Thanks Phil, so I’m not completely insane then. I too try to remember to factor in signs because GnuCash works that way. I was just throwing in my 2¢ for taking a step back for perspective that maybe can be considered in a future release. (5.0 maybe?)
As for danger in generating confusion, the app already throws people at least in the middle of the pool of accounting. Being consistent with accounting text resources might reduce confusion. (in my humble opinion) If texts don’t refer to credit accounts as ’normally negative’, or don’t address or present ’sign’ at all, then people learning on their own would come to GnuCash and see a similar approach. I presently have my reversed balance accounts setting to ‘Credit accounts’ because that way, negative values tell me I have a contra-account balance. Short of seeing the balance as Dr. or Cr., that’s the best I can get at the moment. Christopher, I’ll add a big ’Thank You’ for tackling this. I understand you have program constraints to work in and can’t re-build the house for the kitchen sink. Even if it isn't the optimum, if it is at least consistent and works properly, that is better than not. Regards, Adrien > On Apr 27, 2020 w18d118, at 1:43 PM, Phil Longstaff > <phil.longst...@gmail.com> wrote: > > I agree with what you say about positive and negative with respect to > budgeting assets and liabilities. However, if I have a transaction which > pays down a loan, and then add that loan to the budget report, the actual > value is displayed as negative. That is why I budget paying down a loan > with a negative value. > > I understand what you are saying about budget outlays always being > positive. That also makes sense. However, it doesn't match what gnucash > currently does. > > Yes, it would be more straightforward to budget either a CR or a DB, and > then "amount left to budget" would be sum(DB) - sum(CR). However, that > would make it more confusing for non-accountants. _______________________________________________ gnucash-devel mailing list gnucash-devel@gnucash.org https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-devel
