Newbie-Q: Creating a set of similar accounts

[Derek Atkins]

John Mills <johnmills at speakeasy.net> writes:

> What I specifically want to do is create a subaccount structure for [say]
> one type rental property that has a well-defined set of expense
> categories, and then reproduce that structure in a simple
> 'obejct-oriented' way for other similar properties with the same
> categories. By some strange coincidence, this matches the breakdown I need
> for tax returns. &8-)
>
> Duplicate data files would certainly handle multiple, similar subaccounts,
> but then how should I consolidate several properties to represent my
> overall rental activities under a single top-level account?

AHA!  NOW you're explaining what you want to do.. You have multiple
items that fall under a single tax entity, so yes, you WOULD want to
put this into a single datafile.  Unfortunately there's no way to do
what you want, currently.  There's no way to copy-and-paste a
subaccount hierarchy.  So I'm afraid you have to do it by hand at the
moment.

>> Quoting John Mills <johnmills at speakeasy.net>:
>
>> > I want to create a set of account/subaccount branches to keep track of
>> > similar expenses for parallel activities. Is there a handy way to "clone"
>> > accounts this way?
>
> I'm just learning how to use GNUCash and probably still have a heavy 
> 'Quicken' accent to my approach, specifically in fixating on a single 
> master-file with numerous sub-accounts. Nor (unfortunatley) do I have any 
> formal accountancy background.

Well, a single master file WOULD be appropriate if you have a single
taxable entity.  Generally you want a 1-to-1 mapping of file to
taxable entity.

> Best regards.
>
>  - John Mills

-derek

-- 
       Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
       Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
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