financial accounts

[Rees Watkins]

Hi

I am trying to figure out financial accounts in ofbiz. I have not been able to find any examples or explanations. Does anyone have any resource they can share on how these work?

Thank you
Rees

[Sharan-F]

Hi Rees

I responded to someone that asked a similar question on the mailing list a few months ago. Here's the link to that:

http://www.nabble.com/forum/ViewPost.jtp?post=20353472&framed=y

I also volunteered to have a go a putting together some documentation on accounting on the Wiki. It's a work in progress but here's the link to the Financial Accounts bit so far.

http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBIZ/06+Financial+Accounts

Hope this helps.

Thanks
Sharan

Rees Watkins wrote

Hi

I am trying to figure out financial accounts in ofbiz. I have not been able to find any examples or explanations. Does anyone have any resource they can share on how these work?

Thank you
Rees

[Jacques Le Roux]

Wiki : http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBIZ/06+Financial+Accounts, thanks to Sharan

Jacques

From: "Rees Watkins" <[hidden email]>
Hi

I am trying to figure out financial accounts in ofbiz. I have not been able to find any examples or explanations. Does anyone have
any resource they can share on how these work?

Thank you
Rees

[Wicus]

Even after our accounting HOD (Head of Department) and bookkeeper reviewed Sharan's notes @ http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBIZ/Accounting+Manager , uncertainty still rules in these regards.

Could someone therefore please give a more "laymans explanation" on the difference between "Financial Accounts" and "Billing Accounts" ?

Thanks in advance.

Wicus

[Wicus]

Sharan, Jacques and Rees,

As I have been pondering over the "Billing Accounts" and "Financial Accounts" relationship within OFBiz, the following has come to mind.

With another Accounting Package we reviewed, PASTEL EVOLUTION, I noticed that should one do a debtors invoice, it will be posted within the DEBTORS MODULE (specific debtor's account) on the debit side, WHILST a corresponding debit will be made in the General Ledger's RECEIVABLES CONTROL account. (Please Note: This is NOT a CONTRA entry)

Exactly the same operation will happen with a creditor's transaction, yet all on the credit side of the T accounts. (Creditors Module with specific account will cause a credit entry, with a credit entry in the General Ledger ACCOUNTS PAYABLE control account)

Would I be correct in stating that OFBiz does not distinguise between a DEBTORS and CREDITORS module, yet uses the BILLING ACCOUNT feature in this same principle....?  

                                                         
                                               


As I noticed from Sharan's notes on the wiki, the FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS ONLY allows DEPOSITS, WITHDRAWALS and ADJUSTMENTS type transactions....

This sounds to me like a classic example of BANK accounts (albeit Cash Books)

Therefore, for each party, being a company within OFBiz, under our control, we (OFBiz) MUST configure at least one FINANCIAL ACCOUNT for that specific party (company)....

The above statement does not sound very sound to me, especially when referring to your "NOTES" under point 2 with the Definition of Financial Accounts..... More clarity would be appreciated here ...

I hope I haven't tired to many eyes with this post, yet should another gain from it, it's worth the tired fingers

Thanks

[Sharan-F]

Hi Wicus

From my side the easy answer to your question is 'I dont know'.

Please remember that I'm learning Ofbiz too and the documentation I'm trying to put together on the Wiki is currently an un-reviewed draft so is not definitive or even part of any formal documentation. Once that draft is complete I'll ask on the mailing list for any feedback, corrections or comments.

My personal thoughts are that a Financial Account would be used to manage Prepaid Accounts only and (although I havent looked at Billing Accounts yet)  – I would guess that Billing Accounts is where you would look at handling customer statements and customer credit. The billing account would then link into things like Agreements / Payment Terms.

I think that you probably could use Financial Account like a Billing Account but in the end it's your choice of how you want to use it.

Hopefully someone with more knowledge on this will also respond to your post.

Thanks
Sharan

Wicus wrote

Even after our accounting HOD (Head of Department) and bookkeeper reviewed Sharan's notes @ http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBIZ/Accounting+Manager , uncertainty still rules in these regards.

Could someone therefore please give a more "laymans explanation" on the difference between "Financial Accounts" and "Billing Accounts" ?

Thanks in advance.

Wicus

[David E Jones-3]

Sharan,

It looks like you've put together some pretty good material in the wiki:

http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBIZ/06+Financial+Accounts
http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBIZ/05+Billing+Accounts

And this old page might be useful too:

http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBIZ/Billing+Account

Wicus,

I'm honestly not sure what more can be said!

Perhaps the most important thing to do is step back, and recognize  
that Financial Accounts and Billing Account have NOTHING TO DO WITH  
EACHOTHER! They aren't really similar in any way. The different uses  
of them are listed pretty well in Sharan's pages.

-David


On Jan 22, 2009, at 2:48 PM, Sharan-F wrote:

>
> Hi Wicus
>
> From my side the easy answer to your question is 'I dont know'.
>
> Please remember that I'm learning Ofbiz too and the documentation  
> I'm trying
> to put together on the Wiki is currently an un-reviewed draft so is  
> not
> definitive or even part of any formal documentation. Once that draft  
> is
> complete I'll ask on the mailing list for any feedback, corrections or
> comments.
>
> My personal thoughts are that a Financial Account would be used to  
> manage
> Prepaid Accounts only and (although I havent looked at Billing  
> Accounts yet)
> – I would guess that Billing Accounts is where you would look at  
> handling
> customer statements and customer credit. The billing account would  
> then link
> into things like Agreements / Payment Terms.
>
> I think that you probably could use Financial Account like a Billing  
> Account
> but in the end it's your choice of how you want to use it.
>
> Hopefully someone with more knowledge on this will also respond to  
> your
> post.
>
> Thanks
> Sharan
>
> Wicus wrote:
>>
>>
>> Even after our accounting HOD (Head of Department) and bookkeeper  
>> reviewed
>> Sharan's notes @ http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBIZ/Accounting+Manager 
>>  ,
>> uncertainty still rules in these regards. :confused:
>>
>> Could someone therefore please give a more "laymans explanation" on  
>> the
>> difference between "Financial Accounts" and "Billing Accounts" ? :-/
>>
>> Thanks in advance. :blush:
>>
>> Wicus
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
> --
> View this message in context: http://www.nabble.com/financial-accounts-tp21391744p21614088.html
> Sent from the OFBiz - User mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>

[Wicus]

David,

Going out on limb here...

Is it save to say, that both the Billing and Financial Accounts are "optional extras"...? Not crucial in the workings of OFBiz for a production setup...?

P.S. David, you remind me of one of my tertiary lecturers (Not meant in a bad way)

[David E Jones-3]

On Jan 23, 2009, at 1:44 AM, Wicus wrote:

>
> David,
>
> Going out on limb here... %-O
>
> Is it save to say, that both the Billing and Financial Accounts are
> "optional extras"...? Not crucial in the workings of OFBiz for a  
> production
> setup...?

Yes, I suppose that is true. Of course, that is true of every part of  
OFBiz. Technically everything is optional, it just depends on what the  
end-user organization needs and wants. For some organizations these  
would not be optional at all and would be critical functionality, and  
for others they wouldn't matter.

However, you might be surprised at how often the need for these comes  
up. The only to tell is with thorough analysis and design...

> P.S. David, you remind me of one of my tertiary lecturers (Not meant  
> in a
> bad way)

If that's the case, at the very least my comments should be a good  
sleep aid. ;)

-David

[Wicus]

David,

Hopefully this is my last question in this thread, and I can get directed in the right direction...

I wish to generate reports on:-

1.) Customer Balances
2.) Supplier Balances
3.) Invoice Aging Reports (seperately for customers and supplier)
4.) Customer Statements (which can be mailed or e-mailed) and
5.) Supplier Remittances (which can be mailed or e-mailed)

I do believe this to be a crucial requirement for any company using OFBiz (yet, then I might be wrong)

And for the life of me, I simply can't get it done ....

Currently I'm lost in ... cyberspace... with no much understanding

Any advice or direction would be appreciated.


P.S> Be aware :-  Noob in training
Currently the "end-user" interfaces .... later the framework ...

Enjoy your weekend and have a cold frosty one

[Milind P]

I believe that David's points are right on (obviously; because he has been
on this for so long that he can recite in his sleep).  But a specific
example will help.

Customer Balances are a great example. If I were running a service center
(as an operations person), I couldn't care less about Customer Balances; but
would be interested in how many service requests were closed. ofBiz is a
great framework to work with; but with a frameworks, you get the raw marble.
You still have to chisel it to make a Michael Angelo.

Ok. So for now, let's assume that you are in the financial sector; where you
decide that customer balances are critical. Please note that you are making
this choice (criticalness of the data). How do you decide how to update
balances on payments? Are you a NGO that decides not to charge interest on
certain types of loans to certain customers? In which case, all payments
goes to paying back the principal. Are you a for-profit bank that holds a
fixed-rate mortage for an individual? In which case, part of the money goes
to paying the interest and part of it goes to paying the prinicpal and that
each month, this amount is slightly different even with a fixed monthly
payment.

So as you can see, ofBiz can cater to a lot of different needs. Your needs
are specific to one type of industry. As with marble, you can make ofBiz
your own.

Regards
-- Milind




On Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 3:36 AM, Wicus <[hidden email]> wrote:

>
> David,
>
> Hopefully this is my last question in this thread, and I can get directed
> in
> the right direction...
>
> I wish to generate reports on:-
>
> 1.) Customer Balances
> 2.) Supplier Balances
> 3.) Invoice Aging Reports (seperately for customers and supplier)
> 4.) Customer Statements (which can be mailed or e-mailed) and
> 5.) Supplier Remittances (which can be mailed or e-mailed)
>
> I do believe this to be a crucial requirement for any company using OFBiz
> (yet, then I might be wrong)
>
> And for the life of me, I simply can't get it done .... :,(
>
> Currently I'm lost in ... cyberspace... with no much understanding
>
> Any advice or direction would be appreciated.
>
>
> P.S> Be aware :- :working: Noob in training
> Currently the "end-user" interfaces .... later the framework ...
>
> Enjoy your weekend and have a cold frosty one :drunk:
>
> --
> View this message in context:
> http://www.nabble.com/financial-accounts-tp21391744p21622935.html
> Sent from the OFBiz - User mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>
>

[Wicus]

David,

Hopefully this is my last question in this thread, and I can get directed in the right direction...

I wish to generate reports on:-

1.) Customer Balances
2.) Supplier Balances
3.) Invoice Aging Reports (seperately for customers and supplier)
4.) Customer Statements (which can be mailed or e-mailed) and
5.) Supplier Remittances (which can be mailed or e-mailed)

I do believe this to be a crucial requirement for any company using OFBiz (yet, then I might be wrong)

And for the life of me, I simply can't get it done ....

Currently I'm lost in ... cyberspace... with no much understanding

Any advice or direction would be appreciated.


P.S> Be aware :-  Noob in training
Currently the "end-user" interfaces .... later the framework ...

Enjoy your weekend and have a cold frosty one