People aren't reading the GnuCash documents. What makes you think they'll read a text on accounting?
David T. On Dec 15, 2022, 6:49 PM, at 6:49 PM, Michael or Penny Novack <[email protected]> wrote: > >> I'm not sure what you mean when you say "documentation," but I don't >think the Guide or the Help would be appropriate places to make such >references. Section 2.1 of the Guide gives a few basic explanations on >underlying accounting concepts. This section, in fact, states that "you >do not need to have a complete understanding of accounting principles >to find it useful." > > >Misunderstanding? (at least what I have had to say) > > I did not write that "you do not have to have a complete >understanding principles to find it useful (gnucash)" That's not quite >a >wrong statement, but I would not have worded it that way because open >to >misinterpretation. Which is what appears to be going on here. > >a) Disagreement about what is "basics". You do not have to have a >complete understanding (or any understanding) of the parts of >accounting >that you do not use. You don't have fixed assets that are being >depreciated? Fine, then you need to know nothing about that part of the > >accounting process. . > >b) We are seeing a lot of questions about things I would consider >"basics". Is what is in the Guide enough? I can't judge that because I >am not a teacher of accounting and there is nothing in there that I >didn't already know. It might perfectly well be adequate IF new people >studied it carefully and played around with test books before trying to > >use gnucash "in production". > >c) It could conceivably be better with the suggestion that people >entirely new to double entry bookkeeping try "formal" and "journal" >mode >since that closer to what is actually being modeled. Allowing the >simplest transactions (just two accounts, one debit and one credit) to >skip entering as if in the journal saves a great deal of time once you >know what you are modeling as they make up the vast majority of >transactions. > > It would definitely be better if it suggest "FIRST" create a set of > >test books with just a handful of accounts and a small number of >transactions to be entered and then the reports that you plan to use >run, etc. don't just jump right in. The "jump right in" is OK for folks > >who already know double entry bookkeeping and especially OK for folks >who have used other accounting software (QuickBooks, Sage, etc) and so >are only needing to learn the things different "the gnucash way". It is > >not OK for folks coming from a "single entry" system. Double entry is >a >different concept. > >Michael D Novack > > > >_______________________________________________ >gnucash-user mailing list >[email protected] >To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: >https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user >----- >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 ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
