User defined Account Type and Detail Type to permit logical chart of accounts
I am transitioning from GNU Cash where I have a well established Chart of Accounts. This chart of accounts was actually first established in Quicken an earlier version of quickbooks.
I cannot recreate logically the structure of my chart of accounts in QB because of the extremely limited and to my mind illogical list of Account Types and their associated Detail Type.
This straitjacket is further compounded by the the fact that child/sub accounts have to have the same account type as the parent account.
It is not yet clear to me how this is going to work out with reporting and aggregation.
It appears that you have two ways to go.
Negate any advantage of have account type detail type for example be setting all your expenses to expense other both as account type and account detail and construct logical account names in an appropriate parent child hierarchy.
Make a best approximation to reality and apply inappropriate, incorrect account types or detail type to carefully named accounts which make clear that the account type detail type categorisation is erroneous and is only chosen so that you can assemble some kind of logical parent child relationship between accounts.
GNU Cash is an open source free offering to which you may contribute if you wish. It is a simple double entry system. But it works well. What it lacks is a reliable method of input via a mobile device. That and a repeated request to use QB by my accountant has led me to attempt to set up QB.
I have to say that thus far it has been surprisingly PAINFUL. Really basic actions are proving to be difficult and illogical in QB whereas in GNU Cash they were simplicity itself.
Why is it that QB has this extreme of account type and detail type which to my mind certainly have not been thought through correctly. Why not provide defaults and allow users to apply their own Account Type and Detail Type.