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

[Colin]

Peter,

>From what I can tell you can reconcile in your setup.

>From the main Accounts view, you can right-click a parent account (i.e.
your bank account) and choose Open Sub-Accounts. This opens a ledger
listing all transactions in all accounts under the parent account. This is
a handy feature I've used several times.

GnuCash will allow you to reconcile from this view, effectively reconciling
the parent account. I have never done this personally, but confirmed
GnuCash gives you the option to do it.

Best,
Colin


> Message: 9
> Date: Fri, 14 Aug 2020 10:09:29 +1000
> From: Peter West <lists at pbw.id.au>
> To: Gnucash Users <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
> Subject: Re: [GNC] envelope method, equity sub-accounts, cash vs.
>         hybrid vs. accrual accounting
> Message-ID: <57289831-F21F-4D7E-842C-D6000BFBC052 at pbw.id.au>
> Content-Type: text/plain;       charset=utf-8
>
> I use envelope budgeting, with one actual bank account, represented in
> Gnucash by multiple subaccounts. The account summary shows me the total
> amount in the actual account, which I can check against the balance of that
> account. I have scheduled transactions in Gc that deduct from my usual cash
> account (which is different again) into the subaccounts. At the bank, I
> have scheduled transfers that make those deductions from my cash account to
> my (single) budget account. When I know a bill is due, I schedule a payment
> at the bank from my single budget account, and likewise schedule a
> transaction in Gc.
>
> The difficulties come in ?reconciling? the budget accounts with the bank
> budget account. My accounts are set up so that the parent budget account
> shows the total of the subaccounts, but does not show the transactions. I
> may be able to make it do this, at least while ?reconciling,? but I haven?t
> looked into it that far. So I hav to work from multiple Gc accounts against
> the single bank statement, which is a pain. However, as these are regular
> payments, that?s not so bad.
>
> Incidentally, I use the scare quotes because I do not use Gc?s
> reconciliation mechanism. I started to look at it once, and it seemed
> incompatible with the way I was doing things. Now I reconcile manually
> against the statements by setting the cleared marker on the individual Gc
> transactions and then working out which ones I have forgotten to enter. I
> try to do entry regularly ? ideally every evening ? from the receipts I
> have collected during the day, including online receipts.
>
> Obviously, only budgeted payments come out of the budget account. If I
> have to raid the budget, I?m living beyond my means. Confer with Mr
> Micawber. The whole point about having such a budget is that you don?t raid
> it. If you do, you?re stuffed, financially speaking.
>
> With those caveats, envelope budgeting works for me.
>