[GNC] envelope method, equity sub-accounts, cash vs. hybrid vs. accrual accounting

[Adrien Monteleone]

Double-entry means credits equal debits. That situation still holds here.

It does introduce some 'noise' into the source register, but that 
doesn't 'break' double-entry. The easy fix for purposes of 
reconciliation is to simply mark those budgeting transactions cleared 
immediately. (since there is nothing to check them against anyway) They 
are of no concern when reconciling.

If you 'move' the funds back to the source account when doing the 
expense transaction/liability payment (to reflect the real-world) then 
your source register will contain all transactions to match your 
statement. Else, you can 'include sub-accounts' when reconciling 
depending on how you set things up.

(GnuCash forces double-entry. You can't break it. If you only enter one 
side of a transaction, the other is set to Orphan or Imbalance)

Of course, if your dealing with physical cash, none of that is a concern.

Regards,
Adrien

On 8/13/20 2:26 PM, Don Ireland wrote:
> "I don't see how the envelope method of budgeting is somehow not compatible with double-entry. One split will be the expenditure, the other will be the appropriate envelope. Filling the envelopes involves splits between cash-on-hand and the various envelopes. Double entry is certainly not difficult or incompatible with the method."
> 
> When you "move money" to deposit into those envelopes, it will mess up the transaction list on the checking/savings account that will continue to "hold" those funds until you actually spend the money.  So it breaks in that sense.