[GNC] Is it reasonable to have sub-accounts under Equity:Fixed Assets?

[Michael or Penny Novack]

>
> Maybe I misunderstood, I thought you wanted to track the items' values 
> & depreciation separately. By all means, otherwise lump them in one 
> account. (you can of course make separate transactions for each item, 
> which would allow you to run Transaction Reports filtered on each item 
> if needed)

Personally, I would make the decision to group by year (all acquired in 
the same year) but if large items likely to be disposed of separately, 
might want to have an own account. Mind for one of my organizations 
would be things like tractors, zero turn mowers, trailers, equipment 
sheds, etc.

>
>> What would you do for transactions that have already been written off? I
>> was tempted to add those, as the company has been going for 8 years, so
>> whether I add 8 years of assets or 5 does not make much difference - am
>> extra 55 items.

You could put in just "fixed assets 20xx" and not bother to break down 
to separate zero net. But ....... did you not have depreciation in those 
years you might have to justify in an audit? They are allowed to go back 
what, seven? Mind my practical experience with small non-profits with 
almost zero chance of being audited. Fill out, but did not submit the 
990-EZ as below the filing threshold (just the 990-N "we still exist")



> Would it be sensible to create a vendor in GnuCash called
>> "Written off" and let all things that are written off be purchased from
>> "Written Off"? I don't really want to enter a new vendor for everything
>> purchased years ago, and already written off. That would mean filling in
>> the names and addresses of 55 more vendors, which would be a bit too
>> time-consuming for my liking.
>
>
> These were purchased long ago and you're just carrying forward their 
> remaining value. This should be no different than any other Opening 
> Balance transactions.
Sorry, not understanding this part of it at all, Vendor data? 
Assumptions here about how acquired are a separate issue.
>
> Just do something similar to the example transactions in Chris' reply.
>
> As he noted, if you want to record the original price, do that as an 
> Opening Balance, then with the same date, make another transaction 
> reflecting the currently accumulated depreciation. The end result 
> would be the present value as of the date you opened the GnuCash book.

You do not have do by wizard. I'd put the back ones up by transaction, 
especially where net zero. But even if not, for each fixed asset that 
has its own account, debit basis sub account, credit depreciation taken 
sub account, and any difference (net value) to equity. The point here as 
adding these where no remaining net value does not affect equity.


Michael D Novack