Re: Enhancement Request for GNUcash

[Dean Gibson]

On 2017-12-05 09:16, Fred Bone wrote:

On 5 December 2017 at 8:46, Mike or Penny Novack said:


Most of us reading this are having more than a little difficulty
understanding for WHAT you are asking.




I have NO PROBLEM understanding what he is asking for, & you hit it on 
the head.


This group tries so hard to help people with zero sense in accounting.  
So, when a request comes by, that represents a fundamental departure 
from anything RESEMBLING sanity, it's hard to see the difference.  Not a 
complaint, just an observation.


I have saved the OP's message & will repost it next April 1:

On 2017-12-04 11:39, Jesse Cochran wrote:

To whom it may concern,
Given how limited and un-free our monetary system is nowadays, I think GNUcash 
would make a great tool for the following freedoms below:

0 > The Freedom to modify your starting and ending balance. This means you can 
take a @200 balance (yes, I'm using the @ symbol for example use), and turn it 
into @20 without the need to transfer anything.

1 > The Freedom to add and subtract from your ending balance like a calculator.

2 > The Freedom to send and receive money in any amount you choose.

3 > The Freedom to exchange this currency for other currency of any amount or 
size.

So I am generically requesting a feature that allows this to be implemented 
into GNUcash, just to exercise this right.

Thanks for understanding,

Jesse.

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Re: Enhancement Request for GNUcash

[Adrien Monteleone]

Jesse,

I think at least the first two requests are already implemented.

No one is stopping you from editing your opening balance entries.

You can modify them to your heart’s content.

Heck, I changed some of mine because they were initially estimates and I didn’t 
have all of my documentation. Once I did have those papers in hand, I edited 
them. (rather than enter ‘correcting entries', I knew the originals were 
estimates and that I was going to make corrections, and because these books are 
just for me, I saw no need to document this fact)

If I had some need to make any corrections now, years later, I could just do 
so, however, this might throw off reconciled accounts, so it would be best to 
do this as a correcting entry.

As for the second request, when you are editing your original opening balance 
entries, you can do math like a calculator in the debit and credit fields. (you 
can do this in any register)

So if your present opening cash on hand balance is say $300, just change it to 
be "300+50" and hit the tab key. GnuCash will obligingly do the math and change 
the amount to $350. Of course you’ll need to do this for both debits and 
credits as appropriate to make the transaction balance. (or just leave it as 
Orphan if you’re just playing games and don’t want to loose track of how much 
to back out when you’re done. Just open the Orphan register and fix all of your 
entries.) You can use all four major operators +,-,*,/ as well as () to change 
precedence. I’m not sure about ^ (powers) though I suspect you can since 
exponents are useful in present value equations which can be used in the 
Scheduled Transaction editor and so likely can also be used in any register, 
though that is just a guess.

As for requests 3 & 4, GnuCash doesn’t initiate actual transactions. You can 
only record them, either manually, or by importing them from a financial 
institution or other source. It is not a ‘payment processor.’ (though I’m sure 
lots of people would like it to be - especially converts from the Intuit world)

However, you are presently free to record whatever you please in GnuCash. You 
are limited only by your imagination and your willingness to figure out the 
transaction entry. This of course assumes you are keeping books just for you. 
If you are preparing legally required financial reports, you’ll have to abide 
the laws of your jurisdiction - not so free. GnuCash can’t change the law for 
you.

All of that should directly address your specific requests, however, I sense 
they are misplaced. Yes, our monetary system is not the best or particularly 
free. (I know of no country that has such a system so ‘our’ would apply 
everywhere) But I don’t think ‘free’ with respect to monetary systems implies 
some of the things you think it does. Hard money, a la, gold and silver coin, 
is much more ‘free’ than consumer credit cards, but they still don’t give you 
the magical or fanciful ability to simply multiply your current balance (by 
altering your original balance - post hoc) to any amount you choose. You have 
what you have, and that is that.

Finally, you are free not to use GnuCash. Other than actual accounting software 
options, you can use spreadsheets, your own customized database, or even plain 
text files. There’s even a plain text accounting website with its own formats, 
conventions, and just about anything you could imagine. It is probably the most 
‘free’ method of doing accounting because you aren’t locked into ANY method or 
format and your data is always portable. (of course, data quality and 
reliability might suffer your whimsical alterations of real life amounts, but 
that has nothing to do with your software choices)

Regards,
Adrien

> On Dec 4, 2017, at 1:39 PM, Jesse Cochran  wrote:
> 
> To whom it may concern,
> 
> Given how limited and un-free our monetary system is nowadays, I think
> GNUcash would make a great tool for the following freedoms below:
> 
> 0 > The Freedom to modify your starting and ending balance. This means you
> can take a @200 balance (yes, I'm using the @ symbol for example use), and
> turn it into @20 without the need to transfer anything.
> 
> 1 > The Freedom to add and subtract from your ending balance like a
> calculator.
> 
> 2 > The Freedom to send and receive money in any amount you choose.
> 
> 3 > The Freedom to exchange this currency for other currency of any amount
> or size.
> 
> So I am generically requesting a feature that allows this  to be
> implemented into GNUcash, just to exercise this right.
> 
> Thanks for understanding,
> 
> Jesse.
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Re: Enhancement Request for GNUcash

[Fred Bone]

On 5 December 2017 at 8:46, Mike or Penny Novack said:

>   Most of us reading this are having more than a little difficulty 
> understanding for WHAT you are asking.




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Re: Enhancement Request for GNUcash

[Mike or Penny Novack]

 Most of us reading this are having more than a little difficulty 
understanding for WHAT you are asking.

To whom it may concern,

Given how limited and un-free our monetary system is nowadays, I think
GNUcash would make a great tool for the following freedoms below:
What does the free or unfree status of a currency have to do with 
keeping track of it with double entry bookkeeping. Maybe give some 
example where an "unfreeness" would affect accounting. Is it THIS sort 
of thing? You deposit a check into your checking account and so record a 
transaction in that amount as of that date. But your bank probably has a 
hold on that amount until that check has cleared << you would NOT be 
allowed to withdraw your full bank balance until then >> Or do you mean 
something else?


0 > The Freedom to modify your starting and ending balance. This means you
can take a @200 balance (yes, I'm using the @ symbol for example use), and
turn it into @20 without the need to transfer anything.
With double entry bookkeeping EVERYTHING you do has to have equal debit 
and credit amounts. Are you possibly meaning "can I "rescale" EVERY 
amount in the set of books? << that would not violate equal debits and 
credits >>


1 > The Freedom to add and subtract from your ending balance like a
calculator.

I can't eve guess what you might mean by this.

 2 > The Freedom to send and receive money in any amount you choose.

Nor this one either. What limitation on the amounts being entered are 
you referring to?


 3 > The Freedom to exchange this currency for other currency of any 
amount or size. So I am generically requesting a feature that allows 
this to be implemented into GNUcash, just to exercise this right. Thanks 
for understanding, Jesse.


For a "what if"? You want a global change of currency at some specified 
exchange rate? << as opposed to the ACTUAL rate when the transactions 
become real >> You are making an unjustified assumption here, that all 
the things in your books would be exchangable in this way. Currency yes, 
but how about other assets that exist in the place of the original 
currency. You have a "book value" for those BUT do not know what the 
actual amount of currency they convert to until that conversion (to the 
first currency) has taken place. For example, your house here in the US 
might have a book value of $X but you do NOT know if that can be 
converted to #Y until/unless that house has been successfully sold.


Michael D Novack
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Re: Enhancement Request for GNUcash

[Aaron Laws]

On Mon, Dec 4, 2017 at 2:39 PM, Jesse Cochran 
wrote:

> To whom it may concern,
>
> Given how limited and un-free our monetary system is nowadays, I think
> GNUcash would make a great tool for the following freedoms below:
>
> 0 > The Freedom to modify your starting and ending balance. This means you
> can take a @200 balance (yes, I'm using the @ symbol for example use), and
> turn it into @20 without the need to transfer anything.
>
> 1 > The Freedom to add and subtract from your ending balance like a
> calculator.
>
> 2 > The Freedom to send and receive money in any amount you choose.
>
> 3 > The Freedom to exchange this currency for other currency of any amount
> or size.
>
> So I am generically requesting a feature that allows this  to be
> implemented into GNUcash, just to exercise this right.
>
> Thanks for understanding,
>

If you're feeling down on your luck and would like to change your balances
gratuitously, you'll still be constrained by the double-entry paradigm
embraced by gnucash. Try making a transaction earlier than any of your
other transactions (say, 2002?) debiting your chequing account for, say,
$100,000, and crediting your opening balance equity for the same amount.
This exercise is always a nice "pick-me-up" for myself, and maybe it will
help you realize your freedoms as well?

Jesse.
>
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Re: Enhancement Request for GNUcash

[David Carlson]

Are you asking for GnuCash to perform magic or just pretend?

David C

On Dec 5, 2017 12:25 AM, "Jesse Cochran"  wrote:

> To whom it may concern,
>
> Given how limited and un-free our monetary system is nowadays, I think
> GNUcash would make a great tool for the following freedoms below:
>
> 0 > The Freedom to modify your starting and ending balance. This means you
> can take a @200 balance (yes, I'm using the @ symbol for example use), and
> turn it into @20 without the need to transfer anything.
>
> 1 > The Freedom to add and subtract from your ending balance like a
> calculator.
>
> 2 > The Freedom to send and receive money in any amount you choose.
>
> 3 > The Freedom to exchange this currency for other currency of any amount
> or size.
>
> So I am generically requesting a feature that allows this  to be
> implemented into GNUcash, just to exercise this right.
>
> Thanks for understanding,
>
> Jesse.
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> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
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>
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