Hi everyone, I downloaded version 2.2.9 from Windows and am getting acquainted by using the Tutorial and Concepts Guide.
First, I am genuinely impressed with the extent of the work that has gone into this product. It is especially remarkable, since this has been built by a team of volunteers. I can only imagine the organization and systems it takes to support such an effort and maintain it. Many thanks to all involved for the likely countless hours of commitment and persistence in making this happen. As a new user, I step onto the scene as the beneficiary of all your efforts. So I am somewhat hesitant to ask questions and am trying to be cautious in how I phrase what I want to know. Recent exchanges on the user list have shown me yet again how difficult effective communication is. It is very easy for a list reader to mistake one's meaning and even take offense. That means to me I need to be very sensitive to my language and try to avoid American colloquial phrasing. Here are some questions. Apologies in advance for any offence given. Thanks for your patience with someone who in two weeks just cannot have read and absorbed all that is available. 1. How many countries and accounting systems does GnuCash represent it supports? I am aware of US, UK, Australian, German. I suppose the various languages it is translated into could present variations on the accounting used in the English speaking world. Can anyone speak to how this issue is addressed and what limitations are imposed on GnuCash's development? 1. Can GnuCash accommodate account numbers? The tutorial and concepts guide does not illustrate that, at least where I have read. I rely heavily on a hierarchical chart of accounts that is organized around a numbering scheme that incorporates account types (for example, accounts beginning with 1 are assets, 2 are liabilities, 3 are equities, etc.). I don't mean there are no descriptions. It is just that the numbers represent the structure and the descriptions provide the easily understood meaning. 1. If numbers are possible in a chart of accounts, can branch reporting be accommodated in the account number? For example, say, 1010 meant general checking, 1010-001 meant general checking for branch 1, 1010-002 meant the same for branch 2, etc. 1. I have reviewed the GnuCash Documentation Project home page. The references there seem to talk mainly about versions of the product fairly well removed from the current stable version 2.2.9. I did see that users of product versions prior to 2.0 are strongly encouraged to upgrade to the more recent version. Is this situation due mainly to lack of knowledgeable volunteers? It seems to suggest that development is occurring at a pace faster than documentation. I don't mean this as a criticism. I know nothing about the system needed to produce the good quality of the documentation I have seen. It may be simply that there is a mismatch of resources. I would appreciate someone being willing to describe for me what it really takes to supply the good documentation I have seen. The 2.2.9 documentation is most recently dated in 2006. Is that because there has been no substantive development in product capabilities since 2006? 1. Appendix A references Organization of QIF files, Common duplication issues, Checking QIF data. All 3 are noted as 'Discussion'. Where do I plug in to those discussions? 1. In the real world historically there have been just 3 basic classes of entities: proprietorships, partnerships, and corporations. Are there any plans on the drawing board to provide illustrated treatments of each of these forms of ownership? Each demands unique accounting treatments. GnuCash could easily be enabled to accommodate all of them if the special features of each were presented in the Tutorial and Concepts Guide. There may be some programming needed to support some features, but from what I have seen of the investments section, that type of programming would seem to me able readily to be adapted to corporate reporting for classes of shares and dealing in Treasury shares. 1. Since GnuCash seems designed and intended to be flexible enough to accommodate organizations of varying sizes, are there any efforts underway to provide illustrated charts of accounts as appendices to the Tutorial and Concepts Guide? The documents start out with simple concepts and move rather quickly into more sophisticated and real world capabilities. Do you think a new user would be well served to have a model chart to use in thinking about his needs? And would not businesses benefit by charts reflecting manufacturing issues, versus, service issues, versus construction, and so on? Providing such examples could extend and flesh out further the multi-use that the product seems to encourage. 1. In the United States a burgeoning area of accounting is that which deals with not-for-profit entities. Perhaps this is developing elsewhere equally quickly. On the world stage these can show up as NGOs (non-governmental organizations) who definitely need sound accounting and need to make enough of a profit so that they don't dissolve in bankruptcy. Their main reason for existence is not just the profit motive, but more in the arena of the welfare of man. In its present form GnuCash would seem eminently suited to help such an entity get started. (a) However, so far I have not discovered any reference to fund accounting. That is, can GnuCash incorporate into one entity the accounting for and reporting on both funds unrestricted to any specific purpose and those restricted to a specific purpose? (b) And for those restricted to a specific purpose, the capacity has to be for many such restricted purposes unrelated to each other. (c) This type of accounting has a fidu! ciary responsibility to the donors, because when the entity accepts the fund (gift, donation), it agrees to the stipulations of the donor. So it has to track each accepted fund according to its unique life span and requirements. The accounting system has to provide accurate reporting such that the management of the organization can reliably know the status and activity of each fund. (d) Having each fund handled as a separate file in GnuCash might occur to one of the developers. If that were the contemplated solution, there would have to be a way of providing a set of reports that combined all restricted funds and the unrestricted funds into an overall set of financial statements for the organization. Such a solution imposes the requirement that all such parts have a common chart of accounts with no deviation among the entities. These are just some of the ideas that have popped up during the couple of weeks I have been thinking about GnuCash. It truly seems a worthwhile project to devote energies to. I would like to assist where those that are old-timers in it would think I might make a contribution. Asking questions and thinking about the answers I get seems to me to be a good start. Does anyone agree with that? Thanks all for your time. Tom Bullock _______________________________________________ gnucash-devel mailing list [email protected] https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-devel
