[GNC] Fwd: The two modules

[Dale Alspach]

I work with an organization that uses QuikBooks. There seems to be a
built in mechanism in the report generator in that software that
automatically adds a line with name [parent account name] Other which
contains the total of the transactions in the parent account not in any
subaccount of the parent. Thus the report shows the parent total as the
sum of the amounts from the real subaccounts and this extra line.

I am not an accountant but the books are audited annually and no one has
raised any questions about this. Perhaps this is an alternative approach
that would satisfy the accountants and not force other users to formally
add an extra subaccount as a dumping place for miscellaneous
transactions that logically belong to the parent but not to any current
subaccount.

Dale

On 06/28/2018 03:48 PM, D via gnucash-user wrote:
> 
> 
> On June 28, 2018, at 1:12 PM, Geert Janssens <geert.gnucash at kobaltwit.be> wrote:
> 
>> Op donderdag 28 juni 2018 18:47:18 CEST schreef Stephen M. Butler:
> [Snip]
>>> Maybe the financial folks can band together to get the developers to
>>> enforce no-transactions to a parent account.
>> I think we should modify the concepts. "Placeholder" is ambiguous and for the 
>> lack of a better solution is has been abused to make existing accounts read-
>> only.I
> 
> I am under the impression that the placeholder setting is only meant to make an account read-only, so saying that users have "abused" this seems incorrect. We've used the tool we've been given.
> 
>> Perhaps it's time to introduce a "View" type account which is only used to 
>> structure the account tree (and as aggregate account in reports) and next to 
>> that introduce a read-only attribute to normal accounts. Placeholder could 
>> then be phased out in favor of these two. We could even try to automate this 
>> using some heuristics:
>> - if a placeholder account has no transactions, convert it into a view account
>> - if a placeholder account does have transactions, make it read-only instead.
>> Add in an informational message to the user about what was done so the user 
>> can make corrections if needed (like adding view accounts if an account was 
>> being used for both functions).
>> Geert
> 
> You might even call a View account "Closed," or are there other reasons an account might behave this way?
> 
> I'd also add that eliminating these accounts from drop down controls should go along with the changes, but assume that would be implied from the fact that Placeholder accounts don't appear there currently.I
> 
> David
> 
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