FWIW, I have taken the perspective that if I don't know what category/account to put something in, I don't guess, I put it in "Unbalanced" and then ask someone who knows. As I understand it, there shouldn't be anything in that category, so it's a big red flag that you can't miss that this thing needs attention. Then at suitable intervals, you can ask your accountant, and learn. If you make a guess and get it wrong, there's no obvious way, other than a really thoughtful audit, questioning essentially everything, that will reliably catch all the erroneous guesses.
Just my two cents, of course, since I'm not an accountant either (presumably if I were, I'd not be suffering from these uncertainties!) On Mon, Feb 20, 2023 at 7:55 PM David Cousens <[email protected]> wrote: > Tim , > > In most cases if you get an account type wrong you can edit the account > type and > its parent account from the account tree structure. There may be some > limitations associated with the type of the parent account which may have > to be > worked around. In the worst case scenario you can create an account of the > correct type and then delete the account of the wrong type. If there are > transactions to the account you are deleting the dialogue will ask which > account > you wish them transferred to and here you specify the new account of the > correct > type. Apart from the basic top level account types Asset, Liability, > Equity, > Income and Expenses there are a number of account sub-types which are > usually > tied to aspects of the business features, stock trading etc > > David Cousens > > On Mon, 2023-02-20 at 19:25 -0600, [email protected] wrote: > > Thanks Jim for the reply. > > > > > On Feb 20, 2023, at 15:49, Jim DeLaHunt <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > It sounds like you are trying to answer two questions: > > > > > > 1. How do you extract meaning from account name strings in incoming > > > migration data, such that you can pick the appropriate GnuCash account > type? > > > > Ummm, sort of. Yes, I am asking myself that because I have to make > decisions. > > But I was really providing the scenarios to help shape the reader's > thinking > > about the implications. > > > > Yes, the question I’m asking is in the subject line. I should have > included it > > more in the body. I did ask specifically in the body though if there was > "any > > negative implications of assigning too general of an account type to an > > account?” I’m inclined to err on the side of general and tell the user > they > > need to review all of them and edit appropriately based on GnuCash’s > > documentation. But, it is still a good challenge to get them as close to > right > > as possible. > > > > The decisions I’m making are naturally heavily influenced by my personal > > account and categories structure in Quicken along with my understanding > about > > how GnuCash structures accounts and defines types. There are undoubtedly > > members of this mailing list who migrated data from some other app to > GnuCash. > > They made decisions about account types, perhaps after creating their > chart of > > accounts, and they may have found adjustments were necessary because > something > > didn’t work as expected. I believe hearing that would be helpful to me > and > > others. > > > > > > > > 2. What are the GnuCash account types, and what are their meanings (or, > > > purposes, or semantics)? > > > > > > I think question 1 is up to you. It is not a GnuCash question. > > > > > > The place to start for question 2 is the GnuCash /Help/ documentation, > 5.1. > > > *Types of GnuCash Accounts*[1]. You might find it helpful to consult > the > > > notes about what kinds of child account type each parent account type > > > accepts. Missing from this page is the Trading Account type. > > > > > > > I had read > > > https://code.gnucash.org/docs/MAINT/group__Account.html#ga398c5d6f7a5127db7b81789e05262908 > > < > > > https://code.gnucash.org/docs/MAINT/group__Account.html#ga398c5d6f7a5127db7b81789e05262908 > > > but will make sure to go back and read section 5.1. I appreciate that > you’ve > > highlighted that there can be child-parent mismatches as that is a real > > implication. I realize that if a user migrating to GnuCash using the > tool I’m > > developing had a Credit Card under an Asset account, they could > potentially > > have a problem. I’m using PieCash for my GnuCash writes, and I *think* it > > checks the parent-child rules, but I might want to test that. > > > > > > > Trading accounts are described in the GnuCash /Tutorial and Concepts > Guide/, > > > 12.3. *Automatically Recording Currency Transactions using Trading > > > Accounts*[2], and at wiki page *Trading Accounts*[3]. > > > > > > You might have to resort to reading the GnuCash code[4] to answer more > > > detailed questions. I remember doing this once to clear up some of my > own > > > questions. > > > > > > Your subject: line asks, "what are the implications of getting [Account > > > Types] wrong?" I don't see you asking that in your message body. But > as far > > > as I know, the implication can be unusability if you get the account > type > > > very wrong (e.g. an Asset type for what should be an Expense type > account), > > > or inconvenience if you get the account type a little wrong (e.g. no > option > > > to add an interest payment during the reconciliation process if you > assign a > > > Liability type for what should be a Credit type account). Note that > users > > > can, within limits, change account types for a book which is in use. > That > > > limits the negative implications of migration software making the wrong > > > choice of account type. > > > > > > > Great comments. Thank you. I did notice oddities yesterday when I > created a > > new book (GnuCash->File-New File) and created a full chart of accounts. > In > > particular, in Investments. Under Retirement, Bond accounts have a type > of > > Stock, so they have Shares/Buy/Sell, etc columns in the register. So > those > > look okay (other than calling a Bond a Stock type, which feels odd to > me). But > > as far as implications, I don’t see any issue. However, I realized this > > partially answers the question about implications of opting general vice > > specific. And this is reflected, I think, in GnuCash’s default account > > structure and types. > > > > In the Bond, Market Index, Mutual Fund and Stock accounts under Brokerage > > Account are all type Asset while the latter is Bank. So I’m guessing the > logic > > here is that *most* brokerage accounts have an associated sweep or bank > > account. But, Brokerage Account is a Placeholder so I didn’t think > > transactions would be recorded there. Admittedly, I may misunderstand so > I’ll > > need to experiment. I do see that Buy/Fee/Sell show up as Actions in one > of > > those registers. > > > > My app’s logic today would assign the type Stock to an account with the > word > > “brokerage” included. I’m now questioning this based on GnuCash’s default > > setup. > > > > So specifically, why does GnuCash’s default chart of accounts have the > > brokerage accounts as Assets while the retirement accounts are either > Stock or > > Mutual Fund? > > > > Thank you again. > > > > Tim > > > > > You are welcome to pose more specific questions to this list, if you > like. > > > > > > And, while reading the documentation you may come up with suggestions > for > > > improved documentation wording. I encourage you to propose those as > pull > > > requests, or to the gnucash-dev mailing list. Part of what makes > GnuCash so > > > good is that many hands help to improve it. > > > > > > Best regards, > > > —Jim DeLaHunt > > > > > > [1] <https://www.gnucash.org/viewdoc.phtml?rev=4&lang=C&doc=help>, > > > temporarily hosted at > > > <https://code.gnucash.org/website/viewdoc.phtml?rev=4&lang=C&doc=help> > while > > > www.gnucash.org's web server is offline. > > > > > > [2] > > > < > https://www.gnucash.org/docs/v4/C/gnucash-guide/currency_trading_accts.html > > > >, temporarily > > > < > https://code.gnucash.org/website/docs/v4/C/gnucash-guide/currency_trading_a > > > ccts.html> > > > > > > [3] <https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Trading_Accounts> > > > > > > [4] <https://github.com/GnuCash/gnucash> > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > 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. > > > > > On 2023-02-19 05:32, [email protected] wrote: > > > > > > > The approach I’m taking in a migration app I’m writing will be > > > > conservative, erring on the side of more general vice more specific. > For > > > > example, ASSET, LIABILITY, INCOME, EXPENSE, EQUITY are pretty easy to > > > > accurately apply based on account names (for example, “assets:current > > > > assets:cash”). In an initial round of type assignments, this account > would > > > > get ASSET as its type. In a deeper subsequent look, it should be > > > > reassigned with a type of CASH. > > > > > > > > INCOME, EXPENSE and EQUITY types don’t have sub-types I see, so > those will > > > > be even easier. I don’t foresee any issues with those. > > > > > > > > LIABILITY and CREDIT don’t appear too difficult as there just aren’t > that > > > > many options. First I’ll assign LIABILITY and if the words “credit > card” > > > > or “credit cards” exist in the rest of the account path, I’ll switch > to > > > > CREDIT, otherwise, leave it alone. > > > > > > > > Assets and Investments will be the trickiest. Let me start with > Assets > > > > first. > > > > > > > > Assume an imported account has the path and name of > “assets:savings:family > > > > savings”. Getting this typed as an ASSET is pretty straightforward. > > > > Ideally, however, it would be typed as BANK. > > > > > > > > Or SHOULD it? Perhaps this family puts its savings in old coffee cans > > > > under the back porch. So, I’d be inclined to leave this as ASSET. > The user > > > > can change it, but are there any negative implications of assigning > too > > > > general of an account type to an account? > > > > > > > > However, if the name has the word “account” in it, well, then I’d be > > > > confident assigning a type of BANK. > > > > > > > > Investment accounts will be the trickiest I believe. Heck, I’m not > sure I > > > > understand the differences. > > > > > > > > When I create a new account in GnuCash, I’m surprised at some of the > > > > assignments made when creating the hierarchy. For example, > > > > “Assets:Investments:Brokerage Account” is a placeholder with type of > BANK. > > > > I would be inclined to assign any placeholder accounts a more generic > > > > type. In this case, ASSET. Again, are there any negative > implications of > > > > me taking this approach? > > > > > > > > Regardless, I will direct the user to review all of them once > created in > > > > GnuCash to ensure they align with their exceptions, but are there > > > > consequences if I get them wrong? > > > > > > > > And finally, TRADING. I don’t see any of those in the initial > account list > > > > created when I make a new file. So, for now, I’ll ignore this. Is > that > > > > okay? > > > > _______________________________________________ > > 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. > -- Simon Roberts (303) 249 3613 _______________________________________________ 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. 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