You are right, Rogier. Entering the Trial Balance from prior years is a good approach. K.I.S.S.
On Fri, Dec 31, 2021 at 4:59 AM Rogier F. van Vlissingen <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi: > yes, thanks for all your help. > > Yesterday, I figured it out in another thread, and I am sitting here > feeling stupid, for it turns out the answer was the same as it was in 3.8, > when I originally set it up there. Namely, do not use the opening balance > feature in the account setup, but rather, simply create the CofA without > entering any opening balances and then create a single opening transaction > in the Journal, to set up all the opening balances, in one multiple split > transaction. Doing it that way, you can immediately check also with > Imbalance-USD - if you make any entry mistakes the difference will show, so > you have an instant check. > > That is the solution, so now I have happily moved to V4.9, using the > flatpak route, since Linux Mint is still stuck at V3.8. > > The other mistake I arguably had made was that I entered the whole year in > one session without exiting after every monthly reconciliation, and as a > result I had no backups, so that, when those two mystery transactions > somehow dropped out, I was not in a position to revert to end Nov and just > do over December. However, it was because another user reported having had > a similar issue that I made up my mind to move to 4.9 to remove any doubt. > The active users all seem to be on 4.9 as I see on this list. > > I was all childishly simple... once you figure it out. > > > In short, I will now finish both 2020 and 2021 in V4.9 before the year is > out. > > On Fri, Dec 31, 2021 at 5:09 AM <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Rogier, > > > > Both John Ralls and I have posted comments where we have made it clear > > that you cannot make opening balance entries to the Equity:Retained > > earnings account from the inital setup dialogue for the CoA. That will > only > > allow entries from Asset and Liability accounts to Equity :Openeing > > Balances. That is by design AFAIK. I am not sure why that is the case > but > > likely the difficulty with programming all possible cases for equity > > accounts. If your Retained Earnings represents an over all loss then it > > will have a debit (negative) balance, so the debit and credit entries > will > > be reversed from what was described previously > > > > If you want to setup the balances for the Equity subaccounts you have to > > manually enter them from either the Equity:Opening Balances account > > register or the account register for the specific Equity sub-account you > > are setting the balance and not from the setup dialogue for the chart of > > accounts. > > > > David Cousens > > > > On Thu, 2021-12-30 at 16:01 -0500, Rogier F. van Vlissingen wrote: > > > > > > > > I am sitting here trying that, but in the setup, when you edit the > > accounts, it only allows posting of the entire account to "opening > > balances." I can't see a way to split it and put the appropriate amount > in > > Retained Earnings. In the 3.8 version I was able to somehow correct the > > balances, I believe with a transfer, but I cannot remember for ssure. > > > > On Thu, Dec 30, 2021 at 3:52 PM Rogier F. van Vlissingen < > > [email protected]> wrote: > > > > It happens to be a loss. > > > > I seem to be missing something. For all the other accounts, I simply post > > to the account with the balancing transaction going to Opening Balances. > > But because of what I described, I get Opening Balances $x and Retained > > Earnings $0. Nothing I can think of gets the money from Opening Balances > > into Retained Earnings. > > > > Or is it that when I set it up, I have to do some split transactions to > > make sure the appropriate amount ends up in Retained Earnings and the > > remainder is Retained Earnings? > > > > Not sure how, but I could give that a try, I will just have to set that > up > > all over again. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > On Thu, Dec 30, 2021 at 3:33 PM <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Rogier > > > > What is the form of the transaction being used to record the opening > > balance of the Retained Earnings account. Assuming your business has been > > profitable and it is not a loss, then the transaction to record its > opening > > balances it should be something like > > Dr > > Cr > > Equity:Opening Balances xxx > > Equity: Retained Earnings xxx > > > > This should reduce the balance of the Retained earnings account while > > keeping the overall Equity account balance constant. > > > > David Cousens > > > > On Thu, 2021-12-30 at 15:18 -0500, Rogier F. van Vlissingen wrote: > > > > > > > > Thanks, I do not get it. I can set up all the opening balances, except > one > > retained earnings. To me retained earnings on 1/1/2020 is the accumulated > > position from prior years, I do not see how I can finagle that via what > sub > > accounts. Evidently, when I set up the opening transaction, which is > fairly > > simple, the retained earnings is left at zero, because I cannot access > it, > > and so that difference pops up as part of the opening balance accumulator > > account, which is therefore too high by the exact amount of the retained > > earnings. > > > > Am I missing something? > > > > On Thu, Dec 30, 2021 at 2:52 PM <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Rogier > > > > > > When you transfer account to a new set of books, you would record the > > opening > > balances of the Asset and Liability accounts against the Opening > balances > > entries in Equity. > > > > Asset entries will be a debit to the asset account and a credit to the > > opening > > balances account and Liabilities a credit to the liability account and > > debit to > > the opening balances account in Equity. > > > > With this all you previous equity balances have been transferred to the > > Opening > > Balances account and the books are balanced. The Opening Account Balance > > should > > equal the total Equity balance in your previous set of books. > > > > If you wish to restore the Equity sub-account balances (assuming the > > accounts > > have a credit balance in your previous books), you would need to credit > the > > aappropriate Equity sub-account in your new book for the amount of its > > balance > > in the previous set of books and debit the Opening Balances account for > > the same > > amount. This will keep the books balanced. > > > > If you restore all the previous books equity sub-account balances, then > if > > your > > previous set of books was balanced, the Opening Balances account should > > end up > > with a 0 balance. > > > > As John pointed out, the initial account setup daemon only allows you to > > set the > > opening balances for asset and liability accounts. To restore the Equity > > balances you would need to enter the transactions manually from the > Opening > > Balances register after creating the equity subaccounts initially with > zero > > balances. > > > > David Cousens > > > > > > On Thu, 2021-12-30 at 06:33 -0500, Rogier F. van Vlissingen wrote: > > > Yeah, thanks. I am on mint, and it has version 3.8. I was able to do > > > something like that in version 3.8. However, I had some problems with > it, > > > and moved to 4.9 now because of some other problems, but now I can't do > > > this, and that sort of kills the fun. > > > > > > Let's see if someone comes up with a better suggestion... hope springs > > > eternal... and if not, I am moving to another platform. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > On Thu, Dec 30, 2021 at 12:34 AM William Prescott < > [email protected] > > > > > > wrote: > > > > > > > Please disregard. > > > > > > > > About a year ago, I set up a new Gnucash data file and chart of > > accounts. > > > > I remember making some mistakes setting up the opening balances. I > > > > recollect having problems changing the Opening Balance entries and > > having > > > > to edit the Opening Balances account (from the Accounts tab->Opening > > > > Balances->Edit) and changing something to make the entries editable. > > > > > > > > But I cannot reproduce it now. > > > > > > > > Will > > > > > > > > On 2021 Dec 29, at 12-29 20:41:13, Rogier F. van Vlissingen < > > > > [email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > > Hi, thanks for that, but I cannot find any mechanism to "unlock" a > read > > > > only account, nor does there seem to be anything in the manual about > > > > "unlocking?" Please clarify. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > On Wed, Dec 29, 2021 at 9:29 PM William Prescott < > > [email protected] > > > > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: > > > > I'm not sure if this is relevant … > > > > > > > > By default, the Opening Balance account is locked and transactions > are > > > > only created there when you create a new account and give it an > opening > > > > balance. But you can unlock the Opening Balance account and then > > adjust the > > > > transactions or add or delete them like in any other account. > > > > > > > > Will > > > > > > > > On 2021 Dec 29, at 12-29 18:52:16, John Ralls <[email protected] > > <mailto: > > > > [email protected]>> wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > On Dec 29, 2021, at 4:08 PM, Rogier F. van Vlissingen < > > > > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: > > > > > I had previously moved to GnuCash3.8 starting 1/1/2020, > > unfortunately, > > > > > there appears to be some sort of corruption in my file. > > > > > > > > > > I am now doing it over in 4.9. > > > > > > > > > > However, I am having a problem with the Opening Balances for 2020, > > as I > > > > > seem to be unable to set up an opening balance for retained > earnings. > > > > > > > > > > The numbers check out, but everything goes in Opening balances, > > which is > > > > > therefore too high by the amount of the retained earnings. > > > > > > > > > > You can't even do a transfer. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > What is to be done? > > > > > > > > A business book wouldn't normally have an opening balances account. > > OTOH > > > > money is fungible and it doesn't really make sense to divide every > > asset's > > > > start-of-year balance between liabilities, paid-in capital, and > > retained > > > > earnings, so it's in my mind quite defensible to use Opening Balances > > to > > > > accumulate everything. Liabilities are handled by creating normal > > opening > > > > balance entries. The New File Hierarchy Assistant doesn't let you > make > > > > opening balance entries in Equity accounts, but you can add > > transactions to > > > > RE and whatever you're calling paid-in capital to zero out Opening > > Balances > > > > when you've finished with the assistant. > > > > > > > > Regards, > > > > John Ralls > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > gnucash-user mailing list > > > > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > > > > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > > > > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user < > > > > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user> > > > > If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see > > > > https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists < > > > > 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. > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > gnucash-user mailing list > > > > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > > > > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > > > > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user < > > > > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user> > > > > If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see > > > > https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists < > > > > 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. > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > 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. > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > 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. > > > > _______________________________________________ > > 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. > > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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. > -- * Please consider adding [email protected] to your address book. 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