Hi James, Just for the record, I've got transactional data going back to 2005 and 2007 for my business and personal accounts.
-derek James Thorpe <[email protected]> writes: > In another discussion "How to set a customer opening balance for the > Customer Report" which has been satisfactorily resolved, Derek Atkins > asked why I am creating a new data file. I did pose the original > question as if moving from a different system so as to avoid the > discussion of why I'm creating a new data file but since Derek asked, > I do in fact create a new data file in GnuCash for each financial year > for the following reasons- > > a) Fear of corrupting previous year's transactions > > Once my financials are done for the year and reported on, I do not > wish to inadvertently enter or modify a historical transaction that > will result in the same reports producing different results. It is > easy in GnuCash to enter a transaction with a date for a previous > financial year or, mistakenly change the date of an existing > transaction without noticing it. > > I enjoy the fact that I have the power to do this but fear making a > change by mistake > > A way to combat this could be to just make a copy of the file at the > end of each FY as an "archive" file that I use for reporting and/ or > checking the current file in case there are historical corruptions. In > combination, I could perhaps also enter a "closing balance" entry on > all accounts at year end that records the closing balance in the > description that could then be checked from time to time to ensure all > is in order. > > b) Size of file / speed of access > > I know there have been discussions regarding this but I am concerned > that with 10+ years of data things will slow down, especially if the > entire file is read into memory. I like being able to access gnucash > from low powered machines. > > c) Complexities with reports that don't look at date ranges (eg. Trial > Balance) > > Certain reports just look at the final balance in the account - > eg. the Trial Balance report. This means that if I draw a TB the > expenses, income etc will report the total for the entire period for > which I've been using GnuCash. What my accountant wants in my Trail > Balance report is my total expenses for the year, not forever. I > gather that the "Close books" function may be able to resolve these > issues but have not looked into this further. > > d) Refinement of my accounting process > > Being a complete noob to accounting, I've been slowly improving > (hopefully) the way I do things from year to year as I learn. As a > result I may create new accounts and delete others from year to year > and starting a fresh file each year allows me to have the chart of > accounts better reflect my latest process. In addition, the entries > will be more consistent in each file - representing the way I > currently process transactions. > > Having said all of this - there are certainly downsides to creating a > new file each year as the previous question highlighted. Firstly, the > business features don't translate well year to year and then, of > course, it's a labour intensive manual process to set up a new file > and get all the opening account balances right, re-create the > customers, re-set up the business information and counters etc. > > Hope that sheds some light on my choice and is helpful to others > > James > > _______________________________________________ > gnucash-user mailing list > [email protected] > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see > https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information. > ----- > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. > > -- Derek Atkins 617-623-3745 [email protected] www.ihtfp.com Computer and Internet Security Consultant _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list [email protected] To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information. ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
