[GNC] Starting a new file

[Seth Burgess]

Thanks Gyle and Tommy,

I can see that both your solutions will work.  I think I will go with 
the double entry option suggested by Tommy.  It is just a little more 
transparent.  Thanks loads for the help.

On 2/6/2022 10:36 AM, Tommy Trussell wrote:
> Another option is to let the start of each account correspond to the 
> NEAREST statement BEFORE the beginning of the year. For example, you 
> might have one statement that ends December 31st, but another that 
> ends December 15th and yet another that ends December 12th.
>
> Start each account at the beginning of the next relevant statement. 
> The first account is easy because you'll start January first, the next 
> has all transactions starting December 16th, and the final example has 
> all transactions starting on December 13th.  The latter two accounts 
> will have transactions duplicated in the old and the new data files.
>
> You're the only one who will be seeing any of these so save yourself 
> some mental energy! As long as you have the opening balances correct, 
> GnuCash will do the right things regarding reports.
>
> (The same is true for your old data file, which you are presumably 
> archiving; to enable you to validate all the final statements and run 
> reports you can put a few transactions into the next year and be 
> certain the statements reconcile. It's a small amount of double work, 
> but depending on your circumstances might avoid potential errors.)
>
> Just be sure you name your files clearly so you don't accidentally 
> keep entering data into your archived file. You might also consider 
> changing permissions on the old data file or moving it to a read-only 
> medium so you won't accidentally change old transactions.
>
> On Fri, Feb 4, 2022 at 2:47 PM Gyle McCollam <gmccollam at live.com> wrote:
>
>     You will have to create your own ending balance for 2021.  Review
>     the statement and find the balance on the statement at
>     12/31/2021or add/subtract the entries up to and including
>     12/31/2021 to arrive at the balance.  That number will become your
>     starting balance for 2022 as well.  You can use the ending balance
>     on the statement when you reconcile 2022.
>
>     ________________________________
>     From: gnucash-user
>     <gnucash-user-bounces+gylemc=gmail.com at gnucash.org> on behalf of
>     Seth Burgess <sethbburgess at gmail.com>
>     Sent: Friday, February 4, 2022 3:26 PM
>     To: gnucash-user at gnucash.org <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
>     Subject: [GNC] Starting a new file
>
>     I have been using GnuCash for about 10 years.  I am currently using
>     Build ID: 4.6+(2021-06-26).  I have decided to start fresh with a new
>     file and discontinue an old one with the same bank accounts
>     starting on
>     January 1, 2022.  I have one bank account that does not end the
>     month on
>     December 31st and one that does. For the account that does not end the
>     month on December 31st, I have divided the statement that starts
>     December 21st and ends January 20th so that the transactions are split
>     between the old account file and the new one.  The transactions are
>     correctly entered in each file, but the reconciliation of the
>     statement
>     does not balance using the statement ending balace, because some
>     of the
>     transactions are in the old file and some in the new file. This means
>     the reconciliations in each file cannot be finalized.  This will
>     cause a
>     problem going forward, particularly with the new file.  I don't
>     know how
>     to handle this.
>
>     thanks in advance for ideas.
>
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