7 ms·

Well, you might want a computer to do all of the work and that's easier via a command line app (for most programmers) than doing it all in VBA including parsing

Well, you might want a computer to do all of the work and that's easier via a command line app (for most programmers) than doing it all in VBA including parsing a bunch of files and generating the entries. As for the GUI, still needs to be built on top of something, why not this. This actually looks really cool and I'm interested in checking it out. I've often thought about how cool it would be to have double entry accounting for every day life.

peteretep 11y ago
> you might want a computer to do all of the work What is "all the work" here? MoneyDance (which I've used for a few years now) imports directly from Amex, my checking account, and three different credit card accounts... It generally classifies correctly, but then I want to manually review each transaction classification manually as some snacks or electronics are business expenditures, some are not... My accounts are generally pretty complicated, but I'm yet to find a use-case that MoneyDance (or GnuCash, back in the day) can't support... I'm a programmer, and I love programming, but not everything needs my time and attention to program. I also (no longer) run my own mail server, just because I can.
- sophacles 11y ago
  MoneyDance doesn't appear to be a double entry system. The nice thing about double entry bookkeeping, is it allows some pretty complicated cash-flow tracking - so setting up your accounts for a small business or consultancy is a bit easier.
  - peteretep 11y ago
    > MoneyDance doesn't appear to be a double entry system You didn't look very carefully then
    - sophacles 11y ago
      All I found was an FAQ entry from MoneyDance talking about how underneath it's double entry, but they try their hardest to hide that fact from the users. So, yeah, I guess technically it's double entry, but not in a way that is immediately obvious for a lot of use cases.
      - peteretep 11y ago
        If you can explain to me which use cases it doesn't support, I'd be interested...?
  - e12e 11y ago
    I'm curious about this. I thought double entry book-keeping was mostly an artefact of manual/analog book-keeping. Humans are notoriously error-prone, and it's easier to avoid errors when two sets of numbers are supposed to balance out (ideally, exactly). How is double entry beneficial once all transactions are documented digitally? Could you give a somewhat concrete example? (Contrived or otherwise)?
    - peteretep 11y ago
      Double-entry refers to the number of accounts related to a transaction, rather than the process of entering it twice. When you think about it, all transactions have naturally (at least) a from and a to account. In the simplest example, I move $100 from one checking account to another. This is a pain to model in a spreadsheet, where I literally create two entries, but very easy to model in an electronic dual-entry system where I create a single transaction with a from and a to end point, and an amount. Consider if I decide to buy a stock from my checking account. The from is my checking account, and then there are two "to" accounts - an account which models the value of the stock, and an account for the vendor's charges for the purchase. I might decide to aggregate all such bank charges to a single virtual account for this purpose. In this case, that virtual account would be the same as a "category" in a spreadsheet based model. It can also make budgeting and cash-flow visualization easier. I have a virtual account called "Holiday Budget", which makes a transaction to another virtual account called "Spent on Holidays" of $x every month. Whenever I spend money on a holiday item from my checking account, the "from" is my checking account, and the "to" is my "Holiday Budget". This keeps my net-worth and budgeting reports very simple - they say I spend the same $x on holidays every month - while accounting for some very lumpy spending. I can easily see if I'm over or under budget by looking at the value of the virtual account "Holiday Budget" at any point. It makes recording the value of unconventional assets easier. When I buy a laptop, I create a new account for the laptop, and transfer the money from my checking account to the virtual account that represents the value of the laptop. Every month, I draw down money from the laptop account in to an account called "depreciation". This helps me keep my budget reports insulated from lumpy spending too. A big use-case as well for me is the purchase of expensive refundable plane tickets - essentially, I buy personal futures in plane tickets when I see a good price. The virtual accounts that dual-entry allows means that when I buy a refundable ticket, I treat it as an asset in a virtual account until it's used. Again, this helps me track my spending and budgetting more effectively.
- jegutman 11y ago
  Thanks for sharing moneydance, looks interesting and I was unfamiliar.
leni536 11y ago
> I've often thought about how cool it would be to have double entry accounting for every day life. I have a hard time imagining something that is less cool than accounting. It's certainly a good idea though.

peteretep 11y ago

> you might want a computer to do all of the work What is "all the work" here? MoneyDance (which I've used for a few years now) imports directly from Amex, my checking account, and three different credit card accounts... It generally classifies correctly, but then I want to manually review each transaction classification manually as some snacks or electronics are business expenditures, some are not... My accounts are generally pretty complicated, but I'm yet to find a use-case that MoneyDance (or GnuCash, back in the day) can't support... I'm a programmer, and I love programming, but not everything needs my time and attention to program. I also (no longer) run my own mail server, just because I can.

sophacles 11y ago
MoneyDance doesn't appear to be a double entry system. The nice thing about double entry bookkeeping, is it allows some pretty complicated cash-flow tracking - so setting up your accounts for a small business or consultancy is a bit easier.
- peteretep 11y ago
  > MoneyDance doesn't appear to be a double entry system You didn't look very carefully then
  - sophacles 11y ago
    All I found was an FAQ entry from MoneyDance talking about how underneath it's double entry, but they try their hardest to hide that fact from the users. So, yeah, I guess technically it's double entry, but not in a way that is immediately obvious for a lot of use cases.
    - peteretep 11y ago
      If you can explain to me which use cases it doesn't support, I'd be interested...?
- e12e 11y ago
  I'm curious about this. I thought double entry book-keeping was mostly an artefact of manual/analog book-keeping. Humans are notoriously error-prone, and it's easier to avoid errors when two sets of numbers are supposed to balance out (ideally, exactly). How is double entry beneficial once all transactions are documented digitally? Could you give a somewhat concrete example? (Contrived or otherwise)?
  - peteretep 11y ago
    Double-entry refers to the number of accounts related to a transaction, rather than the process of entering it twice. When you think about it, all transactions have naturally (at least) a from and a to account. In the simplest example, I move $100 from one checking account to another. This is a pain to model in a spreadsheet, where I literally create two entries, but very easy to model in an electronic dual-entry system where I create a single transaction with a from and a to end point, and an amount. Consider if I decide to buy a stock from my checking account. The from is my checking account, and then there are two "to" accounts - an account which models the value of the stock, and an account for the vendor's charges for the purchase. I might decide to aggregate all such bank charges to a single virtual account for this purpose. In this case, that virtual account would be the same as a "category" in a spreadsheet based model. It can also make budgeting and cash-flow visualization easier. I have a virtual account called "Holiday Budget", which makes a transaction to another virtual account called "Spent on Holidays" of $x every month. Whenever I spend money on a holiday item from my checking account, the "from" is my checking account, and the "to" is my "Holiday Budget". This keeps my net-worth and budgeting reports very simple - they say I spend the same $x on holidays every month - while accounting for some very lumpy spending. I can easily see if I'm over or under budget by looking at the value of the virtual account "Holiday Budget" at any point. It makes recording the value of unconventional assets easier. When I buy a laptop, I create a new account for the laptop, and transfer the money from my checking account to the virtual account that represents the value of the laptop. Every month, I draw down money from the laptop account in to an account called "depreciation". This helps me keep my budget reports insulated from lumpy spending too. A big use-case as well for me is the purchase of expensive refundable plane tickets - essentially, I buy personal futures in plane tickets when I see a good price. The virtual accounts that dual-entry allows means that when I buy a refundable ticket, I treat it as an asset in a virtual account until it's used. Again, this helps me track my spending and budgetting more effectively.
jegutman 11y ago
Thanks for sharing moneydance, looks interesting and I was unfamiliar.

leni536 11y ago

> I've often thought about how cool it would be to have double entry accounting for every day life. I have a hard time imagining something that is less cool than accounting. It's certainly a good idea though.