[GNC] How to enter this event

[Michael or Penny Novack]

On 4/30/2025 12:59 PM, Murugan Mariappan wrote:
> You have two separate events, and you should keep them that way:
> 1. Cr: Income: Donation: $110.76, Dr. Expenses: Publix: $69.61, Dr. Expenses: Sams: $41.15
> 2. Dr. Expenses: Dinner: $30, Cr: Cash Account: $30
>
As people here know, I have used gnucash keeping the books for several 
organizations.

Yes you could think of these as two separate events but no, not that 
way. While the net effect is the same, does not reflect the reality of 
the two events, what happened when.

FIRST -- a brother made a purchase with own funds on behalf of the 
organization. It is unlikely arranged with the Treasurer IN ADVANCE 
("and I don't want full reimbursement for this"). In other words WHEN 
took place it would be debit expenses:eventX: Publix and :event:Sams and 
credit a liability to this brother.

SECOND --- the brother said something like "don't reimburse me all of 
this, just give me a dinner ticket and treat the rest as a donation. So 
credit the liability and debit event:donations and event:tickets

IF had been arranged in advance then NOT "separate events" and best 
done  as a single transaction split on both sides. However those are a 
PITA to enter if lacking the experience handling two way splits << you 
usually would want to initially lie about the first amount entered, do 
all the other side, then go back and fix the first side (change amount 
to the correct amount and the supply the account for the remaining 
imbalance) -- the hard part is knowing the right "lie" at the start, for 
which you need experience >>

Michael D Novack

PS  It would perhaps been easier for people to see what to do if there 
had been THREE brothers using their own funds to buy things for this 
event, two of whom asked to be reimbursed as usual and only the third 
asked for this special arrangement. WHY do I see this (initially) as a 
liability? Because I am not making the assumption that the organization 
COULD have reimbursed before funds collected at the event were 
available. Penny and I have at times "fronted" money for event expenses. 
Maybe expecting to be fully reimbursed, perhaps risking that some of it 
would end up as an involuntary donation.