[GNC] Commission sales

[Adrien Monteleone]

I forgot to mention, you can skip that last bill from the neighbor if 
you prefer and just enter a manual transaction paying them like so:

Cr. Bank/Cash/etc.
Dr. Sales-Payable

Regards,
Adrien

On 1/14/21 9:48 AM, Adrien Monteleone wrote:
> The usual "I am not an accountant and this is not accounting advice" 
> applies here. The following is simply how *I* would approach this:
> 
> 
> Some questions would need to be answered first.
> 
> Are you taking possession of the goods from your neighbor, or is this 
> just a consignment type operation? (meaning, do you have any financial 
> or legal interest in the goods, can you walk away with them, or can they 
> take them back with no issue?) I understand this might be quite an 
> informal arrangement, but unless you are buying the goods from the 
> neighbor, I wouldn't think there is an occasion for entering a bill for 
> them.
> 
> I would think a holding/suspense liability account for the funds 
> collected on behalf of the neighbor would work, named something like 
> 'Sales-Payable'. (similar concept to sales tax collection) The full 
> amount collected from the end customer drops here first from their 
> invoice. (posted against AR, which itself is reduced as the end customer 
> pays you.)
> 
> Result: Dr. AR, Cr. Liabilities:Sales-Payable
> 
> Note, if transactions take place on the spot, and they don't need some 
> other 'invoice' than their credit card receipt, you can do this with 
> manual transactions and avoid the Business Features and AR. The Autofill 
> & Duplicate Transaction function can help cut down on data entry.
> 
> Do a manual transaction periodically or each time, reducing the holding 
> account balanced against an income account. (Dr. Sales-Payable, Cr. 
> Income:Commission)
> 
> If you didn't issue invoices in the first place, but used manual 
> transactions, you can use a single transaction for this at each sale, 
> but you'll have to employ some math. (GnuCash can do math in the amount 
> fields)
> 
> Dr. Bank/Cash/etc. (however you immediately received funds)
> Cr. Income:Commission (entered as the sale amount * commission %)
> Cr. Sales-Payable (amount collected, minus the commission split, if you 
> enter splits in this order, this amount will already be filled in.)
> 
> Then periodically or as needed, issue a bill 'from' the neighbor (as a 
> vendor) for the amount you collected for them minus the commission, 
> which should be the balance of the Sales-Payable account. (Dr. 
> Sales-Payable, Cr. AP)
> 
> Then pay them the balance of funds. (Dr. AP, Cr. Bank/Cash, etc.)