[GNC] Accounting Modules

[David Cousens]

Robert, Geert,

On Tue, 2018-11-27 at 07:46 -0500, Robert Heller wrote:
> At Tue, 27 Nov 2018 10:13:37 +0100 Geert Janssens <geert.gnucash at kobaltwit.be> wrote:
> 
> > 
> > Op dinsdag 27 november 2018 00:17:06 CET schreef John Ralls:
> > > > On Nov 27, 2018, at 6:35 AM, Stephen M. Butler <kg7je at arrl.net> wrote:
> > > 
> > > The other big issue is that your description of the various modules in a
> > > business accounting system is for *big* business. That’s not what GnuCash
> > > is designed for and not what the current development team is interested in,
> > > never mind (as you point out) capable of supporting. There are a several
> > > open-source projects in that space, search the web for “foss erp” to find
> > > them. GnuCash is focussed on very small businesses (as in sole
> > > proprietorships) and individuals.
> > 
> > I mostly agree, yet I think many small businesses would benefit from a simple 
> > inventory management system. My own business would have for that matter.
> > 
> > And while inventory is not strictly accounting it would make gnucash a viable 
> > option to quite a few extra small businesses. So I'm in two minds with respect 
> > to inventory support and have been for quite a while. In the past I envisioned 
> > implementing it myself (reusing certain parts of the existing code and adding 
> > the missing bits) but for various reasons shifted to other priorities. If 
> > someone would step in to write it, I would still support the effort though.
> 
> "Inventory Management" is so close to managing stocks, that it should be 
> possible to implement with bit of recycling/repurposing the existing code for 
> stocks...  One can *almost* fake it now by considering physical inventory as 
> if it were a stock and using a "stock" type account.

I too have looked at the use of lots in the stock management as a possible basi
s of a basic inventory system. A full cost management system as used in a 
manufacturing business would likely be out of scope for GnuCash but a system for 
managing inventory that is bought and sold would look very similar. The main addition
would probably be a product table possibly using KVPs for product attributes.

> 
> > 
> > Payroll on the other hand is not my cup of tea and likely more targeted at 
> > larger businesses.
> 
> Yes, a full fledged Payroll module would likely to be major bit of coding, but
> maybe a simplified small scale Payroll module *might* be of use to smaller
> businesses (say < 5 employees).

With a payroll system, the number of employess is not really a factor in the coding effort 
as you have to have the same basic facilities in place to deal with a single employee. I don't
think that there is such a thing as a simple payroll system in most juridictions.

The most difficult part is setting up a system for deductions of income tax, superannuation etc.
dealing with the different conditions for casual, part -time and full time staff is a hassle. 
You also have to track employee benefits like annual leave, sick leave, parental leave, etc,
where these often accumulate on the basis of total hours worked. 

WHen I used MYOB for calculating my staff salaries I entered the appropriate hourly rates for
each individual and whether casual/part-time/fulltime. Most of my staff were casual or part time.
Our tax office provided online calculators based on the total weekly wage for 
tax eduction. There were also additions to the tax based on an income threshold for basic medicare 
coverage which had an additional levy which cut in for higher income earners or those who did not 
have private hospital insurance.

Also, sometimes union fees, health insurance and compulsory superannuation which was a fixed percentage 
of the gross wage also had to be deducted and paid to specifc payees. A lot of these calculations were based on a table 
of thresholds and % rates which applied between each threshold. On top of that employees could specify 
deductions for compulsory workplace insurance and private life, income insurance etc payable to a specified accounts. To
calculate  the payroll, you entered the hours worked and the rest was calculated. 

A payroll system also has to deal with overtime rates and in our case penalty rates which applied for work on Saturdays,
Sundays and public holidays. A further complication is that these penalty rates were part of industrial awards for
specific occupations and sometimes varied between specific occupations so all this was all employee specific and had to
be tied to each employee's record. They also had Time off in lieu provisions This will not be not to implement in a way
that can deal with differences in the rules and types of calculations used in different jurisdictions. Some payments
were to our federal government and others wer to state governments depending on which administered a particular aspect.

Some calculations depended totally on gross income but some were based on taxable income. The latter is difficult if the
employee has more than one employer. Often one was specified as the main employer and all other employers were required
to extract income tax at the maximum marginal rate.

I am sure most other jurisdictions have similar but differnet complications to deal with

Underpaying the tax office their share where it was collectable by the employer is of course a punishable civil offence
should you be caught doing it in an audit.

David Cousens

> 
> > 
> > More generally, we can certainly use more hands to carry gnucash forward. So 
> > Stephen your offer to lend us a hand is highly appreciated :)
> 
> +1
> 
> > 
> > Regards,
> > 
> > Geert
> > 
> > 
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