"Closing" - Isn't It About Time?
Add account/books closing. Many want it. It is not much of a reach to get to from the current "archive" function - totaling, and zeroing, categories, allowing zero balance accounts to be dropped (except if user set to remain).
At least, fix archive to keep investment accounts. Seems like a "balance forward" cost per stock per investment account (like categories and accounts) would allow a valid "cost-basis" calculation and, to facilitate reasonable ease of importing, the cost-basis amount needs to be made user adjustable anyway.
Support Staff 2 Posted by Jon Hoover on 26 Jan, 2011 04:58 PM
AVP2,
We've attached the enhancement ticket to this thread which will help increase this enhancements priority. Personally I would enjoy seeing us add this feature as well!
Thanks for your vote of support,
Jon Hoover, Moneydance Support
Support Staff 3 Posted by Angie Rauscher on 21 Jun, 2011 02:56 PM
Moneydance has now implemented a feature which permits users to mark an account as "Inactive". This feature is available in Moneydance 2011, which is offered as a free upgrade to those who purchased Moneydance 2010, and for $24.99 for those who purchased an earlier version of Moneydance. To see which upgrade you quality for you can use the key tester tool available at the bottom of the Moneydance purchase page.
Please let me know if I can be of further assistance,
Angie Rauscher
Moneydance Support
Angie Rauscher closed this discussion on 21 Jun, 2011 02:56 PM.
avp2 re-opened this discussion on 26 Jun, 2011 04:10 PM
4 Posted by avp2 on 26 Jun, 2011 04:10 PM
I just realized that, via careful use of the archive function and clever account setup, MD actually can do "closing".
You need to understand what accounts get their initial balance adjusted when their transactions are removed by the archive check box and setup appropriate (like assets) accounts for those you want to keep over more than one closing period. This takes some careful thinking, but looks like it will work.
The "help" file/manual info on the way archive handles removed transactions and adjusting initial balance could certainly be expanded upon with this in mind. If I succeed in getting my books setup usably for closing (I have begun), I may put some words together on the subject and send it in.
Support Staff 5 Posted by Jon Hoover on 28 Jun, 2011 02:05 PM
Avp2,
If you end up writing something helpful on this subject, please do send it in!
Thanks,
Jon
6 Posted by bgorrell on 15 Oct, 2011 07:44 PM
I'd like to add my vote for adding a "Close FY" feature. It shouldn't require an inordinate amount on the part of users to devise a "scheme" for coaxing a usable close from the archive feature. Please, give us a simple "Close FY Year" menu item with an appropriate warning dialog "OK / Cancel" button preceding the actual "Close FY" button. This a basic feature of all other "grown up" financial management apps.
7 Posted by avp2 on 03 Jan, 2012 12:42 AM
I take back my comment about clever use of existing functions being able to do "closing".
While I was able to manually get some closing functionality , it required too much effort, and careful procedure, to be worthwhile. I think "closing" will just have to be built-in to make it usable.
8 Posted by avp2 on 30 Jan, 2012 12:41 AM
After more testing of the "archive" function (in 803 & 805 on mac), I find the situation even less hopeful than I thought.
1) Non-linking of the "clear" transaction function so that clearing in one register clears the transaction in all registers is a real pain - not many will want to go through all their registers (I probably have more than 50) to find a transaction that does not archive the way you expect.
2) Investment account archiving seem sto be totally whacked. All my funds and register cash balances disappear after an archive with "only cleared transactions" unchecked. I get some kind of cash value in the archive that does not match previous cash or fund/stock values and an account having only a register cash value goes to zero.
3) Asset accounts are special and, normally, should not have their transactions combined to a single balance after archive - whether cleared or not. Most assets are "real" and need to be tracked for life.
Maybe whether to combine transactions in an account should be user selectable. A user settable function to set a time window for non-combining in each account would be nice too, i.e for each account's setup box have a "keep last xxx year's worth of transactions on archive" setting.
Support Staff 9 Posted by Angie Rauscher on 30 Jan, 2012 11:24 PM
Avp,
Thanks for this thoughtful and detailed description, it's very helpful as we work to improve this function. I've added it to the ticket.
Angie Rauscher
Moneydance Support
Angie Rauscher closed this discussion on 30 Jan, 2012 11:24 PM.
Angie Rauscher re-opened this discussion on 30 Jan, 2012 11:24 PM
10 Posted by avp2 on 31 Jan, 2012 01:41 AM
I hope you are talking about my suggestions and ignoring the "hopeless" comment part.
I was a bit surprised/frustrated to see the mess-up on the investment accounts. I thought this was not the case in the version of MD I used in 2009.
I think I suggested making the clearing function work across registers before and another user said he liked it the way it is now. But, if you want to "Archive", you will almost always want to do it for cleared transactions only and all but the simplest of account setups will have enough registers that tracking down the "partially" cleared transactions will make a lot of work.
I like to keep about 5 - 7 years of account transaction history (besides Assets), and a year-to-date category transaction history in my 'running" database/books. I think this is a pretty normal setup for many, especially a small business person. If the Archive did worked as expected and clearing worked across registers, you could almost do it by sweeping the categories with a "batch change" to an asset holding account and carefully double archiving each year (on dates separated by your desired window) end to get rid of too old transactions in your "running" database. That is what I thought I might be able to work out earlier anyway.
11 Posted by bgorrell on 18 Mar, 2012 07:24 PM
Hello Angie, Can you provide an update on current status of this "ticket"? 'Closing" a fiscal year is a basic function for most business and personal financial applications. My current MD database has transactions dating back to 2007 which becomes a larger issue with each passing year.
I've been experiencing freeze-ups and very sluggish performance since updating to Moneydance 2011. Often I find it necessary to quit and restart the application in order to "unfreeze" it. It's not clear to me if the cause is the large size of the database or if it's solely due to the latest update.
I recall reading that others were experiencing similar "Freeze-up" issues, which were resolved by turning of the "cash register" sound in MD 2011. This suggestion has has not resolved the issue for me and besides... I like that "cash register" sound thing. :))
Barry
Support Staff 12 Posted by Ben Spencer on 20 Mar, 2012 11:20 PM
I am afraid that I am not in a position to provide estimate on when suggestions may get implemented.
Unless you have a very large data file (40+MB) I think it is quite unlikely that the freezing you have experienced is due to the number of transactions you have entered. I encourage you to post in a separate thread the exact circumstances of the freezing.
If you do not use investment accounts have you considered archiving your data file?
Sincerely
Ben Spencer
Moneydance Support