Accounting for a notional transaction

[Vikas Rawal]

I am confused about how to record the following kind of transaction in accounts of a non-profit organisation.

In a project, certain services provided by the organisation are charged to a project. There is no equivalent payment to anyone. The services are provided by staff of the organisation, or are done using assets owned by the organisation (say a printer). We create a debit note that charges the project at an agreed rate for each service. The amount charged is retained by the organisation.

How would I handle this in ledger?

Vikas

[o1bigtenor]

Greetings

Not a ledger expert here (by any kind of thinking) just a user!

How did you handle it before Ledger?

I would have an account setup (using all the detail you feel you need)
and then just credit and debit that account (this could be some kind
of general or specific sub account - - - its all up to you!).

(this is one of the joys of double entry bookkeeping - - - it makes
keeping track of these kind of things quite straightforward)

Dee

[Vikas Rawal]

>
>> I am confused about how to record the following kind of transaction in accounts of a non-profit organisation.
>>
>> In a project, certain services provided by the organisation are charged to a project. There is no equivalent payment to anyone. The services are provided by staff of the organisation, or are done using assets owned by the organisation (say a printer). We create a debit note that charges the project at an agreed rate for each service. The amount charged is retained by the organisation.
>>
>> How would I handle this in ledger?
>
> Not a ledger expert here (by any kind of thinking) just a user!
>
> How did you handle it before Ledger?
>

Never did accounts before I started using ledger ;)

> I would have an account setup (using all the detail you feel you need)
> and then just credit and debit that account (this could be some kind
> of general or specific sub account - - - its all up to you!).
>

The grant from the funding agency shows up like this

2015/08/19 Funding Agency
; Narration: 50 per cent of the grant for the Project
Assets:Our Bank:Savings account Rs 200000
Income:Project:Agency:Bank transfer

Now, how do I charge the project for printing of 1000 pages @Rs 3 per page?

This is a notional transaction. No payment is made specifically for printing, which is done from our own printers. Of course, there is a cost to organisation. That is why the organisation should charge the project. Can one do something like this?


2015/02/25 Debit for Printing
; Narration: Cost of printing 1000 pages@Rs. 3 per page
Expenses:Project:Stationery-Printing-Consumables Rs 3000
Assets:Our Bank:Savings account

But the problem is that there is no exact expense corresponding to this transaction.

Vikas

[Leonardo Melo]

Sorry for pointing you to the docs rather than explaining in detail here. I'm also not an expert and don't exactly understand what you're trying to achieve.

You may want to use virtual postings as stated here: http://www.ledger-cli.org/3.0/doc/ledger3.html#Working-with-multiple-funds-and-accounts 

Hope it helps =D

​

Leo Melo

   

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[o1bigtenor]

On Wed, Dec 30, 2015 at 7:32 AM, Vikas Rawal <vikas...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I am confused about how to record the following kind of transaction in accounts of a non-profit organisation.
>>>
>>> In a project, certain services provided by the organisation are charged to a project. There is no equivalent payment to anyone. The services are provided by staff of the organisation, or are done using assets owned by the organisation (say a printer). We create a debit note that charges the project at an agreed rate for each service. The amount charged is retained by the organisation.
>>>
>>> How would I handle this in ledger?
>>
>> Not a ledger expert here (by any kind of thinking) just a user!
>>
>> How did you handle it before Ledger?
>>
>
> Never did accounts before I started using ledger ;)

You may wish to read up on double entry accounting (recordkeeping).
That is what is behind all good high-quality accounting.

>
>> I would have an account setup (using all the detail you feel you need)
>> and then just credit and debit that account (this could be some kind
>> of general or specific sub account - - - its all up to you!).
>>
>
> The grant from the funding agency shows up like this
>
> 2015/08/19 Funding Agency
> ; Narration: 50 per cent of the grant for the Project
> Assets:Our Bank:Savings account Rs 200000
> Income:Project:Agency:Bank transfer
>
> Now, how do I charge the project for printing of 1000 pages @Rs 3 per page?

Create an account for project expenses.
Create a sub account for documentation expenses

Charge the fee to a specific project (which for me would be a project
sub account).

I work as much as 8 to 10 levels of expenses deep. Most people find
that overkill but I get to log everything in its own slot and I can
tell you exactly what I am spending my money on.

Dee