[GNC] Accounting for Income and Expenses from Multiple Business Locations

[Michael or Penny Novack]

On 12/7/2024 8:48 PM, Stephen M. Butler wrote:
> Are there intra-city transactions?  If not, the simple solution is to 
> have one set of books per store.  However, that does make it hard to 
> roll up to a grand total for the entire business.

Well, there are pros and cons. You'd want to take into account how often 
you would be wanting to do what. Bear in mind that standard accounting 
does not have "tags", but if you have your CoA set up properly you can 
selectively include/exclude accounts from reports. Your considerations 
should be.

a) Might you EVER sell off one of these "sites" separately from the 
whole. That is a STRONG plus for separate sets of books as can show the 
financials of THIS business and just this business.

b) How often would you be comparing what stores made per activity? Or 
just profitability as a whole? Keep in mind that you can export into a 
spreadsheet. If this activity VERY frequent, that's a strong plus for 
all in one set of books.

c) But not your personal books, because now even selling the business as 
a whole comes into play. On the other hand, if transactions between the 
business and your personal affairs are VERY frequent, might reconsider.

d) WHO is going to be entering transactions into the books? For example, 
if site manager at each site that almost demands separate books (you 
don't want a site manager even to be able to look at the other sites, 
let alone write!

Michael D Novack

PS: None of this is about gnucash. We would be making these decisions 
even back in the old days of pen and ink on paper.