[GNC] How to record 'balancing' trnsactions?

[Chris Green]

On Wed, Jul 12, 2023 at 04:56:23PM -0400, Michael or Penny Novack wrote:
> On 7/12/2023 8:12 AM, Chris Green wrote:
> > This is as much an accounting question as a GnuCash one but how one
> > does this depends on the sofware's capabilities so it makes sense
> > to ask here.
> >
> > Our church has two main accounts (as in places where money is kept), a
> > current account at a bank, and a 'building fund' kept in a building
> > society savings account.
> >
> > I run two separate instances of GnuCash, one for the current account
> > and one for the building fund.  Both of these are run on a 'cash
> > accounting' basis so the balances in GnuCash exactly match the
> > statements from the bank and building society.
> 
> Let's assume that there is a good reason to have separate books << I can 
> think of a number* -- keep in mind that I was treasurer of several 
> organizations >> In other words, there might be no good reason for this 
> church but might for another.
> 
> a) Yes, there can be errors going between the books. So you want to 
> minimize the number of between the books transactions. See if there 
> could be a transfer only of "net" every so often
> 
> b) You will need to use some thought for the accounts you will want to 
> contain parts of transactions that pertain to the other entity.
> 
> 
> Michael D Novack
> 
> 
> 
> * For example, a quasi independent org/fund is legally under a parent 
> 501(3)3. The treasurer of the org/fund has to report certain things to 
> the treasurer of the 501(c)3 and there may actually also be money 
> transferred between them (they may be collecting money on each other's 
> behalf and making payments on each other's behalf. But do you not see 
> that no matter how many such transactions in a month need only one money 
> transfer between them and one report per month (assuming getting things 
> right between these entities once a month)
> 
Thank you, you have described the issue exactly! :-)

It's your b) that prompted me to ask the question, do you (or anyone)
have any good insights into how to handle this?  Whether or not this
is done with only one GnuCash instance or with two the difficulty is
still there as I see it.

-- 
Chris Green