I'm NOT an accountant BUT I would like to see ..

[John Whitling]

Hi

I'm just coming from using an old accounting system (Peachtree) for the 
last decade for accounting with my small business (no employees, few 
material purchases, and usually payment at time of the sale) . I ran 
into GnuCash, largely because I did not want the subscription based 
online model of accounting packages these days.

In making the transition I'm finding it somewhat difficult to think like 
an accountant at times. I did manage to set everything up though, and 
even print my checks. My old package did indeed make the steps easier 
for recording sales and making payments, which is largely what I use my 
accounting for, along with record keeping of course.

I am gonna stay with GnuCash though. It might help me to think like an 
accountant more. Now to questions ..

1. If I make an invoice I can save or print the invoice but that doesn't 
post the invoice. The post command is hidden most of the time. Then 
there is the issue of payment against the invoice. In my old system I 
could put said payment right into the invoice at the time of invoice 
creation. Much of my sales are like that .. paid at time of invoice. Am 
I missing a way to do the entire invoice/payment thing in one step 
instead of so many individual steps?

2. Writing checks is pretty much the same way, though I admit I might 
not be doing things quite correctly for that. When I am presented with 
selecting a register for the payment to be associated with I don't know 
what to do exactly and so far I am linking to my bank account that the 
payment comes from. I get the idea that this might not be correct but my 
accounts all look to be in line.

GnuCash is a very deep program and thanks for the many years of effort 
that went into creating it. Has there ever been an effort to change the 
UI to be more like flow processes like my old package was based around? 
It was also a double entry accounting program but you could get a lot 
done without knowing exactly what you were doing .. perhaps not the best 
for true accountants but it was easy to get the basics done.

BTW, I would happy to pay someone knowledgeable in accounting AND 
GnuCash for some shared screen time to ensure that what I've done is 
good and proper. I imagine it would take an hour or two. Email me 
privately if so and let me know something of how you are qualified. I'm 
in the US BTW.
-- 
John Whitling *Alliance Millsoft LLC* 800-721-2189