Re: Question Regarding Creating Workflow For Automatic Formulas For Finance Based Org Spreadsheet

[John Hendy]

On Mon, Jan 10, 2022 at 11:09 AM Samuel Banya <sbanya@fastmail.com> wrote:
>
> The 'double reporting' idea might have been why I just flat out shook my head 
> when I saw the one presentation on 'ledger' in Emacs on YouTube a while ago 
> as its a bit too complicated and unnecessary for a layman.

Fair, it's a bit to wrap one's head around. That said, I think it's
also standard and one doesn't end up having to actually create two
entries for every transaction, for what it's worth.

> I just don't need that kind of over-thinking when it comes to my finances 
> since I just need a spreadsheet that listed expenses, and to count totals. 
> That's about it.

In that case, would a running csv where you paste in each month's new
pull work? You could even keep the totals to the side, so that as you
paste new data in e.g. cols A-D, your totals (in E and beyond) can sit
right there happily? I alluded to this with respect to the request to
automate csv -> org; without knowing which things must be org and why,
it's hard to comment on these kinds of inquiries. Maybe org is just
more fun, maybe it's mandatory because there's some other aspect of
this we don't know.

> I will take a look at the other suggestions with specific Org Mode formulas, 
> looked awesome, thanks.

Happy to help and good luck!
John

> On Mon, Jan 10, 2022, at 10:31 AM, Greg Minshall wrote:
>
> > I'm wondering if your opinion about Ledger isn't influenced by the fact
> > that it uses basic accounting principles, like the idea of double-entry
> > accounting.  For me, it's /very/ simple and intuitive, but I graduated
> > in economics many years ago and had a (basic, but still) course on
> > accounting.  If that is your problem, I'd suggest spending some time on
> > understanding that - even if you don't end up using Ledger but some
> > other software, you might find learning about accounting useful.  (Also,
> > it's fascinating.  No, really!  It's an extremely clever abstract
> > system with a real-life use-case.)
>
> i agree that learning the principles of double-entry is worthwhile,
> actually interesting, and of a very interesting history!
>
>