A Budget Proposal - Virtual Accounts

[Tommy Trussell]

On Thu, Jan 14, 2016 at 12:29 PM, Andrew Beard <dropandyaline at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I think you're missing the main point of my proposal.  Yes, I can get by
> with GNUcash by exactly mimicking the process and creating subaccounts for
> each and every envelope.  With a cash asset account, this is particular
> easy to do.  But think now of a checking account which I wish to budget out
> of.  I can't actually place the money in envelopes and the bank doesn't
> support 'sub-accounts' or 'sub-account' transfers based on the whims of my
> budget.  As a result, when I try to balance my checkbook and reconcile with
> my bank, the bank balance does not reflect my checking account ledger
> balance.  This is despite the 'include all subaccounts' option on the
> reconcile tool as even then the checking account 'cleared' balance on my
> GNUCash ledger will not match the checking account balance at the bank.
> This is the major drawback in my opinion.  I want 'cleared' to always show
> my actual checking account balance and I don't want to quadruple entry each
> budgeted item.
>
>
I use sub-accounts in checking accounts all the time, (though now that I
think about it I have never created more than one). In some cases I have
created a sub-account to avoid spending below a certain amount, which
triggers minimum balance charges on the account -- the register essentially
shows the amount remaining after the minimum balance is subtracted, but
when I reconcile the account, I have the "include subaccounts" checkbox
turned on, and the reconciliation process works correctly. (Note that I DO
have to reconcile the transactions moving the amount(s) into the
subaccount.)

I have also created a subaccount when I was given cash as a "bond" against
damages. I was holding the money until the project was completed, and
returned the bond amount once the supervisors signed off on the project,
saying there had not been any damages that would apply to the bond.

If this process does not work with multiple subaccounts, then that's a bug.
But my first guess is maybe you didn't reconcile the transactions used to
move the money into the subaccounts. Note those transactions might be dated
whenever seems convenient, such as December 31, 2015 for amounts to be
spent in 2016.

If you want to see the amount  including the subaccount(s), you can see the
total on the Accounts page.



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