Is it possible to create a Budget Account with Beancount?

[Kunal A.]

Hi,
Is it possible to generate a Budget Account with Beancount?

I tried to look up the manual but i cant find any tools to create a budget.

Thanks

[Martin Blais]

There are no dedictated tools to create a budget in Beancount itself.

You will find prior discussions on this list (and the Ledger list) about how to setup double-entry accounts to do budgets, but IMO it doesn't work well. The better way to do budgets in that setting would be to create a new directive that expresses constraints on changes or balances of a particular account. This is not implemented.

I think the Fava team has prototyped something however, using the Custom directive. Maybe they can chip in about the status of that project.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Beancount" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to beancount+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to bean...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beancount/0ed3cba9-6ff3-4925-9b76-2145b8a421cb%40googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Dominik Aumayr]

Fava indeed has a budgets-feature built on top of custom directives.
You can read more about it in the help pages: http://fava.pythonanywhere.com/example-3/help/budgets/

> Am 24.06.2017 um 22:10 schrieb Martin Blais <bl...@furius.ca>:
>
> There are no dedictated tools to create a budget in Beancount itself.
>
> You will find prior discussions on this list (and the Ledger list) about how to setup double-entry accounts to do budgets, but IMO it doesn't work well. The better way to do budgets in that setting would be to create a new directive that expresses constraints on changes or balances of a particular account. This is not implemented.
>
> I think the Fava team has prototyped something however, using the Custom directive. Maybe they can chip in about the status of that project.
>
>
>
>
> On Sat, Jun 24, 2017 at 11:49 AM, Kunal A. <kuna...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
> Is it possible to generate a Budget Account with Beancount?
>
> I tried to look up the manual but i cant find any tools to create a budget.
>
> Thanks
>
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Beancount" group.

> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to beancount+...@googlegroups.com.

> To post to this group, send email to bean...@googlegroups.com.
> To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beancount/0ed3cba9-6ff3-4925-9b76-2145b8a421cb%40googlegroups.com.
> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
>
>

> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Beancount" group.

> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to beancount+...@googlegroups.com.

> To post to this group, send email to bean...@googlegroups.com.

> To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beancount/CAK21%2BhOCTwW6k6HhvPnUzmY96%3DzopsMeu5WbC9kF-%3DxdaxMR2g%40mail.gmail.com.

[Oon-Ee Ng]

I like the Fava budget implementation, honestly. Good for visualizing how my spending is going. Fava team is really responsive too.

On Sun, Jun 25, 2017 at 4:20 AM, Dominik Aumayr <dom...@aumayr.name> wrote:

Fava indeed has a budgets-feature built on top of custom directives.
You can read more about it in the help pages: http://fava.pythonanywhere.com/example-3/help/budgets/

> Am 24.06.2017 um 22:10 schrieb Martin Blais <bl...@furius.ca>:
>
> There are no dedictated tools to create a budget in Beancount itself.
>
> You will find prior discussions on this list (and the Ledger list) about how to setup double-entry accounts to do budgets, but IMO it doesn't work well. The better way to do budgets in that setting would be to create a new directive that expresses constraints on changes or balances of a particular account. This is not implemented.
>
> I think the Fava team has prototyped something however, using the Custom directive. Maybe they can chip in about the status of that project.
>
>
>
>
> On Sat, Jun 24, 2017 at 11:49 AM, Kunal A. <kuna...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
> Is it possible to generate a Budget Account with Beancount?
>
> I tried to look up the manual but i cant find any tools to create a budget.
>
> Thanks
>
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Beancount" group.

> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to beancount+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

> To post to this group, send email to bean...@googlegroups.com.
> To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beancount/0ed3cba9-6ff3-4925-9b76-2145b8a421cb%40googlegroups.com.
> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
>
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Beancount" group.

> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to beancount+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

> To post to this group, send email to bean...@googlegroups.com.
> To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beancount/CAK21%2BhOCTwW6k6HhvPnUzmY96%3DzopsMeu5WbC9kF-%3DxdaxMR2g%40mail.gmail.com.
> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Beancount" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to beancount+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

To post to this group, send email to bean...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beancount/38A786B2-0354-4B30-BD7A-FDA3FFE59FC6%40aumayr.name.

[Gour]

On Sat, 24 Jun 2017 22:20:26 +0200
Dominik Aumayr <dom...@aumayr.name> wrote:

Hello,

> Fava indeed has a budgets-feature built on top of custom directives.
> You can read more about it in the help pages:
> http://fava.pythonanywhere.com/example-3/help/budgets/

Beancount+Fava provides most of my desired features, along with the
Python implementation, to fully migrate from GNUCash to
#plaintextaccounting, but there is single feature for which I'm not
sure if there is some simple-enough workaround (due to lack of support
for automated transactions) to have envelope-budgeting with
Beancount+Fava?

The reference doc explaining desired list of features is described here:

https://frdmtoplay.com/envelope-budgeting-with-ledger/

Fava does provide 'budget' directive, but I wonder about this feature:

Envelopes that "roll-over" and don't reset monthly

or, maybe, one can simulate it considering that the Fava docs at
http://fava.pythonanywhere.com/example-3/help/budgets/# says: "...allowing for
a monthly budget, being taken over by a weekly budget, and so on." ?


Sincerely,
Gour

--
A person is said to be established in self-realization and is called a
yogī [or mystic] when he is fully satisfied by virtue of acquired
knowledge and realization.

[Oon-Ee Ng]

On Tue, Aug 1, 2017 at 12:04 AM, Gour <go...@atmarama.com> wrote:

On Sat, 24 Jun 2017 22:20:26 +0200
Dominik Aumayr <dom...@aumayr.name> wrote:

Hello,

> Fava indeed has a budgets-feature built on top of custom directives.
> You can read more about it in the help pages:
> http://fava.pythonanywhere.com/example-3/help/budgets/

Beancount+Fava provides most of my desired features, along with the
Python implementation, to fully migrate from GNUCash to
#plaintextaccounting, but there is single feature for which I'm not
sure if there is some simple-enough workaround (due to lack of support
for automated transactions) to have envelope-budgeting with
Beancount+Fava?

The reference doc explaining desired list of features is described here:

https://frdmtoplay.com/envelope-budgeting-with-ledger/

Fava does provide 'budget' directive, but I wonder about this feature:

Envelopes that "roll-over" and don't reset monthly

There can only be one budget active for any account at a time. You can just set it to annual I guess, then it won't reset monthly.

Fava budgets seem different from what you want though, as they basically just provide a number against which your actual transactions can be compared (graphically). No more, no less. It fits well with how I handle money (for example, why would a budgeted amount ALWAYS come out of the same bank account?), but not with what's described in that page, which I just skimmed through.

[Gour]

On Tue, 1 Aug 2017 12:46:29 +0800
Oon-Ee Ng <ngoone...@gmail.com> wrote:

> There can only be one budget active for any account at a time. You
> can just set it to annual I guess, then it won't reset monthly.

What about sub-accounts?

Generated example file has the following structure:

Expenses
Food
Alcohol
Coffee
Groceries
Restaurant

the following directive:

2015-06-01 custom "budget" Expenses:Food "monthly" 300.00 USD

will not e.g. reflect transactions involving

Expenses:Food:Restaurant?


Sincerely,
Gour

--
Everyone is forced to act helplessly according to the qualities
he has acquired from the modes of material nature; therefore no
one can refrain from doing something, not even for a moment.