[GNC] New year procedure

[Stan Brown]

On 10/8/20 6:49 AM, colin riley wrote:

> Each year I export my account structure and create a new empty
> database
 with it, at which point I insert starting balances.

>

> I am using Gnucash extensively for for budgeting, and would like to

> know if it is possible to transfer the budget amounts from the old
> year to the
 new year.

On 2020-10-08 10:06, Adrien Monteleone wrote:
> It does not appear to be possible.
> 
> At best for now, I would recommend running a Budget Report, exporting,
> then you'll have it for reference for the new file. You will still have
> to type in each amount however. (You can copy/paste, but only one cell
> at a time. Though it looks like a spreadsheet, it doesn't work like one.)

But I'm curious why the OP starts a new file each year. The only
advantage I can see is that it makes it more difficult to enter a
transaction in a prior year without realizing it. If you want to know
income and expenses for a particular year, you can easily set the date
limits in Report Options. If you want to start expense and income
accounts from zero each year, you can use Tools » Close Book or make the
closing entries manually.

And having multiple years in one book greatly simplifies searching, if
you don't remember what year a transaction took place or you're
expecting search results for multiple years. It also ensures that all
years have exactly the account structure; otherwise it's easy to add an
account that won't be in the other years.

If you care to share, Colin, what benefit do you get from starting with
a fresh file each year?

-- 
Regards,
Stan Brown
Tehachapi, CA, USA
https://BrownMath.com
https://OakRoadSystems.com