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John Wiegley 2004-06-20 23:53:42 -04:00 • committed by johnw
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README
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@ -622,6 +622,144 @@ ledger entries, use:
ledger balance Liabilities:Huqúq
</example>
** Using Emacs to Keep Your Ledger
In the Ledger tarball is an Emacs module, =ledger.el=. This module
makes the process of keeping a text ledger much easier for Emacs
users. I recommend putting this at the top of your ledger file:
<example>
; -*-ledger-*-
</example>
And this in your =.emacs= file, after copying =ledger.el= to your
site-lisp directory:
<example>
(load "ledger")
</example>
Now when you edit your ledger file, it will be in =ledger-mode=.
=ledger-mode= adds the following commands:
C-c C-a ::
For quickly adding new entries based on the form of older ones
(see previous section).
C-c C-c ::
Toggles the "cleared" flag of the transaction under point.
C-c C-r ::
Reconciles an account by displaying the transactions in another
buffer, where simply hitting the spacebar will toggle the cleared
flag of the transaction in the ledger. It also displays the current
cleared balance for the account in the modeline.
** Using GnuCash to Keep Your Ledger
The Ledger tool is fast and simple, but it offers no custom method for
actually editing the ledger. It assumes you know how to use a text
editor, and like doing so. Perhaps an Emacs mode will appear someday
soon to make editing Ledger's data files much easier.
Until then, you are free to use GnuCash to maintain your ledger, and
the Ledger program for querying and reporting on the contents
of that ledger. It takes a little longer to parse the XML data format
that GnuCash uses, but the end result is identical.
Then again, why would anyone use a Gnome-centric, 35 megabyte behemoth
to edit their data, and a 65 kilobyte binary to query it...
** Using timeclock to record billable time
The timeclock tool makes it easy to track time events, like clocking
into and out of a particular job. These events accumulate in a
timelog file.
Each in/out event may have an optional description. If the "in"
description is a ledger account name, these in/out pairs may be viewed
as virtual transactions, adding time commodities (hours) to that
account.
For example, the command-line version of the timeclock tool (which is
written in Python) could be used to begin a timelog file like:
<example>
$ export TIMELOG=$HOME/.timelog
$ ti ClientOne category
$ sleep 10
$ to waited for ten seconds
</example>
The **.timelog** file now contains:
<example>
i 2004/10/06 15:21:00 ClientOne category
o 2004/10/06 15:21:10 waited for ten seconds
</example>
Ledger can parse this directly, as if it had seen the following ledger
entry:
<example>
2004/10/06 category
(ClientOne) 0.00277h
</example>
In other words, the timelog event pair is seen as adding 0.00277h (ten
seconds) worth of time to the ClientOne account. This would be
considered billable time, which later could be invoiced and credited
to accounts receivable:
<example>
2004/11/01 (INV#1) ClientOne, Inc.
Receivable:ClientOne $0.10
ClientOne -0.00277h @ $35.00
</example>
The above transaction converts the clocked time into an invoice for
the time spent, at an hourly rate of $35. Once the invoice is paid,
the money is deposited from the receivable account into a checking
account:
<example>
2004/12/01 ClientOne, Inc.
Assets:Checking $0.10
Receivable:ClientOne
</example>
And now the time spent has been turned into hard cash in the checking
account.
The advantage to using timeclock and invoicing to bill time is that
you will always know, by looking at the balance report, exactly how
much unbilled and unpaid time you've spent working for any particular
client.
I like to =!include= my timelog at the top of my company's accounting
ledger, with the attached prefix "Billable":
<example>
; -*-ledger-*-
; This is the ledger file for my company. But first, include the
; timelog data, entering all of the time events within the umbrella
; account "Billable".
!include /home/johnw/.timelog Billable
; Here follows this fiscal year's transactions for the company.
2004/11/01 (INV#1) ClientOne, Inc.
Receivable:ClientOne $0.10
Billable:ClientOne -0.00277h @ $35.00
2004/12/01 ClientOne, Inc.
Assets:Checking $0.10
Receivable:ClientOne
</example>
* Running Ledger
Now that you have an orderly and well-organized general ledger, it's
@ -898,143 +1036,6 @@ launches =vi= to let you confirm that the entry looks appropriate.
-v ::
Display the version of ledger being used.
* Using Emacs to Keep Your Ledger
In the Ledger tarball is an Emacs module, =ledger.el=. This module
makes the process of keeping a text ledger much easier for Emacs
users. I recommend putting this at the top of your ledger file:
<example>
; -*-ledger-*-
</example>
And this in your =.emacs= file, after copying =ledger.el= to your
site-lisp directory:
<example>
(load "ledger")
</example>
Now when you edit your ledger file, it will be in =ledger-mode=.
=ledger-mode= adds the following commands:
C-c C-a ::
For quickly adding new entries based on the form of older ones
(see previous section).
C-c C-c ::
Toggles the "cleared" flag of the transaction under point.
C-c C-r ::
Reconciles an account by displaying the transactions in another
buffer, where simply hitting the spacebar will toggle the cleared
flag of the transaction in the ledger. It also displays the current
cleared balance for the account in the modeline.
* Using GnuCash to Keep Your Ledger
The Ledger tool is fast and simple, but it offers no custom method for
actually editing the ledger. It assumes you know how to use a text
editor, and like doing so. Perhaps an Emacs mode will appear someday
soon to make editing Ledger's data files much easier.
Until then, you are free to use GnuCash to maintain your ledger, and
the Ledger program for querying and reporting on the contents
of that ledger. It takes a little longer to parse the XML data format
that GnuCash uses, but the end result is identical.
Then again, why would anyone use a Gnome-centric, 35 megabyte behemoth
to edit their data, and a 65 kilobyte binary to query it...
* Using timeclock to record billable time
The timeclock tool makes it easy to track time events, like clocking
into and out of a particular job. These events accumulate in a
timelog file.
Each in/out event may have an optional description. If the "in"
description is a ledger account name, these in/out pairs may be viewed
as virtual transactions, adding time commodities (hours) to that
account.
For example, the command-line version of the timeclock tool (which is
written in Python) could be used to begin a timelog file like:
<example>
$ export TIMELOG=$HOME/.timelog
$ ti ClientOne category
$ sleep 10
$ to waited for ten seconds
</example>
The **.timelog** file now contains:
<example>
i 2004/10/06 15:21:00 ClientOne category
o 2004/10/06 15:21:10 waited for ten seconds
</example>
Ledger can parse this directly, as if it had seen the following ledger
entry:
<example>
2004/10/06 category
(ClientOne) 0.00277h
</example>
In other words, the timelog event pair is seen as adding 0.00277h (ten
seconds) worth of time to the ClientOne account. This would be
considered billable time, which later could be invoiced and credited
to accounts receivable:
<example>
2004/11/01 (INV#1) ClientOne, Inc.
Receivable:ClientOne $0.10
ClientOne -0.00277h @ $35.00
</example>
The above transaction converts the clocked time into an invoice for
the time spent, at an hourly rate of $35. Once the invoice is paid,
the money is deposited from the receivable account into a checking
account:
<example>
2004/12/01 ClientOne, Inc.
Assets:Checking $0.10
Receivable:ClientOne
</example>
And now the time spent has been turned into hard cash in the checking
account.
The advantage to using timeclock and invoicing to bill time is that
you will always know, by looking at the balance report, exactly how
much unbilled and unpaid time you've spent working for any particular
client.
I like to =!include= my timelog at the top of my company's accounting
ledger, with the attached prefix "Billable":
<example>
; -*-ledger-*-
; This is the ledger file for my company. But first, include the
; timelog data, entering all of the time events within the umbrella
; account "Billable".
!include /home/johnw/.timelog Billable
; Here follows this fiscal year's transactions for the company.
2004/11/01 (INV#1) ClientOne, Inc.
Receivable:ClientOne $0.10
Billable:ClientOne -0.00277h @ $35.00
2004/12/01 ClientOne, Inc.
Assets:Checking $0.10
Receivable:ClientOne
</example>
Footnotes:
[1] In some special cases, it will automatically balance the entry
for you.