[GNC] Fiscal Year: Preferences vs Properties
Hello again, Perhaps I missed earlier discussions about this, but is there a reason the Accounting Period is an attribute in the Preferences menu (and thus system-wide) rather than in the File Properties menu (as all the other company-specific items are)? Am I correct that every time I open a set of books with a different fiscal year, I have to go into Preferences to change the accounting period? If I don't do this, all the reports use the wrong start and end dates. This is nuts - I work with four different fiscal years here! A related issue is why the accounting period specifies a year at all. Surely it should just be the month and day, since an entity's fiscal period are the same dates every year (e.g. Sept 1 - Aug 31). I have the feeling I'm missing something basic about this.. Paul ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org 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.
Re: [GNC] Fiscal Year: Preferences vs Properties
Am I correct that every time I open a set of books with a different fiscal year, I have to go into Preferences to change the accounting period? If I don't do this, all the reports use the wrong start and end dates. But THIS "problem" is separate from "accounting period". Reports that require "effective date" or "effective date range" mean that is one of the things you always need to set via edit => options How else would the computer program know what your intent was? They are terrible at reading the minds of humans. Understand? When you relate this to "accounting period" you are already expecting the computer to have done some "mind reading" << he/she/they wants it for "current", he/she/they wants it relative to real time, etc. >> Normally, I am NEVER running reports "in real time" but usually for some time at least slightly in the past. For example, New Year's Eve I am not normally sitting at the terminal producing YE reports << OK, for many years I did babysit a LARGE corporate system doing "year end", but that took several days to complete >> With the non-profits I was keeping books for using gnucash, in most cases it'd be about two weeks after that I would be running "year end" reports << so the default year would ALWAYS be "wrong": I don't want the "current" system year but the "past" one. >>. Two weeks because I would first want to make sure the bank accounts were reconciled (remember "paper" bank statements). I might even have some transactions to enter first (with a date in the previous year), say had not yet done the YE "journal transactions". Michael D Novack ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org 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.
[GNC] Adding a new currency
Hi, Is it possible to manually add a new currency to the list of currencies? I will take care of updating the exchange rate. Best regards, Esteban A. Maringolo ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org 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.
Re: [GNC] Fiscal Year: Preferences vs Properties
I'm afraid I can't agree. Although what you say is true, it's needlessly bleak in laying out the possible approaches. Take Quicken, for example: every file (set of books) has the fiscal year as a property (defaulting to Jan 1 - Dec 31, but changeable). Every report has a date selection (like GnuCash) with various presets available. For example, one preset, available in virtually every report and graph, is "Last Year". This will always be the fiscal year that most recently ended. This way, I can go into any file, go a report, and select "Last Year" from the pull-down menu. That's it. I get last year's whatever report, for the correct fiscal period (regardless of what the fiscal year is). I never need to worry about the issue -- last year is always last (fiscal) year. There are other presets, like "Current Year" and "Year to Date", but (unlike GnuCash) they all relate to the fiscal year of the open file. In GnuCash, I not only have to remember that I've opened a file with a different fiscal year than the one I just closed, but I also have to check if the fiscal year has rolled over (because GnuCash requires the year be entered as well as the month and day). There are definitely much easier and less error-prone approaches to this! -Original Message- From: gnucash-user On Behalf Of Michael or Penny Novack Sent: July 07, 2022 10:47 AM To: gnucash-user@gnucash.org Subject: Re: [GNC] Fiscal Year: Preferences vs Properties > Am I correct that every time I open a set of books with a different > fiscal year, I have to go into Preferences to change the accounting > period? If I don't do this, all the reports use the wrong start and end dates. But THIS "problem" is separate from "accounting period". Reports that require "effective date" or "effective date range" mean that is one of the things you always need to set via edit => options How else would the computer program know what your intent was? They are terrible at reading the minds of humans. Understand? When you relate this to "accounting period" you are already expecting the computer to have done some "mind reading" << he/she/they wants it for "current", he/she/they wants it relative to real time, etc. >> Normally, I am NEVER running reports "in real time" but usually for some time at least slightly in the past. For example, New Year's Eve I am not normally sitting at the terminal producing YE reports << OK, for many years I did babysit a LARGE corporate system doing "year end", but that took several days to complete >> With the non-profits I was keeping books for using gnucash, in most cases it'd be about two weeks after that I would be running "year end" reports << so the default year would ALWAYS be "wrong": I don't want the "current" system year but the "past" one. >>. Two weeks because I would first want to make sure the bank accounts were reconciled (remember "paper" bank statements). I might even have some transactions to enter first (with a date in the previous year), say had not yet done the YE "journal transactions". Michael D Novack ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org 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 gnucash-user@gnucash.org 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.
Re: [GNC] Fiscal Year: Preferences vs Properties
> On Jul 7, 2022, at 7:05 AM, Paul Kroitor wrote: > > Hello again, > > > > Perhaps I missed earlier discussions about this, but is there a reason the > Accounting Period is an attribute in the Preferences menu (and thus > system-wide) rather than in the File Properties menu (as all the other > company-specific items are)? > > > > Am I correct that every time I open a set of books with a different fiscal > year, I have to go into Preferences to change the accounting period? If I > don't do this, all the reports use the wrong start and end dates. > > > > This is nuts - I work with four different fiscal years here! > > > > A related issue is why the accounting period specifies a year at all. Surely > it should just be the month and day, since an entity's fiscal period are the > same dates every year (e.g. Sept 1 - Aug 31). > > > > I have the feeling I'm missing something basic about this.. You're not missing anything basic, it's a design decision from the early days of GnuCash; the original design wasn't for business at all, that was bolted on later, and didn't put much emphasis on one user having multiple books nor sharing a book between users. Those design choices are deep and affect both code and stored data so changing them in a way that maintains some sort of compatibility is hard. If you look through the preferences and the way various configuration data are stored--online banking and report configurations for example--it's easy to find more instances of "user" data should be "book" data. No, fiscal years aren't always 365 1/4 days: The first and last fiscal years of an entity are usually truncated, as is one of the fiscal years when the entity changes the beginning of its fiscal year. Regards, John Ralls ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org 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.
Re: [GNC] Adding a new currency
> On Jul 7, 2022, at 9:23 AM, Esteban Maringolo wrote: > > Hi, > > Is it possible to manually add a new currency to the list of currencies? > > I will take care of updating the exchange rate. No. Currency in GnuCash is defined as "currencies recognized by ISO-4217". Everything else is a commodity. Regards, John Ralls ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org 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.
Re: [GNC] Fiscal Year: Preferences vs Properties
Thanks John. It confirms my fears, but it's good to know. Yes, I know well about truncated fiscal years; but if an entity is worth its salt, the short years are very few in comparison with the many years of healthily ticking over. And the start and end years always have a bunch of other special requirements / procedural quirks anyway. I guess there's nothing to do but live with it. Regards, Paul -Original Message- From: john Sent: July 07, 2022 12:48 PM To: Paul Kroitor Cc: GnuCash User List Subject: Re: [GNC] Fiscal Year: Preferences vs Properties > On Jul 7, 2022, at 7:05 AM, Paul Kroitor wrote: > > Hello again, > > > > Perhaps I missed earlier discussions about this, but is there a reason > the Accounting Period is an attribute in the Preferences menu (and > thus > system-wide) rather than in the File Properties menu (as all the other > company-specific items are)? > > > > Am I correct that every time I open a set of books with a different > fiscal year, I have to go into Preferences to change the accounting > period? If I don't do this, all the reports use the wrong start and end dates. > > > > This is nuts - I work with four different fiscal years here! > > > > A related issue is why the accounting period specifies a year at all. > Surely it should just be the month and day, since an entity's fiscal > period are the same dates every year (e.g. Sept 1 - Aug 31). > > > > I have the feeling I'm missing something basic about this.. You're not missing anything basic, it's a design decision from the early days of GnuCash; the original design wasn't for business at all, that was bolted on later, and didn't put much emphasis on one user having multiple books nor sharing a book between users. Those design choices are deep and affect both code and stored data so changing them in a way that maintains some sort of compatibility is hard. If you look through the preferences and the way various configuration data are stored--online banking and report configurations for example--it's easy to find more instances of "user" data should be "book" data. No, fiscal years aren't always 365 1/4 days: The first and last fiscal years of an entity are usually truncated, as is one of the fiscal years when the entity changes the beginning of its fiscal year. Regards, John Ralls ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org 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.
[GNC] Changing the UI Language
Hi, How can I change the language used for the UI of GNUCash? I have Windows in English, but my regional settings and location are Spanish based, but I want the UI in English as most of other apps. Couldn't find it in the preferences. Thanks! Esteban A. Maringolo ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org 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.
Re: [GNC] Changing the UI Language
Hi, On Thu, July 7, 2022 4:00 pm, Esteban Maringolo wrote: > Hi, > > How can I change the language used for the UI of GNUCash? > > I have Windows in English, but my regional settings and location are > Spanish based, but I want the UI in English as most of other apps. > > Couldn't find it in the preferences. This is in the FAQ. See: https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/FAQ#Q:_I_want_to_use_GnuCash_in_my_own_language which points to: https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Locale_Settings Most likely you will want https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Locale_Settings#Changing_the_Language_on_Windows > > Thanks! > > Esteban A. Maringolo > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. -derek -- Derek Atkins 617-623-3745 de...@ihtfp.com www.ihtfp.com Computer and Internet Security Consultant ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org 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.
Re: [GNC] Changing the UI Language
Hi Derek, Thanks for the reply, I searched for it in the docs but not in the FAQs, where I found it later and was going to self reply to my question. Best regards, Esteban A. Maringolo On Thu, Jul 7, 2022 at 5:13 PM Derek Atkins wrote: > > Hi, > > On Thu, July 7, 2022 4:00 pm, Esteban Maringolo wrote: > > Hi, > > > > How can I change the language used for the UI of GNUCash? > > > > I have Windows in English, but my regional settings and location are > > Spanish based, but I want the UI in English as most of other apps. > > > > Couldn't find it in the preferences. > > This is in the FAQ. See: > https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/FAQ#Q:_I_want_to_use_GnuCash_in_my_own_language > > which points to: > > https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Locale_Settings > > Most likely you will want > https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Locale_Settings#Changing_the_Language_on_Windows > > > > > Thanks! > > > > Esteban A. Maringolo > > > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. > > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. > > -derek > > -- >Derek Atkins 617-623-3745 >de...@ihtfp.com www.ihtfp.com >Computer and Internet Security Consultant > ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org 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.
