[GNC] Ideas and recommendations for community project

[Michael or Penny Novack]

On 7/31/2023 1:36 AM, Jim DeLaHunt wrote:
> Hello, Sebastian:
>
> Welcome to GnuCash! I hope it works well for you.
>
> On 2023-07-30 22:28, gibelium at gmx.net wrote:
>> I have recently started using gnuCash and am trying to figure out if I
>> can use gnuCash in a meaningful way to map the cash flows in a community
>> project. I think I understand the basic concepts through the tutorial
>> and with a test project, but am still looking for ideas and
>> recommendations for some specific circumstances. …[details elided]…
>
> How about this as a first thought: do you understand the accounting 
> aspect of your questions, separate from how to use GnuCash to perform 
> the accounting?  Do you have an idea of which of these things you want 
> to track are assets, liabilities, income, or expenses?  Do you have an 
> idea of how you would track these if doing bookkeeping on paper sheets 
> with lots of columns?
>
> If you do not, then you will probably be greatly helped by learning 
> some basic accounting. For instance, you could read this textbook, 
> /Principles of Accounting/, Vol 1 
> <https://openstax.org/details/books/principles-financial-accounting>, 
> which is free to read online. Once you understand the accounting 
> aspect of these things you want to track, it will be easier to 
> understand how to use GnuCash.
>
> Best regards,
>     —Jim DeLaHunt 

ABSOLUTELY --- your first problem is not "how do I do this using 
gnucash?" but "how would I do this were it in the old days, pen and ink 
on paper?" In other words, what accounts do I need, etc. I most strongly 
suggest that you get some texts on accounting, looking for those that 
cover the sort of entity you are trying to keep the books for as it is 
NOT the most common sort of entity. You might find guidance by looking 
up what sort of entity you would be by the tax codes << I am going to 
guess one of the "pass through" types, but there are more than one of 
these sorts >>

Michael D Novack