>>>>> Martin Blais <[email protected]> writes: > It would be useful to build a list of real-world use cases of virtual > postings and see if they can all be solved without or not - make a > compelling argument about the need for virtual postings.
I'd be interested to know your solution to the following problems, which were the reason virtual postings were created in the first place. Problem The First I was a treasurer for my local religious community. We had 3 physical bank accounts, and 5 virtual "community accounts". The physical accounts kept the actual money, and represented our relationship with the outside world; the virtual accounts indicated how that money had been allotted, and represented our relationship with the community. The banks only cared about the real accounts, and the community only cared about the virtual accounts. To prevent ridiculous amounts of double-booking, I invented virtual postings so that money deposited by a transaction could immediately go to "two places at once": both to the physical bank(s), and to the community fund(s). By reporting with --real I saw only the world's view, and by reporting without --real I saw the whole picture. Problem The Second Another religious duty I compute is effectively tithing (we call it Huqúqu'lláh, and it's computed differently, but that's another story). In order to compute the tithe owed, I accrue 19% of every deposit to a virtual account, and then subtract from that account 19% of every needful expenditure. The total remaining at the end of the year is what I owe in tithe. This tithing account is not a real account, as it exists in no financial institution; but it is real enough as a personal duty. By using virtual account, I can track this "side-band" Liability, and then pay it off from an assets account when the time comes. If I report with --real I will simply see how much I've paid to this Liability; and if I report without --real I see how much Huqúqu'lláh is presently owed. Those are the only things I've actually used virtual accounts for, and was the reason I added them. I've tried other schemes, like double-booking, but they became unwieldy enough that I had to give up on them. I have a feeling tagging might lead to a similar measure of complexity. The point is, is has to be simple enough that I can keep up with it regularly, and yet rich enough is expressivity that I'm able to solve the whole problem. Virtual accounts ended up fitting this bill for me perfectly in these two cases. John -- --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ledger" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
