[GNC] Fiscal Year: Preferences vs Properties

[Michael or Penny Novack]

> Am I correct that every time I open a set of books with a different fiscal
> year, I have to go into Preferences to change the accounting period? If I
> don't do this, all the reports use the wrong start and end dates.

But THIS "problem" is separate from "accounting period".

Reports that require "effective date" or "effective date range" mean 
that is one of the things you always need to set via edit => options  
How else would the computer program know what your intent was? They are 
terrible at reading the minds of humans.

Understand? When you relate this to "accounting period" you are already 
expecting the computer to have done some "mind reading" << he/she/they 
wants it for "current", he/she/they wants it relative to real time, etc. >>

Normally, I am NEVER running reports "in real time" but usually for some 
time at least slightly in the past. For example, New Year's Eve I am not 
normally sitting at the terminal producing YE reports << OK, for many 
years I did babysit a LARGE corporate system doing "year end",  but that 
took several days to complete >>

With the non-profits I was keeping books for using gnucash, in most 
cases it'd be about two weeks after that I would be running "year end" 
reports << so the default year would ALWAYS be "wrong": I don't want the 
"current" system year but the "past" one. >>. Two weeks because I would 
first want to make sure the bank accounts were reconciled (remember 
"paper" bank statements). I might even have some transactions to enter 
first (with a date in the previous year), say had not yet done the YE 
"journal transactions".

Michael D Novack