[GNC] AR problems

[Adrien Monteleone]

Bruce,

I can appreciate frustrations, but toning down the exasperation and seeking help for specific issues will likely yield the results you’re looking for.

Also note, GnuCash is ‘free’ as in ‘free beer’, it isn’t a product you paid for. (and even those don’t guarantee any fit or usefulness for any particular purpose if you read their licenses)

GnuCash is also ‘free’ as in ‘freedom’ in that anyone can work on the project. You don’t have to be an employee of some closed development company to make it better or work the way you would like.

While many would interpret that last part to meaning, “You can code it” it also means you can contribute via this mailing list, through bug reports, and through testing changes and reporting their efficacy.

Just by asking a question on this list, many have contributed to all of us better understanding how the software works, and where it doesn’t, how maybe it can be made better.

Let’s take your issues one at a time. For clarity, I’m currently using v3.8 on MacOS 10.15 with the sqlite backend, and I use the business features daily. I’ve also used the XML backend in the past (on Linux) and I’ve been using GnuCash since the days of 2.6.early or so. (I don’t recall the exact version, but it was less than 2.6.teens) I’ve used it on Linux and now Mac, starting with Snow Leopard. I’ve never attempted any use of it on Windows.

Note, while there are some exceptions concerning data storage, the use of different backends should not affect functionality such as how reports work, what they display, or what they are intended to calculate and convey. My below suggestions apply to all 3 options— the default XML, sqlite, and MySQL, and should apply to all operating system platorms GnuCash can run on. (that is, there aren’t hobbled or more functional versions depending on your OS. All are supposed to work the same, but that doesn’t mean an OS specific bug might not result in something not quite right.)

For the first part:

> On Jan 14, 2020 w3d14, at 1:28 PM, Bruce Irving via gnucash-user <gnucash-user at gnucash.org> wrote:
> 
> Win10, GC 3.8, SQLLiteI am very disappointed - to the extent that I'm angry!  I have tried all the reports in Business and Experimental and I could find none that give me a summary of my customers WITH a balance!  Neither Customer Overview nor Customer Summary include the Balance and the Customer Report won't show which invoices are paid!

The Receivables Aging Report shows all customers with a balance, as well as the aging breakdowns of those balances. By default, only customers with a balance are shown, but you can opt to show all customers if you like. Note, there are problems with the standard version of this report. The beta version in the experimental menu is better and will eventually be the standard. This is probably the report you are looking for.

The Customer Overview *does* show a balance, though maybe not by default. There is a down arrow with a drop-down menu to the far right of the header. From there you can select visible columns, where you will find ‘balance’ as an option.

The Customer Summary is not designed to show balances owed, but rather profitability. However, it appears it doesn’t presently work properly. (and some columns I can’t seem to figure out how to influence, that is, how does the report calculate markup or expenses if those associated figures have no place to be entered in the app?)

Seeing which invoices are paid is a little different, and arguably the UI could be better here.

First, the new beta Customer Report has the option to show you the linked ‘documents’, that is, which payments apply to which invoices and do so in a simple or detailed fashion. Think of this report as a ’statement of account’ where you can show more or less detail as desired.

Second, the traditional and current official method for seeing which invoices are paid/unpaid is to run a Find for all invoices (or by customer). There you will see a Paid? checkbox column. You can’t mark them paid here, but you can see if they are paid or not. You can also filter your search by if they are paid or not, thus only giving you unpaid invoices, if you prefer. Sadly, this result is not exportable nor can you copy/paste it somewhere else for processing or tracking outside of GnuCash. (I’m pretty sure there is a bug filed on this)

Third, the Business > Customer > Invoices Due Reminder dialog will list all invoices that have not been paid in full, along with their remaining balances. I normally run GnuCash less than full width on a 1080p monitor and I have enough room on the side for this reminder list to always be visible. (as well as the AP equivalent, and my scheduled transaction up-next list)

There are lots of ways to see the info you want, right out of the box. There are others that might involve some creative searches and reporting based on the AP or other Registers as well, but the above methods are much easier to work with.


> Also, I attempted to enter a Credit Memo and it would NOT allow me to designate Cash on Hand.  The message said something to the effect that the account must be in the same currency.  ALL of my accounts are USD!I finally exported the AR Register and massaged it in a spreadsheet - a rather cumbersome effort to get it massaged.

I’m not exactly sure what went wrong here. I’d have to do a test. But make sure the customer you are issuing the credit note for is set for USD. (should be by default) I believe the warning is about the customer’s assigned currency has to match the account.

Though I would ask, why do you want to issue a credit note linked to ‘cash on hand’?

Usually a credit note line item will be posted against an income/revenue account which will act as a reversing transaction. (a debit to income, rather than the normal credit) The credit note itself will post a credit to AR, which would reduce the customer’s AR balance.

Maybe a walk-through of the particular reason for issuing this note might help someone here offer clearer advice and steps to accomplish what you want.

Regards,
Adrien