undo close books?

David Carlson david.carlson.417 at gmail.com
Fri Oct 4 04:19:32 EDT 2013


On 10/4/2013 2:23 AM, whwtan wrote:
> Hi Geoff,
>
> The point you make is a very valid "user" requirement.
> I suggest doing this following as a business procedure for your case.
>
> When you are finished with your year end, adjustments done and audited.
> Save your file using "File -> Save As" and date the file. [e.g.
> 2012-12-31 Widget Co. Pty Ltd)
> For additional safety, burn the saved file onto a write-only CD which
> physically prevents you from changing. One CD per year would make it
> very easy for your personal filing.
>
> Now this does not change the way Gnucash works, there will be people
> here who love the idea of freedom to change data and I am one of them.
> But what I suggest would be a practical compromise and if I were in
> your position (which is completely understandable) that is the method
> I would use.
>
> By the next year end, all you need to do is pull out your previous
> year data from the CD and do a quick check to see if your numbers are
> the same...takes  5 minutes but you give yourself the assurance
> nothing was changed during the year.
>
> I hope that helps.
>
> Ideally, the software would offer two options, one with the ability to
> lock previous data and one which gives you complete freedom. This is
> determined at set-up.
> I can personally refer you to a particular professional accounting
> software which does just that if you wish...It's not
> free/voluntarily-developed like Gnucash though.
>
> William
>
> On 4/10/2013 2:56 PM, Geoff Jankowski wrote:
>> William
>>
>> I confess I take a different view.  On my VT accounts package I lock
>> each year.  If I try to enter something in a prior year I get a
>> message and if I really want to make the change I can but it serves
>> as a good reminder not to mess with prior year accounts.  I do not
>> see this as an accountant demand but a user discipline aid for those
>> of us that run our own business and accounts.  We are so busy trying
>> to make money that we do not have time to be accounting principles
>> experts as well.
>>
>> While paper copies are used at the moment, I see the uk moving
>> quickly to an online submission system and it will be necessary to be
>> able to refer back to prior electronic accounts (previous 7 years)
>> that are accurate against the submitted accounts.  It is not an issue
>> at the moment but I do not think it would be a bad idea to provide a
>> locking option longer term in the software.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Geoff
>>
>> Geoff Jankowski
>> +33 5 46 97 13 89
>> +33 7 53 16 92 10
>> +44 20 71 00 10 92
>> +44 77 70 58 48 38
>> Sent from my iPad
>>
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So far only David T has mentioned the Tools > Close Book function which
the OP was concerned about.  That function is present in GnuCash and it
is intended to add offsetting transactions to income and expense
accounts so that the year-end totals add up to zero.  It creates a short
set of transactions expressing exactly the annual totals for each income
and expense, but in opposite sign.  That is one way to verify whether
any other transactions have been added, as the year beginning values
will no longer be zero.  The OP wanted to know how to fix those
transactions if they are done incorrectly, and I think David T gave the
answer to that question. 

What that function does not address is changes to assets or liabilities
that may cause errors in the balance reports.  However, most countries
(I think) are concerned with taxing income and they don't care about
assets or liabilities unless they are sold, which causes a real and
audit-able event. 

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think that some accountants want to see
those 'closing' transactions, where other accountants may not require
them, and that is a valid concern for business owners.

David C


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