Discussion on Bank Accounts and Cash Accounts Tab Release

1

Am I the only one that does not like the re-introduction of the bank accounts Tab? To be fair to me, I don’t use Internal Cash transactions such as Petty Cash so there may be considerations that I am not aware of.

However, I would like to link up these posts and highlight some points made by Lubos himself!

Easier to decide where account should be created

Easier to search all cash transactions

Easier to see cash position

Easier to explain how to record cash transaction

All of the above very good reasons to merge the two accounts into one tab - including the fact that it reduces the number of tabs by one, which is also a benefit.

Reading the information from Lubos about internal versus external accounts in the latest release -

For example, accounts managed internally (petty cash, cash float) will have transactions recorded manually, there won’t be outstanding deposits or pending withdrawals, there won’t be any importing of statements, bulk-categorization using bank rules nor reconciliation process.

I see the point that Lubos is making. However, I would like to propose a solution that would address the shortcomings of one cash account tab, whilst still retaining the benefits of using one cash accounts tab.

Would it not be possible in the financial account to tick a box called External Account or tick a box called Internal Account. If External Account is selected, it would then show in the program for importing of statements, bank rules, reconcilation and if Internal Account, it would not show in the list. Just filter the view as per External or Internal account via a tick box in the institution edit setup? Or we really need is a filter here, rather than a new tab.

With Reference to Tab Name - I just want to highlight that we never actually came to a decision on this one - Possible renaming of Cash Accounts tab

With this latest change in mind, I will offer the following suggestions.

One Tab

Money Accounts - which will cover Bitcoin, Credit Cards, Petty Cash etc as everything is money.
Cash & Credit Accounts - Tut’s Suggestion which also works well.

I like the term Money Accounts as it suggests simple layman’s language which for me is where Manager shines - it is simple to use.

Two Tabs for Internal/External transactions

Money Accounts - for banks, credit cards, bitcoin transactions etc
Internal Cash - for petty Cash, cash float

As I don’t use petty cash etc, I will still only have one tab - the bank accounts, so it doesn’t really affect me, but I just feel that creating two tabs doesn’t make sense as there is very little difference between a petty cash and an actual bank account - you spend money, you receive money, you want to see transactions for that account etc etc. There is a lot in common - all you really want is to filter out the differences such as reconciliation! Creating two accounts creates more programming and duplication etc and removes all the benefits that were made when the two tabs were merged over a year ago.

Any thoughts?

2

This is actually how it worked. There was a checkbox on each cash account to indicate whether the account was “maintained” by financial institution. If checkbox wasn’t ticked, bank import, bank rules, bank reconciliation, pending status on transactions have been disabled.

That only shows how much cash and bank accounts are different. They are in fact so different, having them split into two separate tabs is justified. And not only cash & bank accounts are different in terms of features, they are also different how they are used.

Bank transactions are typically imported and categorized using bank rules. Cash transactions are created individually. This has implications on workflows. For example, Reference field on cash transactions will be automatically generated like it is on sales invoices.

What I wrote 1 year ago doesn’t reflect what I have learned in the last year. Now that tabs are separate, you will see both tabs being improved in their own way. There are a few features in the pipeline which will be added in upcoming days and will hopefully justify why the split has been made.

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3

As I don’t use Petty Cash etc, I will take your word for it. I just thought that I would highlight that it seemed to be a regressive step as I liked your reasoning last year for merging the two accounts.

I have had a think about names of tabs and I think that I would rather stick with your naming format as Cash Accounts works well for Petty Cash etc as most people think of cash as actual physical cash. Bank Accounts is the most intuitive name for banks and credit cards in terms of external institutions.

I still like Money accounts though :grinning: but I recognise its not necessarily intuitive in terms of external internal aspect.

4

Now that the account types are in different tabs, I can see clearly how some of our account type have been created incorrectly. However we now have thousands of transactions logged and they are all linked to purchase invoices, payslips etc. Would it be possible to change the account type, i.e. from Cash Account to Bank Account and vice versa?

5

There will be a way to move accounts between those two tabs (including all transactions). Ask in about a week.

6

This has been already been discussed in other topics and a solution is expected shortly.