151 lines
No EOL
6.1 KiB
Text
151 lines
No EOL
6.1 KiB
Text
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\f0\fs28 \cf0 Sometimes you will want to spend money on behalf of someone else,\
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which will eventually get repaid. Since the money is still ``yours'',\
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it is really an asset. And since the expenditure was for someone\
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else, you don't want it contaminating your Expenses reports. You will\
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need to keep an account for tracking reimbursements.\
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\
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This is fairly easy to do in ledger. When spending the money, spend\
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it @emph\{to\} your Assets:Reimbursements, using a different account for\
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each person or business that you spend money for. For example:\
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\
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@smallexample\
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2004/09/29 Circuit City\
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Assets:Reimbursements:Company XYZ $100.00\
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Liabilities:MasterCard\
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@end smallexample\
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\
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This shows $100.00 spent on a MasterCard at Circuit City, with the\
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expense was made on behalf of Company XYZ. Later, when Company XYZ\
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pays the amount back, the money will transfer from that reimbursement\
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account back to a regular asset account:\
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\
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@smallexample\
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2004/09/29 Company XYZ\
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Assets:Checking $100.00\
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Assets:Reimbursements:Company XYZ\
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@end smallexample\
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\
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This deposits the money owed from Company XYZ into a checking account,\
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presumably because they paid the amount back with a check.\
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\
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But what to do if you run your own business, and you want to keep\
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track of expenses made on your own behalf, while still tracking\
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everything in a single ledger file? This is more complex, because you\
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need to track two separate things: 1) The fact that the money should\
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be reimbursed to you, and 2) What the expense account was, so that you\
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can later determine where your company is spending its money.\
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\
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This kind of posting is best handled with mirrored postings in\
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two different files, one for your personal accounts, and one for your\
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company accounts. But keeping them in one file involves the same\
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kinds of postings, so those are what is shown here. First, the\
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personal transaction, which shows the need for reimbursement:\
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\
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@smallexample\
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2004/09/29 Circuit City\
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Assets:Reimbursements:Company XYZ $100.00\
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Liabilities:MasterCard\
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@end smallexample\
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\
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This is the same as above, except that you own Company XYZ, and are\
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keeping track of its expenses in the same ledger file. This transaction\
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should be immediately followed by an equivalent transaction, which shows the\
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kind of expense, and also notes the fact that $100.00 is now payable\
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to you:\
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\
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@smallexample\
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2004/09/29 Circuit City\
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Company XYZ:Expenses:Computer:Software $100.00\
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Company XYZ:Accounts Payable:Your Name\
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@end smallexample\
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\
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This second transaction shows that Company XYZ has just spent $100.00 on\
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software, and that this $100.00 came from Your Name, which must be\
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paid back.\
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\
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These two transactions can also be merged, to make things a little clearer.\
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Note that all amounts must be specified now:\
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\
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@smallexample\
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2004/09/29 Circuit City\
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Assets:Reimbursements:Company XYZ $100.00\
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Liabilities:MasterCard $-100.00\
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Company XYZ:Expenses:Computer:Software $100.00\
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Company XYZ:Accounts Payable:Your Name $-100.00\
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@end smallexample\
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\
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To ``pay back'' the reimbursement, just reverse the order of\
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everything, except this time drawing the money from a company asset,\
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paying it to accounts payable, and then drawing it again from the\
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reimbursement account, and paying it to your personal asset account.\
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It's easier shown than said:\
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\
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@smallexample\
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2004/10/15 Company XYZ\
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Assets:Checking $100.00\
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Assets:Reimbursements:Company XYZ $-100.00\
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Company XYZ:Accounts Payable:Your Name $100.00\
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Company XYZ:Assets:Checking $-100.00\
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@end smallexample\
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\
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And now the reimbursements account is paid off, accounts payable is\
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paid off, and $100.00 has been effectively transferred from the\
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company's checking account to your personal checking account. The\
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money simply ``waited''---in both @samp\{Assets:Reimbursements:Company\
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XYZ\}, and @samp\{Company XYZ:Accounts Payable:Your Name\}---until such\
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time as it could be paid off.\
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\
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The value of tracking expenses from both sides like that is that you\
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do not contaminate your personal expense report with expenses made on\
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behalf of others, while at the same time making it possible to\
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generate accurate reports of your company's expenditures. It is more\
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verbose than just paying for things with your personal assets, but it\
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gives you a very accurate information trail.\
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\
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The advantage to keep these doubled transactions together is that they\
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always stay in sync. The advantage to keeping them apart is that it\
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clarifies the transfer's point of view. To keep the postings in\
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separate files, just separate the two transactions that were joined above.\
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For example, for both the expense and the pay-back shown above, the\
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following four transactions would be created. Two in your personal ledger\
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file:\
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\
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@smallexample\
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2004/09/29 Circuit City\
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Assets:Reimbursements:Company XYZ $100.00\
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Liabilities:MasterCard $-100.00\
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\
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2004/10/15 Company XYZ\
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Assets:Checking $100.00\
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Assets:Reimbursements:Company XYZ $-100.00\
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@end smallexample\
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\
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And two in your company ledger file:\
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\
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@smallexample\
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!account Company XYZ\
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\
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2004/09/29 Circuit City\
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Expenses:Computer:Software $100.00\
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Accounts Payable:Your Name $-100.00\
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\
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2004/10/15 Company XYZ\
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Accounts Payable:Your Name $100.00\
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Assets:Checking $-100.00\
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\
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!end\
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@end smallexample\
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\
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(Note: The @samp\{!account\} above means that all accounts mentioned in\
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the file are children of that account. In this case it means that all\
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activity in the file relates to Company XYZ).\
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\
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After creating these transactions, you will always know that $100.00 was\
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spent using your MasterCard on behalf of Company XYZ, and that Company\
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XYZ spent the money on computer software and paid it back about two\
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weeks later.} |