Event Budgeting / Expense Tracking, Advice Needed

[Wm]

On 04/12/2016 19:29, SweetPoontang wrote:
> Hi there,  Im not quite sure how to set up my accounts so that i can track my
> event budget.
> 
> Here is a quick overview of my expenses.
> 
> I will have about 30 different locations over the course of about 45 days,
> some days may have 2 or more locations, while we may stay at a single
> location for multiple days.

Accounting systems aren't that time dependant apart from specific stuff
involving tax year ends and other national or local weirdness, you can
enter stuff before or after it actually happens, natural accounting
systems like GnuCash are ambivalent.

> Each location will have up to 25 different expense classes, some long term
> rental expenses will be grouped into a 'run of show' category that is
> independent of location.

You'll have to decide whether it is worth keeping details of lots of
tiny costs or just bunching them together (are 25 0.05 USD purchases
worth recording? maybe 1.25 in the accounts makes more sense)

Needless to say recording big chunks discretely makes sense in most cases.

> I will have purchase orders and check requests and would like to track the
> paid, vs. unpaid status of these.

Investigate business functions pronto.

> I need to budget these items, then track my expenses so I can detect
> overages, etc.

Depending on your budgeting needs (accounting practise doesn't actually
say what a budget entails) you may or may not find GnuCash useful.  If
you just want to allow 500squids for something or other and check later
on if you spent more or less GnuCash can do that.

> I would like to be able to track my expenses by location, and by expense
> class across all locations, etc.

That might be a problem unless you are prepared to manage your accounts
well.  GnuCash doesn't have a built-in multi-analysis or category or
whatever you want to call it, it depends on you building your account
structure to provide you with the info you want.  You can then analyse
it post the event in a spread sheet or by using SQL or any variety of
methods, but *you* have to record *something* against each tx that you
may want to play with later, you can even do it post the event, what I'm
saying is that GnuCash isn't going to say Sushi in Tokyo or Beer in
Berlin by itself.

> I am new to Gnucash and would appreciate any advice on how to set this up.
> 
> Thank you!!

Sounds like an exploration of GnuCash's Business functions may be
required, I can't see anything obvious that isn't covered unless you're
expecting multiple categories, you don't get that for free (or even if
you offer money :) just a bit of work, like shaking your ass[1])

[1] mod: not an insult, see the OP's handle
-- 
Wm