Let us say you want to set up a contract as a separate job for a customer, so that you can see reports for that contract alone separately. This is done in GnuCash with a Customer Job.
As we said earlier, businesses can use this feature if they are doing multiple jobs for the same customer and would like to view reports of invoices for each job separately. We also saw that non-profits require event, project, or program-level accounting and reports. This feature will come in handy to meet these requirements.
In a similar manner, vendor jobs are used to group multiple bills from a single vendor. The use of the vendor jobs feature is optional. This feature is useful when you have given multiple contracts or projects to the same vendor, and would like to view the reports for a single contract or project separately.
There are some treatments to transactions that you may need once in a while. Voiding and adding a reversing transaction belong in this category, as is closing the books. We will briefly see when you might need them and how to apply them effectively.
Let's say, you issued a check to a vendor. As usual, you promptly posted the transaction in your books. The vendor found that the check was issued for the wrong amount, or you discovered that you issued it for the wrong amount. You then asked the vendor to return the check and issued a new check for the correct amount.
Now the question is what to do with the transaction entered earlier. One option is to delete it. Another option is to edit the transaction with the new amount and check number. Either of those actions will make it go away as if the transaction never happened. However, it is possible that you may need to revisit what happened for a variety of reasons.
GnuCash provides you with a more elegant option to handle this situation. The first check issued was an incorrect transaction, but the transaction did happen. You printed the check and sent it to the vendor. To represent this correctly in your books, GnuCash allows you to void the transaction in the register. With the cursor on that transaction, select from the menu Transaction | Void Transaction. GnuCash will pop a dialog asking you to enter a Reason for voiding transaction. The status column in the register with the header R will change to v. Voiding changes the amount of the transaction to zero but keeps a record of it in the register. Voided transactions can be viewed easily in the register at any time to remind us of adjustments we made in the records. This will preserve the history.
There is another reason why voiding is a better option. It is not uncommon that you later discover why you wrote a check for that amount in the first place. GnuCash gives you the option to resurrect the transaction. With the cursor on that transaction, select from the menu Transaction | Unvoid Transaction. Come back transaction, all is forgiven!
When do you void a transaction?
You void a wrong transaction to undo a mistake that actually happened in the current accounting period.
You can see only voided transactions by filtering the transactions using the Filter By dialog and the Status tab.
Let's say, you issued a check to a vendor. As usual, you promptly posted the transaction in your books. You forgot all about it. Months went by and you closed the accounts for that year. You are now in the New Year and you have just found out that the vendor didn't cash that check at all.
Now the question is what to do with the transaction entered in the previous year. Deleting and editing the old transaction are not valid options because you have closed the accounts for the previous year.
GnuCash provides you with a more elegant option to handle this situation as well. GnuCash allows you to reverse the transaction in the register. With the cursor on that transaction, from the menu, select Transaction | Add Reversing Transaction
It will add a transaction that has all the opposite entries to the selected transaction, so that the net effect is fully cancelled out. To reverse a transaction means to turn the transaction around, and nullify its effect in the books.
Let us fast forward to the beginning of the New Year. You have completed maintaining your small business accounts in GnuCash successfully for the first year. At the time of starting the New Year, you are wondering what the best way to start the New Year is. With GnuCash, we give you three options:
Pick whichever option works for you and also run it by your accountant.
Inventory management has the following essential characteristics:
GnuCash doesn't have an inventory management module. If your small business has inventory, here are some possible ways to handle it:
At the end of each month or each week, as the case may be, you can simply transfer the expenses into the appropriate expense accounts and adjust the asset value to match. The inventory management application or the spreadsheet provides the break up details of how the GnuCash entries were arrived at.
If you are using your vehicle for both personal and business purposes, IRS requires you to keep an actual record of destination, miles travelled, and business purpose. Estimated or approximate miles are not acceptable. So, you need some way of recording this level of detail. GnuCash doesn't have a special module for this. There are a variety of products and online services, called trip books or mileage-logging services, available that will help you to record and store this information. Some of the expense tracking services will also allow you to keep track of the mileage using your mobile phone. Please refer to the Selecting an expense tracking service section in Chapter 11, Data Import/Export: Use your Phone to Enter Expenses.
Once a month, you can accumulate the miles in a report or a spreadsheet and make an entry in GnuCash showing the amount, after applying the applicable IRS mileage allowance. Preserve the spreadsheet or report to provide break-up details of how the GnuCash monthly entry was arrived at. Check with your accountant or tax consultant first whether this is adequate in case of an IRS audit.
a. contains and all.
b. matches regex and a (.) dot.
c. does not match regex and a (.) dot.
d. contains and a (.) dot.