Budgets - how does the community want to use them?

[Wm...]

Sun, 27 Dec 2015 11:30:33 
<BLU436-SMTP21203848CA5C347F2227A458FFA0 at phx.gbl>
Matt Graham <matt_graham2001 at hotmail.com> wrote...

>G'day GNUCash users,

Good evening from a mild but very wet UK

>I would like to improve the way Gnucash implements budgets, to make
>them more useful in a personal context.

At present GnuCash's Budgeting is more business than person orientated.

You may want to consider, "something new" rather than "fixing the 
existing".

> However, I want to get feedback
>on how people want to use a budget so that this effort can make the
>software better for everyone.

May I gently suggest this is a bad way to approach this?  You can ask 
for ideas but if you do it you are going to have to be clear minded. 
Reason?  There isn't *a* way to do budgets.  The formal business methods 
don't suit what most people as individuals expect.

>Please let me know (by posting to gnucash-user at gnucash.org) how you
>think budgets can be improved. For example:

>- what information do you want to see on the budget display?

with few exceptions most individuals budget Income and Expense, 
budgeting changes in Assets, Liabilities and Equity is esoteric ... in 
any event if you're budgeting for those maybe the existing facilities 
would work.

>- Should Gnucash pull in your actual expenditure after the period has
>passed, Allowing you to see actual vs budgeted?

The existing budget reports do that.  Presuming you want something 
deferent what are you planning to compare against?

>- what (if anything) should Gnucash do if you don't spend your budgeted
>amount - increase the budget for the next period automatically? Or just
>drop it off?

Nothing.  The current budgeting system is more formal, if you've money 
left over you deal with it formally (i.e. transfer the budget according 
to an annual plan or go back to the boss [1] and ask if you can reuse 
it).

[1] I think you are the boss in this case so feel free to play with your 
Budget as much as you want.

>Thoughts appreciated - I only use Gnucash for personal finances, so
>especially keen to hear what businesses think and would find useful.

I think it is the obverse, actually.  At the moment the GnuCash Budgets 
are formal rather than personal.  There are a number of people 
interested in this.

Budgets are a broad church, I wonder sometimes if they belong in 
something like GnuCash at all since the word BUDGET seems to be loaded 
with so many meanings by so many different people.

===

Mr Graham, don't let me put you off.  You have good correspondents in 
this thread.
David T [2] is an active thinker in this regard.

You may also have missed a thread in the dev list

===
From: Ngewi Fet <ngewif at gmail.com>
Newsgroups: gmane.comp.gnome.apps.gnucash.devel
Subject: Representation of repeating budget amounts
Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2015 08:56:45 +0100
Message-ID: 
<CAE0QbAVud8aAu0jFVpUk0AS8+TKmuv19w8iapMusDyOpje0=Qg at mail.gmail.com>
===
and similar.

Personally I think personal budgeting is a personal thing.

GnuCash acknowledges major in and out items through account structures, 
for most people a Cash Flow over a year / 6mos / 3mos / some weeks or so 
ahead should work.

===

KMyMoney has borrowed a lot from GnuCash and does pretty a bit better if 
that is what you want.  Is that what you want?

[2] I think David T is unhappy with me and world because there isn't a 
single answer.

-- 
Wm...