Accrual / Cash Acct

[Christopher Lam]

Thank you this is helpful

I'd think that there might different stages of financial awareness.

Level 0 - nil awareness -- will give accountants a headache
Level 1 - basic understanding of bank statements, can categorise
transactions correctly -- has completed Gnucash tutorial
Level 2 - basic financial control -- can plan transactions 1-3 months in
advance. uses SX effectively.
Level 3+ - annual/further planning becomes possible. should hire/have
hired a financial planner!

On 21 January 2013 11:44, prl <prl at ozemail.com.au> wrote:

> Hi, Christopher.
>
> Not quite all of my transactions have different days between the receipt
> and the statement date, but a lot do. I don't see that as much of a
> problem. I enter the transactions into GnuCash as they are made (usually
> the same day). When I get my monthly bank statement, I go through all the
> transactions in the order they appear in the statement, tick them off in
> the GnuCash reconciliation window and then pencil in a tick for the
> transaction on the statement. My main transaction account is usually about
> 1 A4 page of entries, the other accounts much less.
>
> I enter all my regular outgoings and receipts as SXes, even those that
> don't have a regular transaction value (like utilities & credit card
> accounts). I have 26. Is that a lot? I suspect that there are other
> non-business users of GnuCash who would have more. The SXes are set up to
> warn me 10 days in advance, and to enter the transaction 5 days in advance,
> so I see them in the account window before they are actually paid (a thick
> blue line in the window separates past and the current dates from future
> dates on transactions).
>
> For direct debits (e.g my utilities and ISP+phone accounts), I enter the
> amount in the SX when I receive the bill. For regular payments that aren't
> set up as direct debit and which aren't part of a reconciliation, I
> schedule the payment with the bank for (a bit before) the due date, and
> enter the amount to be paid in the SX (which is set up to have the same
> date). For payments that result from reconciliation of a Credit Card
> account, I just use the SX as a reminder mechanism. When I reconcile the CC
> statement, and it asks to set up a transaction, I schedule the payment with
> the bank, and enter the details of the payment into the transaction form
> that finishing the reconciliation generates.
>
> My bank doesn't have a payment interface that I can use with GnuCash. If
> yours does, then some of these things may be easier to do than what I've
> described.
>
> Good luck with your plans for a new life in Australia. I recommend getting
> a tax accountant to help you with your first tax return or two. The
> Australian income tax system, even for individuals, is dauntingly (and
> excessively) complex. Fortunately only the Federal Govt here levies income
> tax - the states get a cut of the federally collected tax. I can't
> recommend this summer's weather, though. On Friday we had 42C (108F) here
> in Canberra, and 46C (114F) in Sydney. So far this January we've had 10
> days out of 21 above 35C (95F).
>
> Please feel free to email me off the list if you have non-GnuCash
> questions about Australia.
>
> Peter
>
>
> On 21/01/13 20:35, Christopher Lam wrote:
>
>> Hi prl
>> Thank you for your comment -- I'd like to (genuinely) ask:
>> * While I'm aware that my method (bank statement verbatim copy) negates
>> one of the benefits of bookkeeping (i.e. double-checking the bank's
>> records), how do people/accountants cope with the result that -all- source
>> documents and the relevant transactions will have different dates?
>> * I also have a -lot- of direct debits e.g. professional registration
>> fees, council payments, rent, electricity, and water rates -- do people
>> actually plan each one as SX?
>> * I may try a more strict bookkeeping method when I start a new life
>> (Australia of all places) and will surely have more questions then!
>> Thanks again
>>
>>