Farmer Question

[David Carlson]

Jim,

I am "sorry" to report that in my humble opinion GnuCash is an ideal
program for your needs.  The downside is that it does require some TLC to
set up your books and it will probably consume more of your free time than
you would like.

That said, it works nicely with many bank accounts simultaneously, many
credit cards or other sources of credit, and it can be as detailed as you
care to make it.

If your business use does not require heavy tax documentation in your
accounting system you can probably include that too, unless your accountant
recommends otherwise.

As far as naming accounts is concerned, settle on a scheme that you like
and be consistent.  I personally like to use a 'Top level first' strategy
so for example I name my credit card accounts Liability:Credit Card:Bank_A
VISA DLC zzzz where zzzz is the last four digits of the credit card account
number.  My wife's accounts get different initials in the name and the dogs
gets RC and GC.

Have fun!

David C

On Tue, Jan 9, 2018 at 5:14 PM, James Meade <jnmeade at southslope.net> wrote:

> I've used Quicken for years and am considering switching to gnucash mainly
> because Quicken is going to a subscription pay model and I don't want to be
> held hostage by it or by an operating system (I always have in the back of
> my mind to swithc from Windows to Linux).  I know little of accounting.  In
> reading the manuals, I have a number of questions about setting up the
> gnucash system.
>
> 1.  I have several checking accounts and use them all for both personal
> and business use.  It seems unfeasible to set up two sets of books.
> Can/how do I separate personal from business in one set of books?
>
> 2.  I have several credit cards, use them the same way as checking.  How
> do I set up several credit card sub accounts, e.g., notional names AB Visa,
> CD Mastercard, EF Visa, etc., and separate purchases for business and
> personal?
>
> 3.  I do all my data entry manually and am not going to change.
>
> 4.  I have several income streams, including farming, flight instruction,
> writing, custom farming (e.g., mowing or plowing for someone else),
> military retirement, social security benefits.  Some are business and some
> are personal.  Any thing to consider when I set them up?
>
> As I see it, my main uncertainties are about mixing personal and business
> and about having a number of different accounts of the same type that are
> used for both personal and business (i.e., checking and credit cards).
>
> It occurs to me that if  I have to ask these questions the prospect of
> using double-entry bookkeeping may be more than I should attempt.  If you
> think that is the case feel free to say so.  I'm trying to figure out if I
> want to go this way.  I tried QuickBooks about 8-10 years ago and gave it
> up after a couple of months.  I have the time and energy to put in, just
> not sure if I'm smart enough.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jim
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