Categorization of transactions

[Dennis Muhlestein]

>>   
> It's important to remember that Quicken is not a "real" accounting 
> system, in the sense that it doesn't do double-entry.  The Categories 
> amount to a stop-gap to get around this problem.  Trying to use the 
> Categories to balance things drove me crazy, and finding Gnucash was a 
> great relief.

That's also why I switched to GC too.  Quicken is not what I wanted for 
a lot of reasons.

> 
> I expect it would take some clever and complex programming to add such a 
> feature to Gnucash, with a consequently greater risk of bugs and data 
> loss and generally of screwing things up. 

I don't think this feature request is meant to be part of the accounting 
you do with GC.  It's meant to be an easy way to find/classify 
transactions.

> 
> You are supposed to have multiple sub-accounts: that approach keeps 
> things tidy.  Generating different reports for each vehicle is actually 
> pretty easy: start with the Transaction Report and select carefully.  We 
> keep track of both RRSPs and rental properties under a general 
> investment account, and each property has its own set of sub-accounts.  
> Saved specialized reports take care of the need for thorough analysis 
> very well.  You may not like the detailed and repetitious work that is 
> required to set them up, but once they're done you know exactly what's 
> going on.

You ought to be able to add multiple tags/categories to a transaction 
I'd think.  You can't do that with a subaccount.  Example: The fuel was 
bought for the car but I also want to denote that it was me who bought 
it, (suppose I like to track when I buy gas vs when my wife buys gas.) 
Do I need two master accounts now, one for me and one for my wife, each 
with all the same subaccounts? Suppose I have a type of item I have 
three or four classifications for.  Each new tag requires double the 
master accounts.  It just isn't practical to do it that way.

I personally can accept not having this feature.  I can see why some may 
find it very valuable though.

-Dennis