Is this suitable software

[Tommy Trussell]

On Thu, Jan 14, 2016 at 2:13 PM, 425 Treasurer <425treasurer at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I am an adult leader of a Boy Scout Troop.  I am looking for simple book
> keeping software that will do the following:
>
> Subaccounts - I have 40 boys.  Each with their own money they have earned.
> All of their money is kept in one bank savings account, a "Scout Account".
> I want to be able to track each boys money inside the software, while all
> being reconcilable under one bank account number.  This is done separately
> in an Excel spreadsheet now.  As they earn money I need to be able to
> deposit it into the savings account under their individually
> named subaccount.  As the need it, I need to be able to transfer it to
> checking to cover the expense of a camp trip, for example.
>
> Job budgeting/Job costing - When we go camping I have a event "job" budget
> to follow.  I need to be able to set a budget amount, apply expenses to
> that "job", and apply transfers (deposits) from the boys individual
> subaccounts to off set the expenses.  Then be able to report if the campout
> came in at budget.
>
>
As Mark said in his response, you can easily create subaccounts to track
the boys' individual contributions. HOWEVER, GnuCash provides no automated
facility to allocate transactions across 40 subaccounts. Some of the
GnuCash's features (autocompletion, for example) can make the task simpler
upon repetition, but I'm not sure that alone would be an improvement over a
carefully created spreadsheet.

Agreeing with Mark Phillips' response, I have not done any job costing in
GnuCash and I imagine it might handle it, depending upon your specific
requirements.



> Other than that, I just want to be able automatically download statements
> from the banks to reconcile the two savings accounts and one checking
> account with the bank.  Have I found the perfect software in GnuCash?
>

This one is also a mixed bag. Your bank may allow you to download the bank
TRANSACTIONS, which might then be imported into GnuCash. I am guessing this
part might not help you much, assuming there aren't a huge number of bank
transactions per month. Downloading the statements is not something GnuCash
can handle, but once you have downloaded the monthly statements, the
reconciliation process is well-defined and straightforward in GnuCash.

So, I would suggest you might give GnuCash a try in parallel with your
existing spreadsheets. I think you will find the process of reconciling
bank statements each month to be a pleasure in GnuCash, but the other tasks
you are hoping to automate will take quite a bit more effort to implement.



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