At 7/24/00 4:43 PM, Tom Brown wrote:
>However: this is _FAR_ from sufficient for reconcilliation... I do not
>understand why openSRS has not/can not provide a simple "audit trail" of
>RCU's ... it would seem like the simplest thing in the world to do!?
>
>-2 RCUs july 1,2000 11:00:00 new domain, xyz.com
>-1 RCU july 1,2000 11:30:00 transfer, some other domain
>+50 RCU july 2,2000 09:00:00 deposit, credit card
>
>WHY is this so difficult? It would make the resellers lives and
>accountants lives _so_ much easier?
I agree; this would be very handy.
This is actually even more important because of a concern I have about
OpenSRS accounting that I've been meaning to discuss.
I recently had a situation where OpenSRS gave me a $100 credit.
Unfortunately, the OpenSRS accounting department had some difficulties
doing this, because when all was said and done, this is what showed in my
"Payments Information" section of the Web login:
Jun 19, 2000 Misc Credit 100.00
Jun 16, 2000 Misc Credit 100.00
Jun 16, 2000 Correction -100.00
Jun 16, 2000 Correction -100.00
Jun 14, 2000 Correction -100.00
Jun 14, 2000 Misc Credit 100.00
As you can see, it's three credits, and three debits, which (you would
think) would cancel each other out. I talked to [person's name available
on request] in the OpenSRS accounting department, and I was told that
there is not a one-to-one correlation between RCUs and dollar accounting
information shown on the Payment Information screen. Apparently, four of
these entries were mistakes that canceled each other out (fair enough),
one was the true 10 RCU credit, and the remaining "Correction" had no
effect on my RCUs and was "just an entry to make our internal accounting
system balance" (?!).
So, in short, I was told that 10 RCUs were actually credited to my
account even though no dollars are shown as having been credited. Okay --
unfortunately, the only way to check this is to total up all the payments
I've ever sent to OpenSRS, then deduct one RCU for every domain year I've
ever registered, and see if that matches my current RCU balance.
I tried this and to my dismay, it doesn't seem to balance either way. But
I have no way of telling where the error crept in, because all I can tell
is that I think I've sent OpenSRS X dollars in credits since January, and
they should have taken out Y dollars in debits since then, and that
should equal Z RCUs in July. The problem could have happened at any time
in those seven months. (Or it could be my accounting error -- no way to
tell.)
Anyway, sorry for the longwindedness, but my point is that this has shown
a serious weakness of the current system: there's no way to trace what
went wrong when things get out of whack. To reconcile any accounting
system, including OpenSRS, you have to start from a point where you know
the two parties agree on the current balance, which is usually the
closing date of your last statement. But the only balance I know that
OpenSRS and I agree on is zero dollars when I opened the account -- there
is no way for me to find out what OpenSRS thinks my balance was on, say,
June 1.
Maybe I'm the only one to have this problem because I had a credit to my
account, but anyway, to add to Tom's example, what's needed is a display
of every entry that affects accounting, plus a running balance,
preferably in dollars to avoid problems when (if) RCUs get revalued:
DATE DESCRIPTION CHANGE BALANCE
july 1,2000 08:00:00 opening balance from june $100
july 1,2000 09:00:00 deposit, credit card + $500 $600
july 1,2000 11:00:00 new domain, xyz.com, 2 years - $20 $580
july 1,2000 11:30:00 transfer, abc.com - $10 $570
july 2,2000 09:00:00 miscellaneous credit + $100 $670
july 2,2000 10:00:00 transfer failed, def.com + $10 $680
CURRENT BALANCE: $680, 68 RCUs
If the OpenSRS accounting system showed me this information, I could tell
exactly where the problem crept in. I could see if it matched my
accounting records through January, then February, etc., and eventually
I'd find which day it didn't match any more.
--
Robert L Mathews, Tiger Technologies
"A professional in an ape mask is still a professional." -Marge Simpson
