On 1/15/2018 10:26 AM, Jack Whyte wrote: > Thanks Ken > > I wrote a reply before reading yours! > > The file is very large and unwieldy already - are there any limits on the > file size? One of the impacts is also that each time I update the file at > least one copy is made - the folder on my MAC for December grew to >130MB. > > JACK > > On 15 January 2018 at 16:11, Ken Pyzik <py...@cox.net> wrote: > >> David -- Excellent point. To expand upon it let's demonstrate this: >> >> At 12/31/2017 -- you have balances in all your accounts -- for brevity, >> will just use one real simple example: >> >> At 12/31/2017 - let's assume the checking account has a balance of $500. >> If you eliminate all 2017 transactions, the balance would be different -- >> as it would be the balance as of the end of 2016 (since the net effect of >> all of the 2017 transactions would have been eliminated). Now let's say >> at the end of 2016, the balance of the checking account was $1200 (i.e., as >> a result of all the transactions for 2017, the net effect was a -$700). >> But you eliminated the transactions so the starting balance is now $1200 -- >> but that is not what your starting balance was on 1/1/2018. >> >> So, one could isolate all the 2017 transactions -- place them in 2017 >> accounts -- calculate the net effect of all of those transactions on each >> account -- plug "net-effect-transactions" to the existing accounts with >> contra (balancing transactions) to "other balancing / opening balances >> adjustments account" and in effect do what you want. But the labor to do >> this would probably be more than just doing as David has said -- start a >> new file for 2018. >> >> Finally, if you really want to isolate 2017 - you could set up "checking >> account-2017 " and then another "checking account -2018' as 2 separate >> accounts and start charging the new expenses, etc. to the new 2018 >> account. But again - this has a tendency to double all your accounts. >> That is why the reporting mechanism in there. You can have continuous >> accounts, and isolate, for reporting, a number of transactions for any >> given period (a month, a year, a calendar year, a fiscal year, a 6-30 to >> 6-30 time period, etc.) >> >> Hope that helps and did not confuse the subject. >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: gnucash-user [mailto:gnucash-user-bounces+pyz01=cox....@gnucash.org] >> On Behalf Of David T. via gnucash-user >> Sent: Monday, January 15, 2018 7:39 AM >> To: Jack Whyte <jvwh...@gmail.com> >> Cc: gnucash-user@gnucash.org >> Subject: Re: Year end issues >> >> No, there isn’t. The Close book feature simply creates a transaction that >> zeroes out your income and expense accounts as of a given date. >> >> In a double entry accounting system, if you delete the expense side of the >> transaction, what do you suggest doing for the Checking account side? If >> you are desperate to clear out older transactions, you will most likely >> have to create a new file with a new set of opening balances. See >> https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Closing_Books <https://wiki.gnucash.org/ >> wiki/Closing_Books> >> >> Of course, many people prefer to keep historical transactions, and use >> reports to extract subsets of their file as needed. >> >> David >> >>> On Jan 15, 2018, at 8:03 PM, Jack Whyte <jvwh...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> >>> Hi there >>> >>> I have used GNU Cash for a number of years to monitor my personal >> finances. I have just run the Tools > Close book function to clear down >> all my expense & income account balances as at 31/12/17 however I seem to >> have transactions in all of these accounts going back, in some cases, to >> 2009/2010. >>> Can someone please advise me if there is a straightforward mechanism to >> delete all transactions in these accounts - say, up to and including >> 31/12/2016 as I am concerned the file, currently at around 1.3MB, will >> become unwieldy and unmanageable. >>> Thanks & regards >>> Jack >>> _______________________________________________ >>> gnucash-user mailing list >>> gnucash-user@gnucash.org >>> 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 >> gnucash-user@gnucash.org >> 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 > gnucash-user@gnucash.org > 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.
Jack: I vaguely remember an answer to your question about file size from one of the team of developers. If I remember correctly it is only limited by the OS, memory, and drive size. At this time I would not worry about it. I imported my Quicken data dating back to 1990. I am running Windoze 10 (1 is 32bit other is 64-bit) on two different computers, it's a pain but; I keep my laptop in sync with my desktop machine by directly copying the data files when needed. Right now I stand at a file size of 45 MB, plus 10 roll backs in the same folder, each of which is roughly the same size. You can set the number of log/backup files in the Edit/Preferences menu, tab General. The particular folder I have it in has about 880 MB of files and sub-folders. As far as zeroing out the accounts for each year, you could do as Ken and David suggested and keep separate accounts by year but; there will be related to transactions going back to the previous year. Checks, credit cards and Accounts Payable/Receivable are a good examples. You would have transactions from 2016 and 2017 that you paid for in 2017 or possibly paid for in 2016 and would not easily know what you paid for. There are some cases where the taxing authority, and your tax preparer, will frown on that. IRS and state tax regulations can be quite a pain sometimes. --JEffrey Black M.B.A. _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org 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.
