I've started using
it, and then I'll explain where it went wrong.  The account names
below are somewhat simplified from my real account tree, but you'll
get the idea.

1. I have set up my school as a "vendor".  I receive tuition
reimbursement from my employer, so I have set them up as a "customer".
 I have a customer job for each semester than I attend school to keep
things organized.

2. When I register for classes, I set up a matching Vendor Bill
stating each class, with expenses going to Expenses:School:Tuition.  I
post this immediately to Liabilities:A/P.  Thus the total reflects
what I owe my school at that point in time.  There is a default
chargeback customer set up for my employer, with a customer job ID for
this particular semester.

3. I have to pay for my some or all of my classes before the semester
begins, depending on if they are online or not.  When I pay for the
classes, I enter a payment against that vendor bill from #2, crediting
Liabilities:VISA.

4. I purchase my textbooks some time before the semester begins.  This
is a regular transaction (not using the business subsystem).  I simply
credit Liabilities:VISA and debit Expenses:School:Books.

5. Once both my textbooks are purchased, and my tuition is paid for, I
create a customer invoice to my employer for reimbursement.  They pay
80%, so they get a default 20% discount.  I simply check off the line
items that are automatically populated from the chargeback, plug in
the account Income:Tuition Reimbursement.  I also add a line manually
for the books I have purchased.  I do *not* post the invoice yet!

6a. At some point in the middle of the semester, I may or may not
receive some loan money via my school.  If I do, then I process that
as another Vendor payment against the same vendor bill in #2,
crediting Liabilities:Student Loans.  If I had previously paid in
full, then at this point my school owes me money. I have a credit
balance.

6b.  If I end up with a credit balance in #6a, my school cuts me a
check.  This is effectively a negative payment against the same
invoice as above, but Gnucash will not let me enter a payment amount
less than $0.00 to transfer the refund from Liabilities:A/P to
Assets:Checking.  More on this later.

7. When I finish my semester, I fill out the paperwork to request
reimbursement from my employer.  At this point I use the customer
invoice in #5 to help me fill out the paperwork, then I go ahead and
post that invoice the day I fax the form in to human resources.  It
posts to Assets:A/R.

8. When I receive a check for my reimbursement, I then process a
customer payment against the invoice in #7, and thus the balance moves
from Assets:A/R to Assets:Checking.

Rinse and repeat for each semester.  My problem is #6b.  My current
semester will not be a problem, because I will not have a credit
balance at the ned of #6a.  But Spring semester 2006 I did.  I have
processed the loan disbursment according to what I wrote in #6a, but
now all subsequent  vendor payments are doing some screwing thing
since I was unable to change their balance back to zero from a credit
balance.

It appears to me that I either need to figure out a way to generate
credit memos in the business subsystem, or unpost my #6a transactions
and perform those and #6b transfers manually outside of the business
subsystem.

Any advice?

Thanks in advance.
-- Cameron
PS - Great work on the 2.0 release.  I am looking forward to the new
budgeting module.  It is excatly what I was hoping for.