Re: [GNC] Why or why not to do year-end closing journal entries? (Close Books?)
Oops! Thanks for the heads-up, Geoff. I mentally tune out those figures at the bottom because I never understand what they mean, so I failed to cover them up when covered the others. And it was only after I'd sent the screenshot that I realized I could have cut off everything below the header line anyway. I don't have Liz's contact info, but sent John a request. Stan Brown Tehachapi, CA, USA https://BrownMath.com On 2023-12-04 17:48, Stan Brown (using GC 4.14) wrote: > > > Stan Brown > Tehachapi, CA, USA > https://BrownMath.com > > On 2023-12-04 17:29, Eric Chapman wrote: >> Stan, >> >> Could you please take a screenshot of the down arrow you are talking >> about and attach it? I can't seem to find it. >> >> Thanks! >> >> Eric >> >> On 12/4/23 20:25, Stan Brown wrote: >>> On 2023-12-04 17:07, Eric Chapman wrote: OK, it looks as if it's just as good not to close the books, if, e.g., I might want to run an income statement comparing 2022 and 2023. However, does that mean that every time I look at the "Accounts" tab I will see ever-growing amounts that reflect transactions from "Day 1" of starting to use GnuCash? And, correspondingly, I'll have to run a current year income statement report to see what I was able to see at a glance in Year 1? Seems less than ideal, but … ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: 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.
Re: [GNC] Why or why not to do year-end closing journal entries? (Close Books?)
Thanks, Stan. Got it. -- Eric Chapman GnuCash 4.14 on MacOS 14.1 Sonoma running on an Apple M3 Max computer. ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: 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.
Re: [GNC] Why or why not to do year-end closing journal entries? (Close Books?)
Thank you, Geoff! I got it to work. Eric On 12/4/23 20:43, Geoff wrote: Eric, see attached. Try making your screen wider - or maximising it. Regards Geoff = -- Eric Chapman GnuCash 4.14 on MacOS 14.1 Sonoma running on an Apple M3 Max computer. ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: 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.
Re: [GNC] Why or why not to do year-end closing journal entries? (Close Books?)
Eric, see attached. Try making your screen wider - or maximising it. Regards Geoff = On 5/12/2023 12:29 pm, Eric Chapman wrote: Stan, Could you please take a screenshot of the down arrow you are talking about and attach it? I can't seem to find it. Thanks! Eric On 12/4/23 20:25, Stan Brown wrote: On 2023-12-04 17:07, Eric Chapman wrote: OK, it looks as if it's just as good not to close the books, if, e.g., I might want to run an income statement comparing 2022 and 2023. However, does that mean that every time I look at the "Accounts" tab I will see ever-growing amounts that reflect transactions from "Day 1" of starting to use GnuCash? And, correspondingly, I'll have to run a current year income statement report to see what I was able to see at a glance in Year 1? Seems less than ideal, but … ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: 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 To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: 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.
Re: [GNC] Why or why not to do year-end closing journal entries? (Close Books?)
On 12/4/2023 8:07 PM, Eric Chapman wrote: Hi, Geoff, OK, it looks as if it's just as good not to close the books, if, e.g., I might want to run an income statement comparing 2022 and 2023. Eric But THAT would unlikely be a good reason unless you were not regularly running/storing such reports. Thus for every set of books I keep, that entity has a directory, with sub directories under it. One for the books (and the logs, etc.) and one for "financial reports". After a report is run, export to there. So you would have all back reports to compare. But also, a matter of dates. IF you have a YE date that is not a fiscal date (no external transactions on that date) you could use that date for the close the books transactions. For example, Jan 1st is a bank holiday so you could use that date. You could still run an end of the year income statement/P&L at the end of business 12/31. Note that some of us closing the books would be doing it for entities where we would do it manually, not using the the tool << for example, "pass through" entities, so we want to distribute gains and losses to accounts under equity, not just to equity itself. >> 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 - Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
Re: [GNC] Why or why not to do year-end closing journal entries? (Close Books?)
Eric, you can still do this if you close the books each year:
> OK it looks as if it's just as good not to close the books if, e.g., I
> might want to run an income statement comparing 2022 and 2023.
Be brave! Try it and see for yourself ;--)
Regards
Geoff
=
On 5/12/2023 12:07 pm, Eric Chapman wrote:
Hi, Geoff,
OK, it looks as if it's just as good not to close the books, if, e.g., I
might want to run an income statement comparing 2022 and 2023.
Eric
Geoff or anyone else,
However, does that mean that every time I look at the "Accounts" tab I
will see ever-growing amounts that reflect transactions from "Day 1" of
starting to use GnuCash? And, correspondingly, I'll have to run a
current year income statement report to see what I was able to see at a
glance in Year 1? Seems less than ideal, but …
Thanks,
Eric
On 12/4/23 19:40, Geoff wrote:
Hi Eric
To close or not to close is entirely a personal decision.
From https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Closing_Books
"Using Close Book Option
Since 2.2.4, there has been a menu item for closing the books under
{Tools->Close Book}. This item creates two zeroing transactions (one
for expense accounts, one for income accounts). Each account in those
portions of the accounts tree is reset to zero by transferring from
the equity account of your choosing."
Try it yourself and see. It is a non-destructive process that you can
simply cancel, either by deleting the two transactions it generates in
the Equity account you nominated, or closing without saving.
If you are interested in what other people do, this topic is discussed
periodically:
https://lists.gnucash.org/pipermail/gnucash-user/2022-January/099274.html
Regards
Geoff
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Re: [GNC] Why or why not to do year-end closing journal entries? (Close Books?)
Stan, Could you please take a screenshot of the down arrow you are talking about and attach it? I can't seem to find it. Thanks! Eric On 12/4/23 20:25, Stan Brown wrote: On 2023-12-04 17:07, Eric Chapman wrote: OK, it looks as if it's just as good not to close the books, if, e.g., I might want to run an income statement comparing 2022 and 2023. However, does that mean that every time I look at the "Accounts" tab I will see ever-growing amounts that reflect transactions from "Day 1" of starting to use GnuCash? And, correspondingly, I'll have to run a current year income statement report to see what I was able to see at a glance in Year 1? Seems less than ideal, but … ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: 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.
Re: [GNC] Why or why not to do year-end closing journal entries? (Close Books?)
On 2023-12-04 17:07, Eric Chapman wrote: > OK, it looks as if it's just as good not to close the books, if, e.g., I > might want to run an income statement comparing 2022 and 2023. > > However, does that mean that every time I look at the "Accounts" tab I > will see ever-growing amounts that reflect transactions from "Day 1" of > starting to use GnuCash? And, correspondingly, I'll have to run a > current year income statement report to see what I was able to see at a > glance in Year 1? Seems less than ideal, but … Here's the answer I got when I brought that up. In the accounts panel, hit the down arrow and select Total (Period). That shows only the total of transactions since the first day of the cur5rent period. That way you have e.g. YTD interest at your fingertips without having to run a report. You do still want to keep the Total column, though, because for Asset and Liability and Net Worth you never close the books anyway: the relevant total is always the total of transactions since Day Zero. Stan Brown Tehachapi, CA, USA https://BrownMath.com/ ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: 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.
Re: [GNC] Why or why not to do year-end closing journal entries? (Close Books?)
Hi, Geoff,
OK, it looks as if it's just as good not to close the books, if, e.g., I
might want to run an income statement comparing 2022 and 2023.
Eric
Geoff or anyone else,
However, does that mean that every time I look at the "Accounts" tab I
will see ever-growing amounts that reflect transactions from "Day 1" of
starting to use GnuCash? And, correspondingly, I'll have to run a
current year income statement report to see what I was able to see at a
glance in Year 1? Seems less than ideal, but …
Thanks,
Eric
On 12/4/23 19:40, Geoff wrote:
Hi Eric
To close or not to close is entirely a personal decision.
From https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Closing_Books
"Using Close Book Option
Since 2.2.4, there has been a menu item for closing the books under
{Tools->Close Book}. This item creates two zeroing transactions (one
for expense accounts, one for income accounts). Each account in those
portions of the accounts tree is reset to zero by transferring from
the equity account of your choosing."
Try it yourself and see. It is a non-destructive process that you can
simply cancel, either by deleting the two transactions it generates in
the Equity account you nominated, or closing without saving.
If you are interested in what other people do, this topic is discussed
periodically:
https://lists.gnucash.org/pipermail/gnucash-user/2022-January/099274.html
Regards
Geoff
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Re: [GNC] Why or why not to do year-end closing journal entries? (Close Books?)
Hi Eric
To close or not to close is entirely a personal decision.
From https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Closing_Books
"Using Close Book Option
Since 2.2.4, there has been a menu item for closing the books under
{Tools->Close Book}. This item creates two zeroing transactions (one for
expense accounts, one for income accounts). Each account in those
portions of the accounts tree is reset to zero by transferring from the
equity account of your choosing."
Try it yourself and see. It is a non-destructive process that you can
simply cancel, either by deleting the two transactions it generates in
the Equity account you nominated, or closing without saving.
If you are interested in what other people do, this topic is discussed
periodically:
https://lists.gnucash.org/pipermail/gnucash-user/2022-January/099274.html
Regards
Geoff
=
On 5/12/2023 11:32 am, Eric Chapman wrote:
Hi, again.
I think I read a discussion on the list about this, but now I cannot
find it.
I searched the PDF for these things: "year-end", "year end", "closing",
"end of the year". I was surprised how little I found.
I found this at "Duplicating an Account Hierarchy":
In some cases, it might be useful to duplicate the structure of an
existing data file in a new file. For example, you might want to try
out new accounting techniques without corrupting your actual
accounting data, or you might need to follow accounting guidelines
that require you to close your books at the end of the year and
begin each year with a fresh set of books.
Other than that I also found this at "Other Considerations for Expense
Accounts":
One point to consider is that as your use of GnuCash continues, the
balances in these accounts will grow, since there are usually very
few credit transactions that reduce the balances. There is nothing
wrong with this situation, but some users may wish to clear the
balances in their expense accounts periodically. Zeroing
transactions can be entered that transfer the balance of the account
to an Equity account. GnuCash includes a Closing Books procedure
that includes zeroing out expense accounts. Keep in mind that this
is not necessary, and that if you need to gather information on a
given expense account, you can use various reports to extract that
data without zeroing the account out.
(1) I'm from an old school accounting background, so I like the idea of
closing the books after all journal entries have been made for a fiscal
year. Is there a reason I should not do that?
(2) Is the "Closing Books procedure" referred to above the one under the
Tools menu called "Close Books"? I even searched the PDF documentation
for "close books" thinking that surely if there is a menu command named
that, then there will be info on how it's used and what it does, but
I've not found anything.
Once again I could use your advice.
And I remain grateful to the developers and the community of helpful
souls who seem very patient with us newbies to GnuCash
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[GNC] Why or why not to do year-end closing journal entries? (Close Books?)
Hi, again. I think I read a discussion on the list about this, but now I cannot find it. I searched the PDF for these things: "year-end", "year end", "closing", "end of the year". I was surprised how little I found. I found this at "Duplicating an Account Hierarchy": In some cases, it might be useful to duplicate the structure of an existing data file in a new file. For example, you might want to try out new accounting techniques without corrupting your actual accounting data, or you might need to follow accounting guidelines that require you to close your books at the end of the year and begin each year with a fresh set of books. Other than that I also found this at "Other Considerations for Expense Accounts": One point to consider is that as your use of GnuCash continues, the balances in these accounts will grow, since there are usually very few credit transactions that reduce the balances. There is nothing wrong with this situation, but some users may wish to clear the balances in their expense accounts periodically. Zeroing transactions can be entered that transfer the balance of the account to an Equity account. GnuCash includes a Closing Books procedure that includes zeroing out expense accounts. Keep in mind that this is not necessary, and that if you need to gather information on a given expense account, you can use various reports to extract that data without zeroing the account out. (1) I'm from an old school accounting background, so I like the idea of closing the books after all journal entries have been made for a fiscal year. Is there a reason I should not do that? (2) Is the "Closing Books procedure" referred to above the one under the Tools menu called "Close Books"? I even searched the PDF documentation for "close books" thinking that surely if there is a menu command named that, then there will be info on how it's used and what it does, but I've not found anything. Once again I could use your advice. And I remain grateful to the developers and the community of helpful souls who seem very patient with us newbies to GnuCash -- Eric Chapman GnuCash 4.13 on MacOS 14.1 Sonoma running on an Apple M3 Max computer. ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: 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.
