I just find this, I use the transfer money button to transfer money from bank accounts to cash accounts, and my bank account, let say Bank A, Bank A has a balance -2000 already, but I still can do the transfer 1000 to my cash account. My Cash accounts then increased 1000. I think it’s gonna be better if Manager can prevent this kind of action, may be a warning box appear saying “You can transfer money or spend money when your balance is 0 (zero) or less”
It doesn’t really matter if I just have one bank account and one cash account, but I have more than one, if I have 2 bank let say A: -2000 and B: 1000 and I want to transfer 1000 to my cash account from Bank B but accidentally transfer it from A, its not really hard for me to find the error, but what if I have more than 2?
The purpose of an accounting system is to record transactions, not stop you from taking action. Some bank accounts have automatic overdraft protection, so a user might actually wish to make the payment or transfer, even knowing of the shortage of funds, to prevent some other problem. Or a bank account might be a credit card account, where every transaction but a payment of the statement or a refund will take the balance more negative (a contra account, in other words). In that case, the restriction you suggest would be a major impediment. You might also want to record the writing of a check, knowing that while the account has insufficient funds at the moment, you will make deposits to cover it before the payee receives the check and presents it for payment.
The Bank Accounts tab summary page and individual account listings both show account balances already. You must navigate through both of these in order to record spending money. So it is very easy to see whether the particular account has sufficient funds before entering the transaction.
As for finding errors, if you think about it, you will only be looking for an error if something has caused you to think one exists. At the Bank Accounts tab summary, all bank account balances are displayed. You can drill down to see transactions by clicking on any one. In the resulting account ledger that appears, transfers are clearly labeled. I cannot think of any easier way to find an error. And your suggested change to Manager would be of no assistance in reducing errors when the incorrect account happens to have sufficient funds.
In summary, your suggestion seems at first to prevent errors. But it would only prevent one kind of accidental mistake, but would prevent common, purposeful actions. And it would not help find a mistake after the fact. For that, existing features already furnish all the information you need.
