What's the best way to model "in-flight" transactions?

[David Carlson]

I think the answer is "What works best for you."

When most of our bank account transactions were checks (cheques in many
countries) we entered each check by date and number in the checkbook
register.  When the bank statement came we compared it to our register,
checking off each one that appeared on the statement.  Then we made a list
of the checks (and deposits) that did not match the bank statement, added
them up and compared sum of those and the statement balance to our
checkbook register balance.  Since we did it all by hand, there were months
when we would tear our hair out trying to find out why they did not agree.

I personally use a pair of special accounts that I call Checking A-R and
Checking A-P to hold items that are in float, but I only use them when I
want to account for float, say, over the transition from month to month, or
when there is an unusual issue with a missing check or whatever as each
transaction gets entered twice.

I only consider doing this for bank accounts, credit card accounts, and
sometimes for medical bills if I am trying to track what I owe there.

David C

On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 7:39 AM, replicon <replicon at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hey all,
>
> I've been using/loving GNUCash for almost a year now, and one thing I'm
> sure
> I'm doing wrong is how I'm showing credit card payments.
>
> For paying credit card bills, I just use my bank's bill pay. The bank is
> different from the credit card provider, so there's some "in-flight" time
> for that money. The day the withdrawal shows up on my checking account is
> not the same as the day the payment shows up when I login to my credit card
> provider and check transactions there.
>
> Right now, in GNUCash, I just do a transaction from checking account to
> credit card, and by convention, always adjust the time to reflect checking
> account, but I wonder if there's a more correct way to do it.
>
> The best I can think of is to have a separate account for "in-flight"
> transactions between establishments, and turn the credit card payment into
> two transactions that go through this account. Is that the best way to do
> it? If so, what account type would that be? Would it be an asset, because
> in
> a way, it's like I'm loaning money to some imaginary entity for a while,
> which it will repay to my other account a day or two later? :)
>
> Thanks!
>
>
>
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