Sometimes you will want to spend money on behalf of someone else,
which will eventually get repaid.  Since the money is still ``yours'',
it is really an asset.  And since the expenditure was for someone
else, you don't want it contaminating your Expenses reports.  You will
need to keep an account for tracking reimbursements.

This is fairly easy to do in ledger.  When spending the money, spend
it @emph{to} your Assets:Reimbursements, using a different account for
each person or business that you spend money for.  For example:

@smallexample
2004/09/29  Circuit City
    Assets:Reimbursements:Company XYZ     $100.00
    Liabilities:MasterCard
@end smallexample

This shows $100.00 spent on a MasterCard at Circuit City, with the
expense was made on behalf of Company XYZ.  Later, when Company XYZ
pays the amount back, the money will transfer from that reimbursement
account back to a regular asset account:

@smallexample
2004/09/29  Company XYZ
    Assets:Checking                       $100.00
    Assets:Reimbursements:Company XYZ
@end smallexample

This deposits the money owed from Company XYZ into a checking account,
presumably because they paid the amount back with a check.

But what to do if you run your own business, and you want to keep
track of expenses made on your own behalf, while still tracking
everything in a single ledger file?  This is more complex, because you
need to track two separate things: 1) The fact that the money should
be reimbursed to you, and 2) What the expense account was, so that you
can later determine where your company is spending its money.

This kind of posting is best handled with mirrored postings in
two different files, one for your personal accounts, and one for your
company accounts.  But keeping them in one file involves the same
kinds of postings, so those are what is shown here.  First, the
personal transaction, which shows the need for reimbursement:

@smallexample
2004/09/29  Circuit City
    Assets:Reimbursements:Company XYZ     $100.00
    Liabilities:MasterCard
@end smallexample

This is the same as above, except that you own Company XYZ, and are
keeping track of its expenses in the same ledger file.  This transaction
should be immediately followed by an equivalent transaction, which shows the
kind of expense, and also notes the fact that $100.00 is now payable
to you:

@smallexample
2004/09/29  Circuit City
    Company XYZ:Expenses:Computer:Software      $100.00
    Company XYZ:Accounts Payable:Your Name
@end smallexample

This second transaction shows that Company XYZ has just spent $100.00 on
software, and that this $100.00 came from Your Name, which must be
paid back.

These two transactions can also be merged, to make things a little clearer.
Note that all amounts must be specified now:

@smallexample
2004/09/29  Circuit City
    Assets:Reimbursements:Company XYZ         $100.00
    Liabilities:MasterCard                   $-100.00
    Company XYZ:Expenses:Computer:Software    $100.00
    Company XYZ:Accounts Payable:Your Name   $-100.00
@end smallexample

To ``pay back'' the reimbursement, just reverse the order of
everything, except this time drawing the money from a company asset,
paying it to accounts payable, and then drawing it again from the
reimbursement account, and paying it to your personal asset account.
It's easier shown than said:

@smallexample
2004/10/15  Company XYZ
    Assets:Checking                           $100.00
    Assets:Reimbursements:Company XYZ        $-100.00
    Company XYZ:Accounts Payable:Your Name    $100.00
    Company XYZ:Assets:Checking              $-100.00
@end smallexample

And now the reimbursements account is paid off, accounts payable is
paid off, and $100.00 has been effectively transferred from the
company's checking account to your personal checking account.  The
money simply ``waited''---in both @samp{Assets:Reimbursements:Company
XYZ}, and @samp{Company XYZ:Accounts Payable:Your Name}---until such
time as it could be paid off.

The value of tracking expenses from both sides like that is that you
do not contaminate your personal expense report with expenses made on
behalf of others, while at the same time making it possible to
generate accurate reports of your company's expenditures.  It is more
verbose than just paying for things with your personal assets, but it
gives you a very accurate information trail.

The advantage to keep these doubled transactions together is that they
always stay in sync.  The advantage to keeping them apart is that it
clarifies the transfer's point of view.  To keep the postings in
separate files, just separate the two transactions that were joined above.
For example, for both the expense and the pay-back shown above, the
following four transactions would be created.  Two in your personal ledger
file:

@smallexample
2004/09/29  Circuit City
    Assets:Reimbursements:Company XYZ     $100.00
    Liabilities:MasterCard               $-100.00

2004/10/15  Company XYZ
    Assets:Checking                       $100.00
    Assets:Reimbursements:Company XYZ    $-100.00
@end smallexample

And two in your company ledger file:

@smallexample
!account Company XYZ

2004/09/29  Circuit City
    Expenses:Computer:Software            $100.00
    Accounts Payable:Your Name           $-100.00

2004/10/15  Company XYZ
    Accounts Payable:Your Name            $100.00
    Assets:Checking                      $-100.00

!end
@end smallexample

(Note: The @samp{!account} above means that all accounts mentioned in
the file are children of that account.  In this case it means that all
activity in the file relates to Company XYZ).

After creating these transactions, you will always know that $100.00 was
spent using your MasterCard on behalf of Company XYZ, and that Company
XYZ spent the money on computer software and paid it back about two
weeks later.