[GNC] End of Year?

[Adrien Monteleone]

You could add A2b:

Export your Chart of Accounts and write down the ending balances as 
needed. Start a new file, import your exported chart of accounts and set 
opening balances to the old ending balances.

This method is more like Pen & Paper days in that each file only 
contains one period (year in this case) of data.

-----
As for A2(a), there's not really a solid way to 'mark' a file as 
read-only if you have access to the file. (anyone determined enough can 
edit it) Some folks write it to a CD-ROM, but that's about as good as 
you could expect.

In addition, some folks also archive PDF copies of their year-end 
reports with the file. While the file could always be changed after the 
fact, the reports reflect the state of the accounts as of when they were 
generated. (which of course are no more immutable than the file, but at 
least offer a reference point)

Regards,
Adrien

On 1/13/24 12:16 AM, R Losey wrote:
> I suspect that this topic comes up about every New Year - perhaps it is
> worth putting in a FAQ (if it's not in one), and perhaps posting the FAQ
> monthly to this list. In the relatively short time I've been on this list,
> I definitely see some repeated questions, including this end-of-year
> question that I created, and therefore may have errors in it.
> 
> -------
> Question: "How do I start a new year in GnuCash?" Alternatively, "How do I
> close out the old year in GnuCash?"
> 
> Answers as far as I can remember them:
> General Answer: You need to determine precisely what you are trying to
> accomplish in GnuCash. You may not need to do anything (see A1). If you
> want to keep a backup-copy of the previous year, see A2. If you want to
> close the books in the accounting sense (reset the balances of the income
> and expense accounts), see A3.
> 
> A1: There is no necessity to take any action at the start of a New Year.
> GnuCash can keep several years of data in its compressed XML file without
> it growing too large.
> 
> A2: The best thing to do here is to be sure that there is no additional
> transactions for end-of-year, run whatever end-of-year reports you need,
> then shut down GnuCash and copy your main data file to some safe place. If
> that area supports it, consider marking the file as read-only. You should
> probably note the year in the name: "SmithFamilyFY2022.gnucash" or
> something like that. There is no need to delete old data (see A1).
> 
> A3: See the GnuCash Manual, section 8.9 for a discussion about how to do
> this task, along with the caveats.
>