I agree, this behavior is somewhat surprising. I might be misisng something, but this seems to conflict with Martin's advice to view account names as "tags" ( https://groups.google.com/d/msg/beancount/MqIk8nfgtx0/8YSzZpQTEAAJ).
In this case, the hierarchy does matter since the balance directive will sum up to the parent account. Similarly, Fava's UI seems to also indicate that hierarchy is important. On Sat, Apr 13, 2019 at 4:07 PM Zhuoyun Wei <[email protected]> wrote: > One thing that surprises me (I noticed this just now, when writing the > last reply) is that Beancount "balance" directive computes the balance of > the parant account along with all child accounts. > > Say you have 1000.00 USD in the checking account, and you write a check of > 100.00 USD to your friend. Now you have 900.00 USD in the parent account > alone and 100.00 USD in the child / leaf ":Payable" account. And the > assertion: > > 20XX-XX-XX balance Assets:Bank:Checking 1000.00 USD > > passes. This very behavior makes it easy for you to compare the balance in > Beancount with the balance in your bank. At the same time, you could know > how many money you could spend (without overdraft) by manually subtract the > amount in ":Payable" from the parent tree. > > -- > Zhuoyun Wei > > On Sat, Apr 13, 2019, at 20:44, Zhuoyun Wei wrote: > > In the case of writing checks, my approach is to use two transactions: > > > > > > 2019-01-01 * "John Doe" "Settle up Splitwise" #check ^check123 > > Assets:Chase:Checking -100.00 USD > > Assets:Chase:Checking:Payable > > > > 2019-02-01 * "CHECK 123" ^check123 > > document: "2019-02-01.check-123.pdf" > > Assets:Chase:Checking:Payable -100.00 USD > > Equity:ARAP:JohnDoe > > > > > > The first trasnaction is entered manually by me, on the day of writing > > the check, in a separate file ("checks.bean"). The second transaction > > is imported by "bean-extract" from the CSV my bank provides, at the end > > of each month (along with the image of the check). > > > > Sometimes it takes quite a while for your checks to clear, so using two > > transactions is essential. This way, you can easily determine how many > > checks and money are not cleared by examing the transactions in the > > ":Payable" account, and also avoid blank checks / NSF by examing the > > balance of the parant account (excluding the leaf account). The bonus > > touch is, the two transactions are linked ("^check123"), so in Fava you > > could click the link to show corresponding trasactions, no matter how > > many days they are apart. > > > > I remember someone in the mailing list wrote a plugin called > > ZeroSumAccounts, which did similar things. > > > > > > -- > > Zhuoyun Wei > > > > On Sat, Apr 13, 2019, at 12:43, Martin Michlmayr wrote: > > > * Zhuoyun Wei <[email protected]> [2019-04-12 23:27]: > > > > > For example, there is no way in the base format to note whether a > transaction has been reconciled or not. > > > > By "reconciled", I am assuming the LWN editor is refer to the > difference between "*" and "!" transactions? > > > > > > I'm not sure what his process is exactly. Using flags might be part > > > of it. > > > > > > But it might also be things like: when you write a check, you create a > > > transaction for the check (normally you record the money as leaving > > > your bank account when you write the check and not when the person > > > deposits the check, but in reality the money is on your bank account > > > until it gets deposited by the other person). So you may have to > > > reconcile why your bank account balance is different to what your > > > books say by looking at a list of uncashed checks. > > > > > > That kind of things. Basically, your books won't always show bank > > > account balances all the time. > > > > > > -- > > > Martin Michlmayr > > > https://www.cyrius.com/ > > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Beancount" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beancount/360165f8-609c-4c84-a66b-77fe80458421%40www.fastmail.com > . > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Beancount" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beancount/CAOHSxbn5qVo%3D-woLgixFMjkozitsBV0jWBStRagvJAWD%2BUy-RQ%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
