Is there a difference between creating a new customer and new account?

[L. D. James]

On 07/19/2015 05:42 PM, Wm... wrote:
> Sun, 19 Jul 2015 16:43:45 <55AC0C01.60901 at apollo3.com>
> L. D. James <ljames at apollo3.com> wrote...
>
>> You're right about the intricate legal parts about keeping accounts, 
>> money and things of that source separate and totally accounted for. 
>> The lawyers understand that and have always been doing it.
>
> You are wrong!  The lawyers depend on their support staff and often 
> don't look at their accounts except for once a year.

How are you doing, Wm.  Actually I'm not wrong.  I'm making a reference 
to my lawyer clients.  I'm saying they understand.  I know they 
understand because I spoke to them when I was setting up this secondary 
tool for their secretaries to use.

>> But yea, they understand about the legal requirements of keeping 
>> things separate.  And it's not the Lawyers I'm introducing the system 
>> to. It's their secretaries and receptionist.
>
> And this is where I feel I must speak out against what you *appear* to 
> be doing.
>
>> But again, regardless of who will be using the accounting, creating a 
>> new customer, creating a new account, creating a new invoice will 
>> still have the steps provided in Gnucash.
>
> Wrong!  They will have an entirely different meaning in context and 
> gnc has an extremely limited notion of Customer that simply doesn't 
> translate into the legal world.

I wasn't trying to transfer something into a legal world.  I was looking 
for normal nomenclature for what is meant by using Gnucash to create a 
customer.  It's Gnucash I was interested in.  I wanted to know 
(nomenclature-wise) if using "Gnucash's" feature to create a new 
customer could be described as I'm creating a new account named John Doe.

When showing my client to use Gnucash, I used the words, create a new 
customer.  The client used "Gnucash's" procedure to create a new 
customer to enter a name, "John Doe" in the system.  Then she said, I 
created a new account.  My question was, can that word "account" be used 
in that sense.  I don't know if anyone fully understands what my 
question was.  But I tried to clarify it to the people giving input.

I understand that different people and business types will use 
Accounting in different ways.  But in this particular case, that wasn't 
the scope of my question.  My question was solely about nomenclature 
when actually performing the procedure that is provided in Gnucash.
>
>> I gave the secretary the steps for creating a new customer.  When she 
>> did it and acknowledged it was done, she told me she created the new 
>> account and gave me the customer's information.
>
> Who you think the "Customer" is has nothing to do with the legal 
> relationship!

You are so right.  It also has nothing to do with the scope of this 
particular question/thread.  I appreciate you taking the time to give 
input.  But I'm trying to clarify what I was hoping to have help with... 
which in this case, nomenclature.
>
>> I was just trying to be accurate in saying, the step she did wasn't 
>> the creation of a new account, even though now the customer has an 
>> account in the system.  She created a new customer.  I was trying to 
>> get verification from that group of the nomenclature for that 
>> particular step.  Was I wrong to not refer to the customer entry in 
>> the accounting system as a customer, and not an account.
>>
>> I'll use the same nomenclature for my clients who rent appointments 
>> if I introduce them to Gnucash.
>>
>> By the way, I recently became active in my block club.  I don't know 
>> what accounting system they are using.  But I might introduce them to 
>> Gnucash also.
>
> You are, in my opinion, a salesman before anything else and I think 
> gnc should disassociate itself from you if possible.
>
> Liz: this is getting *very* strange, if you refuse this we must talk
>
I don't understand the latter.  I hope the community will continue to 
accept me and share experiences two ways.

I don't know where the word salesman come in.  I do try to be many 
things, but salesman is one of the last things in my list that I have 
ever aspired to be.  I look at myself as a consultant.

-- L. James

-- 
L. D. James
ljames at apollo3.com
www.apollo3.com/~ljames