Action split

[Tarlika Elisabeth Schmitz]

On Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:59:09 -0400
Josh Sled <jsled at asynchronous.org> wrote:

> Tarlika Elisabeth Schmitz <gnucash at numerixtechnology.de> writes:
> > It certainly makes sense for split transactions. For non-split
> > transactions it is a bit counter-intuitive for the user. Looking at
> > the XML data file, I can see that every unsplit transaction is a
> > two-way split. But the user won't think of it as a split.
> 
> But in the Basic Ledger case, one can't even see the Action field.
> And in any way of interacting with Splits, one does.
> 
> If the Basic ledger did have an Action field, using it should
> probably set the Action field on all the Splits that it's hiding.

As Derek confirmed earlier to-day, the Action field is visible in
double-line mode.

And as I described above, setting it only sets it on the account where
you are entering the transaction.


I understand that internally a non-split transaction has 2 splits
(which the end user won't be aware of). While I appreciate that you
need a separate Action field for multi-splits, it is not great for
no-splits.

If I make an electronic transfer from account A to B it is an
electronic transfer regardless from which end I look at it.

A possible solution might be to auto-populate the other Action field
for non-split transactions?

> > You send a cheque from account A to account B. Enter Action
> > 'Cheque' on A. If you search for all cheque payments to B, you
> > won't get any results as the Action is associated with A.
> 
> Set "Cheque" on both splits.
> 
> As someone who never uses the Action field, what's the actual use
> case for this?  Why do you want to know this?

It's a piece of information which can act as a filter in reports.

example 1: 

One of my current accounts pays me 1% cashback on all debit card
payments up to £10K. I enter "Debit Card" in the action
field. I created a report that selects all debit card pay-outs from
this account for a year. I use this to check whether I have reached my
limit and at the end of the year to check whether the bank has paid me
the correct amount.

example 2:

In the UK, they have only just introduced a new electronic payment
system which transfers funds in hours rather than days. This is only
available between certain banks. I would like to make a note in the
Action field which method I used for a transfer. This will a) indicate
whether monies arrived on the same day and b) allow some analysis which
banks have adopted the new system.


The whole point of an accounting system is being able to analyze the
data. This means you need good reporting facilities and useful data
fields for filtering. I like GnuCash because the way data are entered
suits me but reporting is a bit of a sore point. ;-)

I've got a huge amount of data and I can imagine all sorts of reports
I might want to run but that's another topic.


Regards,
Tarlika