[GNC] Tracking UnPaid Bills

[Murugan Mariappan]

Question
PS --- I have a question for gnucash folks using the business features.
How do you treat (what date do you use) incoming bills that are NOT "due
upon receipt" but instead "due at some future date"? And what happens if
you pay tat bill before that date?

Answer
I use the business feature, which utilizes three types of dates:
- Bill Date: The date on the bill from the seller.
- Post Date: The date you post the bill into your books.
- Due Date: The date the bill is due. You can predefine payment terms like net 30 or define your own.

When you pay your bill before the due date, the bill is marked as paid (payables will be debited and bank credited. Additionally, GNU can provide alerts to remind you to pay the bill, which can be configured in the settings.

I hope I answered your queries.



Saludos Cordiales


Murugan

________________________________
From: gnucash-user <gnucash-user-bounces+m.muruganandam=hotmail.com at gnucash.org> on behalf of Michael or Penny Novack via gnucash-user <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
Sent: 20 March 2025 12:08
To: gnucash-user at gnucash.org <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
Subject: Re: [GNC] Tracking UnPaid Bills

On 3/19/2025 5:17 PM, flywire wrote:
>> So how do you propose actually tracking unpaid bills? Recording a
>> transaction doesn't do it. It would normally involve specific reports run
>> frequently enough to manage payments due.
>>
> Hmm, no mention of any specific reports to understand what is in the
> liability account.

Sorry if I do not understand.

Assume a liability account for each account with a utility (gas,
electric, water, etc.) They could all be children of a placeholder
"utility accounts"

Now WHAT is your question?

1)  What is the total that is currently outstanding on all utility
accounts?  << just look at it >>

2) What is the balance outstanding on utility X? << just look at it >>

3) What is the payments history on utility X? << transaction report on
this account -- but usually interested in recent history so just look at
the last several transaction >>

If it is something else you are wanting to see, explain what that is,
because I can't tell you what report without knowing that.

Please note that there is no magic involved DOING "accrual basis" using
gnucash without the built in "business features". We old timers from the
days of pen and ink on paper used to do both "cash basis" and "accrual
basis" accounting. Especially in a case like this where books are "cash
basis", no need for invoicing, but a couple of "open" accounts with a
vendor (like a utility company) you can MANUALLY enter those
transactions "accrual basis". IF/F a business on "cash basis" might want
at year end to check these accounts for an early payment and adjust what
year the expense. But see the PS.

Michael D Novack

PS --- I have a question for gnucash folks using the business features.
How do you treat (what date do you use) incoming bills that are NOT "due
upon receipt" but instead "due at some future date"? And what happens if
you pay tat bill before that date?



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