Richard Wackerbarth wrote:
> On Fri, 02 Jun 2000, tboldt wrote:
> > Under this view I "transfer" funds and "move" transactions. For
> > example, I "transferred funds" from account A to account B using the
> > register window for account A. Later, I decide that account was the wrong
> > source of the funds and account C should be the proper source. To the
> > non-professional I would "move" the transaction from A to C and gnucash
> > should take care of resetting the proper "from" account. A professional
> > accountant would just think, if I get your argument right, okay I change
> > the "Transfer From" window to read C instead of A and gnucash then takes
> > care of "moving" the transaction from the A register to the C register.
>
> I think that your view is more that of "single entry"/"double entry" rather
> than "professional accountant"/"non-professional".
>
> In single entry, you imply the transfer from the account which the register
> represents. In that context, "moving" the transaction to another register
> makes sense. However, you seem quite willing to "edit" the expense category.
> In reality, that is "moving" the transaction to a different expense account.
>
> In double entry, we don't make the distinction between asset accounts and
> expense categories. They are both accounts. Therefore, editing any part of
> the transaction makes sense. Changing an account is just changing an account.
I think you are probably right in your assesment of double entry/single entry -
however - and there is an however, How many non-professionals do you know that
think in terms of double entry accounting?? Probably all of the professionals
do, maybe the small buisness owners do (after they have been small buisness
owners and have been "educated" by their accountants). The average Jane/Joe
working for a W2 probably doesn't know beans about double entry. Maybe after
using a program like gnucash for a few months/years they will. How many Quicken
users do you think really think in terms of double entry accounting? I have
never, ever used Quicken, I used CA Simply Money. Looking back after using
gnucash for a very short time, doing double entry under Simply Money was
probably doable, but not easily. I'll bet that Quicken is the same.
Again, I say who is your targeted primary user - the professional,
semi-professional or the converted Quicken user?
Can you satisfy all three? Should you satisfy all three? Will you come up with
the proverbial camel - a horse designed by a committee - if you try to satisfy
all three? Only time will tell. But you should be diligently trying to answer
that question if haven't already.
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