Business Features, Invoices & Payments

[John Gowing]

   Had some difficulty following your thread but this may provide some
   insight
   Firstly when using the business features the A/R & A/P accounts are
   updated automatically by the Business transactions, Customer & Vendor
   Bills & Payments, they should not be edited manually, in fact I think
   they cannot be. So ALL business transactions MUST be handled through
   the Businesss functions, or you will get duplications in Bank and Other
   Accounts.
   There are many ways to process payments for either Customers or
   Vendors, including (but maybe no limited to, if I have missed one) the
   following:-

     Business Menu > Cust/Vend > Process Payments - You can pay against
     specific bills or simply post the amount which is then applied
     oldest first
     Business Menu > Cust/Vend >Find an Invoice and process payment from
     within the invoice window (Icon with coin pile)
     Run Cust/Vend Reports, or AR/AP Aging Reports and click the various
     links for the bills which takes you to the Bill where you can
     processs payment as above.

   Matching Up Bank Transactions.
   I generally get my bank statement in OFX and import it automatically.
   In order for this to work gracefully I have found that it is ESSENTIAL
   to process all the business transactions BEFORE importing the bank
   statement. Then During the Import the transactions are matched up
   automatically.
   Over time I figured out the best format to post the transactions so
   they match the way they come in on the Bank statement, and then I find
   the matching is pretty much 100%.
   For my little one man business I find GNUCash and it's business
   features do a great job. Apparently 2.6 has some enhancements including
   credit notes (Yay!) About to start testing that now.
   Documentation
   Scour GNUCash.org for all you can get
   There is an excellent book
   "Gnucash_2.4_Small_Business_Accounting_Beginners_Guide" by Ashok
   Ramachandran which covers the business aspects very comprehensively.
   Also a shorter guide "GNU Cash for Business users-2004-GC1v8" a bit old
   but still relevant
   [1]http://linas.org/mirrors/www.aerospacesoftware.com/2003.06.21/GNU_Ca
   sh_for_Business_users_Howto_Guide.html
   Practice Practice!
   GNUCash has no UNDO so you have to get it right first time.
   It is trivial to take a copy of the Primary GNUCash data file, open it,
   experiment until you get your process right, and then do it properly on
   your production account file.
   In fact I run a Production copy, a test copy and a backup copy. which
   allows me to experiment freely, and keep my production copy clean.
   Hope This Helps
   Cheers

References

   1. http://linas.org/mirrors/www.aerospacesoftware.com/2003.06.21/GNU_Cash_for_Business_users_Howto_Guide.html