• From: China and Hong Kong
  • Registered: 01/09/2013
  • Posts: 15

Topic: Badly needed clarity as to what is being deducted or added.

I Love FrontAccounting compared to our previous software however one of my biggest complaints is I spent 1/2 my time voiding and re-entering transactions because its not clear what is being deducted from where.  And NON of this is programming related but rather simply user friendliness.  A lot of places where amounts are deducted from accounts, it's still horribly confusing as to what is the TOTAL amount and WHERE the amounts are being deducted from.

For example, if I do a bank transfer (in this case an ATM withdraw into a petty cash account), obviously there is a bank charge.  Following the fields on the bank transfer screen here is what I see/have entered:

From Account:    HSBC XXXXX
To Account: Petty Cash
Amount: 10,067.50
Bank Charge: 60.00

So logically, that would mean,

HSBC XXXX: deducts 1067.50
Petty cash receives: 10,007.50
Bank charges account receives: 60.00

This is also how my bank see's it from the bank statement. HOWEVER if I check the general ledger for this transaction I see it actually records the transaction as this:

HSBC XXXX: deducts 10127.50
Petty cash receives: 10,067.50
Bank charges account receives: 60.00

Add in a multi-currency transaction and its just hopeless... sad

I think the issue is LESS about WHERE it deducts (as maybe other banks use a different method) and MORE about it just being simply SEE CLEARLY WHAT it's deducting from WHERE with a TOTAL before you press "enter."

Easy fixes that make FrontAccounting a thousand times easier to use. For now I simply VOID, VOID, VOID... sad

  • Registered: 12/25/2007
  • Posts: 2,448

Re: Badly needed clarity as to what is being deducted or added.

Well, I'm not sure I understand you right, but for me the Bank Transfer screen is pretty intuitive.

When you withdraw cash from ATM, you don't always know the bank charge. It depends e.g. on the ATM operator, or whether the withdrawal request is stated in your bank account currency. Therefore the only amount you can register just after operation in FA is the amount received from ATM (say $100), bank charge will have to be entered later.

Another situation is if you prefer entry in FA your ATM operations later, when you receive bank statement. Maybe it is somewhat local specific, but in most cases you will see two numbers on related to ATM operation here:  amount you received from ATM ($100), and amount the bank charged your account for the operation performed. You just have to enter those two numbers in the Bank transfer screen in FA.

In real life scenarios above you will never see the overall sum of withdrawed amount and bank charge  you operate in the example (e.g. 10067.50), so it is no need to use it in FA Bank Transfer form. For me all here is rather simple and pretty intuitive.

Janusz

  • From: China and Hong Kong
  • Registered: 01/09/2013
  • Posts: 15

Re: Badly needed clarity as to what is being deducted or added.

The issue is if you enter in a "bank charge" you have NO IDEA where it gets that amount from. Is it A or B?

A)
Amount transferred: 100
Bank charge: 20

-TOTAL AMOUNT DEDUCTED FROM MY ACCOUNT: 120
-AMOUNT RECEIVED IN BANK CHARGES ACCOUNT: 20
-AMOUNT RECEIVED IN THE OTHER ACCOUNT: 100

B)
Amount transferred: 100
Bank charge: 20

-TOTAL AMOUNT DEDUCTED FROM MY ACCOUNT: 100
-AMOUNT RECEIVED IN BANK CHARGES ACCOUNT: 20
-AMOUNT RECEIVED IN THE OTHER ACCOUNT: 80

Basically there is no way to know the answer to question, unless you enter in a transaction, and then go back and check the GL. So, in this regard its very non-intuitive and makes for a lot of mistakes..

  • From: China and Hong Kong
  • Registered: 01/09/2013
  • Posts: 15

Re: Badly needed clarity as to what is being deducted or added.

Basically all you need is for it to clearly display what amount goes into the receiving account. If it shoes that then the rest IS intuitive.

  • Registered: 12/25/2007
  • Posts: 2,448

Re: Badly needed clarity as to what is being deducted or added.

I don't know. Maybe just changing the 'Bank Charge' input title to say 'Added Bank Charge'  would be enough?

Janusz