losing data

[Derek Atkins]

"Chris Bester" <chrisbester at cybersmart.co.za> writes:

> Hi Maf
> Hope you had a good Xmas.
> On the subject of balance sheets.  I agree that a balance sheet only
> makes sense when it is run to a specific date, however, it also only
> makes sense when it starts at a specific date.  A balance sheet should
> reflect the "condition" of your business for a specific financial year

Actually, that is not completely correct.  A Balance Sheet shows the
condition at a specific SINGLE DATE (the end of the period).  When you
have reports that show an "opening balance" then you're not actually
showing a true Balance Sheet, you're showing the differences between TWO
balance sheets (the previous one and the current one).

For the record, GnuCash *USED* to do this and a bunch of accountants
came in and complained because it wasn't "correct"..  So it was changed.

Really, the only difference is how Retained Earnings gets rolled up.

> I can use "Income Statements" , but then I will have to create a
> Balance Sheet on an Excel spread sheet.  Or I have to create a new
> company in Gnucash for every new financial year..

If you are creating a report for human consumption then every accountant
will tell you that yes, the approach is to take the output from your
accounting program (be it GnuCash, Quickbooks, or anything else) and
then bring it into a spreadsheet or word processor and make it
presentable there.  Often you need to add notes or comments to various
entries, and that can only be done outside GnuCash.

> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.

-derek

-- 
       Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
       Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
       URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
       warlord at MIT.EDU                        PGP key available