Difference between revisions of "Talk:Chart of Accounts"

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m (moved Talk:COA to Talk:Chart of Accounts: Better title)
 
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I think this is a common misconception.  Everything is material!  As an accountant, you can make a judgement whether to worry about an error taking in to regard the materiality of the error - but any error is material in the sense that there should be _NO_ errors.
 
I think this is a common misconception.  Everything is material!  As an accountant, you can make a judgement whether to worry about an error taking in to regard the materiality of the error - but any error is material in the sense that there should be _NO_ errors.
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[quote]The COA follows accounting classifications underlying General Accepted Principles of Accounting (GAAP) in practice throughout the world.[/quote]
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I think technically, the COA provides information for GAAP - rather than GAAP prescribing the COA.  For instance - what IFRS/IAS standard prescribes anything about account coding - I cannot think of any....
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I would prefer to take out the discussion of GAAP - as I do not think it is relevant in this place.  The COA is one tool aimed at providing business information.  In my view, the COA should be used to provide informations with regards to the analytical coding of revenues, expenses, assets, liabilities and owners equity / proprietorship and nothing more.  We have other dimensions in ADempiere to provide regions, products etc and this is the correct way to structure a COA.  The limitation of other systems and the artificial compounding of dimensions in to the COA merely highlights deficiencies and muddies the water.  Let's not perpetuate these inconsistencies in our documentation.
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--[[User:Juddm|Juddm]] 09:16, 29 October 2010 (UTC)
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:Agree. I'd also break this up into a couple of new pages:  A user's guide to show how to navigate and interpret an existing COA and use the Account info windows; An admin guide on how to maintain the COA, how the default accounts are used and how to reset accounting information; An accountant's guide on how the power of ADempiere simplifies the COA design; and details on how to import a chart of accounts and an opening trial balance. None of this requires a discussion of GAAP. - [[User:MJMcKay|MJMcKay]] 23:44, 29 October 2010 (UTC)

Latest revision as of 08:44, 27 December 2010

[quote]Materiality - principles only apply to items of a material value, which is judgemental. Things of immaterial value need not follow GAAP.[/quote]

I think this is a common misconception. Everything is material! As an accountant, you can make a judgement whether to worry about an error taking in to regard the materiality of the error - but any error is material in the sense that there should be _NO_ errors.

[quote]The COA follows accounting classifications underlying General Accepted Principles of Accounting (GAAP) in practice throughout the world.[/quote]

I think technically, the COA provides information for GAAP - rather than GAAP prescribing the COA. For instance - what IFRS/IAS standard prescribes anything about account coding - I cannot think of any....

I would prefer to take out the discussion of GAAP - as I do not think it is relevant in this place. The COA is one tool aimed at providing business information. In my view, the COA should be used to provide informations with regards to the analytical coding of revenues, expenses, assets, liabilities and owners equity / proprietorship and nothing more. We have other dimensions in ADempiere to provide regions, products etc and this is the correct way to structure a COA. The limitation of other systems and the artificial compounding of dimensions in to the COA merely highlights deficiencies and muddies the water. Let's not perpetuate these inconsistencies in our documentation. --Juddm 09:16, 29 October 2010 (UTC)

Agree. I'd also break this up into a couple of new pages: A user's guide to show how to navigate and interpret an existing COA and use the Account info windows; An admin guide on how to maintain the COA, how the default accounts are used and how to reset accounting information; An accountant's guide on how the power of ADempiere simplifies the COA design; and details on how to import a chart of accounts and an opening trial balance. None of this requires a discussion of GAAP. - MJMcKay 23:44, 29 October 2010 (UTC)