Changeset - 8f1f957cabea
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Bradley Kuhn (bkuhn) - 11 years ago 2013-04-29 19:41:44
bkuhn@ebb.org
Initial documentation for Expense: documentation requirements.

This includes some additions to the example ledger files.
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accounts/config/config-npo.ledger
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@@ -56,6 +56,10 @@ account Expense:Main Org:Phones
 
    assert expenseChecker() or payee =~ /NEVER CHARGED/
 
    note Main Organization's Phone Expenses
 

	
 
account Expense:Main Org:Hosting
 
    assert expenseChecker() or payee =~ /NEVER CHARGED/
 
    note Main Organization's Network Hosting Provider services
 

	
 
account Expense:Main Org:Occupancy
 
    assert expenseChecker() or payee =~ /NEVER CHARGED/
 
    note Main Organization's Occupancy for Office Space and the like
accounts/org/main-org.ledger
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@@ -3,3 +3,16 @@
 

	
 
!include ../config/config-npo.ledger
 

	
 
2012-02-05 Office Supply Galore - Online Order
 
    Expense:Main Org:Office Supplies          $35.00
 
        ;Receipt: accounts/documentation/org/receipts/2012-02-05_office-supply-galore.txt
 
    Liabilities:Credit Card:Visa             -$35.00
 

	
 
2011/05/28 My Bad Billing Hosting - NEVER CHARGED
 
    Liabilities:Credit Card:Visa            $-100.00
 
    Expenses:Conservancy:Hosting             $100.00
 

	
 
2012/01/01 My Bad Billing Hosting - REVERSAL - NEVER CHARGED
 
    Liabilities:Credit Card:Visa             $100.00
 
    Expenses:Conservancy:Hosting            $-100.00
 

	
npo-ledger-cli-tutorial.md
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@@ -140,6 +140,64 @@ structures.  This allows member/affiliated projects to take their data and
 
run `ledger` commands against it, separately and without access to the other
 
`.ledger` files of the NPO.
 

	
 

	
 
Proper Documentation For Accounts
 
---------------------------------
 

	
 
Ledger CLI offers a flexible structure of tagging any entry, including
 
separate tags for parts of a split transaction.  This system uses those tags
 
to ensure proper entry is included.
 

	
 
### Expense Account Documentation
 

	
 
Each Expense account entries need to be tagged with an `Invoice`, `Receipt`,
 
or `Statement` tag.  The value of the tag is a relative path name of a file
 
elsewhere in the same repository that documents the specific expense.  For
 
example, an entry like this:
 

	
 
     2012-02-05 Office Supply Galore - Online Order
 
         Expense:Main Org:Office Supplies      $35.00
 
             ;Receipt: accounts/documentation/org/receipts/2012-02-05_office-supply-galore.txt
 
         Liabilities:Credit Card:Visa         -$35.00
 

	
 
shows that a purchase was made at Office Supply Galore's online store for
 
$35.00, and the file `accounts/documentation/org/receipts/2012-02-05_office-supply-galore.txt`
 
contains the receipt from that purchase.
 

	
 
#### payee with "NEVER CHARGED"
 

	
 
The only exception to the standard tagging requirement is when the payee has
 
been modified to indicate that the expense was `NEVER CHARGED`.  This is an
 
historical special-case.  The solution was originally design for the
 
following scenario:
 

	
 
Suppose an expense was expected — for example, a situation where you
 
gave a credit card number to charge something and the charge never came
 
through — but it turns out the charge never happened.
 

	
 
The recommended way to resolve this problem in the system is to just delete
 
the entry entirely from the Ledger file, and allow the VCS to log the fact
 
that the charge was expected, but the vendor never billed the credit card.
 

	
 
The reason the `NEVER CHARGED` payee text was added was to handle the
 
situation where the books included this charge, but the books were already
 
closed for the financial period (e.g., the books had already been audited).
 
Changing the payee was a method for documenting the expense.  You might use
 
it like this:
 

	
 
    2011/05/28 My Bad Billing Hosting - NEVER CHARGED
 
        Liabilities:Credit Card:Visa            $-100.00
 
        Expenses:Conservancy:Hosting             $100.00
 

	
 
    2012/01/01 My Bad Billing Hosting - REVERSAL - NEVER CHARGED
 
        Liabilities:Credit Card:Visa             $100.00
 
        Expenses:Conservancy:Hosting            $-100.00
 

	
 
However, going forward, you'd likely never enter anything the ledger
 
**until** you had real proof via an Invoice, Receipt or Statement that showed
 
the Expense did/should occur.  This use of `NEVER CHARGED` in the payee is
 
thus deprecated.
 

	
 
Copyright and License of This File
 
----------------------------------
 

	
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