Equity accounts become negative when using copy to clipboard
Yes. That is because both liability and equity accounts are credit accounts. Manager’s developer adopted the convention that debits are positive and credits are negative. (Some accounting programs adopt the opposite convention. The decision is irrelevant, as long as it is consistently applied across the program.)
When you copy to clipboard, you are copying the actual numbers, whether positive or negative. When displayed in a built-in report like the Balance Sheet, standard accounting conventions are applied. Signs are reversed under liabilities and equity to reduce clutter. But when pasted into a spreadsheet, you see the negative values.
If you had liabilities in your test business, you would see they are also negative.
To add to @Tut, remember Equity = Assets - Liability
So
1,000 Equity = 1,000 Assets - 0 Liabilities
0 Liabilities = 1,000 Assets -1,000 Equity
1,000 Assets - 0 Liabilities - 1,000 Equity = 0
I think the question is, why are the results different from those shown in the report.
I noticed that the Manager does not pick up the values displayed in the report on the copy to clipboard. but rather from the actual values in the database.
I don’t know how it should be,
but I agree that copy to clipboard should provide the same value as that displayed in the report.
As a regular user, I like the WSYWYG concept Manager is built on, but I also like the convenience of simply adding up the numbers in a spreadsheet – which negative liabilities allows you to do.
The way I see it, the report layout provides a final presentable format while the Copy to clipboard format provides the raw data to be further processed in a spreadsheet. Both format fit the purpose they intend to serve.
I think the current Copy to clipboard format is the best format, but I will leave the stage for other users to express their opinions.
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I will go further than @Ealfardan’s opinion. The purpose of a built-in report is to provide a finished product consistent with standard accounting practices. The purpose of copying to the clipboard is to provide raw source material for user manipulation.
Since the program has no way of knowing what you plan to do with the data, why should it impose manipulation on you in advance? In many, perhaps most, situations, that would require massaging data, with attendant risks of error, before you could start your work. Just imagine the potential confusion when copying a report including contra accounts expected to be negative (in conventional presentations) that show up as positive on a spreadsheet.
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Thank you for the explanation everyone. However the way I see it is an inconsistency in the program (which I noticed in other tabs in Manager btw). When a user wants to export a report from the program it is expected to match their respected report view.
Now regrading the current behavior, I believe it would be better if there was an option before creating the report for users who wants to see a non/preformatted report
Copy to clipboard is not the same as exporting the report. Exporting the report (view screen) is through print to PDF. The copy to clipboard as in other tabs copies the report data so you can paste it into a spreadsheet where you can use it for example to create graphics or combine with other data, etc.
You acknowledged your understanding of the difference between what the report shows and what copy to shows. I would not support your idea to first see raw data when I am generating a report, why? I can get the raw data if needed and it is clear that the report presents liabilities and equity also as a positive number like assets with the implicit understanding that they are negative. That is common for most financial reports generated by other applications as well. Let’s move on.
What would the point be? You already have both options.
The fact that you see this behavior everywhere else in the program proves there is no inconsistency.
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Making “copy to clipboard” what it means it is ( which is what I meant by inconsistency like when some stuff don’t get copied and some become negative here etc.)
The report has the sign added based upon the position in the page (asset, liability, income, expense).
Which is a clearer way of interpreting the data to the human eye.
Putting the sign back in to represent it in its original form is much harder to do in software hence the reason data for analysis is in its raw form.
If you actually want the report in electronic format then select all the text of the report and copy that to another program.
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@Patch points out a third option, another compelling reason to leave things as they are.