From 504d760640c5e04d228e92c6048304f124857b04 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Simon Michael Date: Sun, 11 Jul 2010 05:56:25 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] docs: rewrite actual/effective dates doc, harmonising with ledger --- MANUAL.markdown | 45 ++++++++++++++++++++++----------------------- 1 file changed, 22 insertions(+), 23 deletions(-) diff --git a/MANUAL.markdown b/MANUAL.markdown index cdf640955..330768fde 100644 --- a/MANUAL.markdown +++ b/MANUAL.markdown @@ -551,34 +551,33 @@ subsequent dates may be written as month/day. Eg: 1/31 ... -##### Actual and effective dates +##### Actual/effective dates -Frequently, a real-life transaction has two (or more) dates of -interest. For example, you might make a purchase on friday with a debit -card, and it might clear (take effect in your bank account) on -tuesday. It's sometimes useful to model this accurately, so that your -hledger balances match reality. So, you can specify two dates for a -transaction, the *actual* and *effective* date, separated by `=`. Eg: +Real-life transactions sometimes have two (or more) dates of interest. +For example, you might buy a movie ticket on friday with a debit or credit +card, and the transaction might appear in your bank account on monday. +When you don't care about this, just record one date. When you do care, +you can record two dates separated by `=`: the *actual date* on the left +and the *effective date* on the right. Here's how hledger and ledger users +use these terms: - 2010/2/19=2010/2/23 ... + ; The ticket purchase took EFFECT on friday 19th, + ; but ACTUALly appeared in bank statement on monday 23rd. + ; The effective date is often the earlier one, but it goes on the right. + ; + ; ACTUAL=EFFECTIVE + 2010/2/23=2010/2/19 movie ticket + expenses:cinema $10 + assets:bank:checking $-10 -Then you can use the `--effective` flag to prefer the effective (second) -date, if any, in reports. This is useful for, eg, seeing a more accurate -daily balance while reconciling a bank account. +You can use the `--effective` flag to prefer the effective date in +reports. This can be useful, eg, to adjust your transaction dates to +match the ones in your bank statement for easier reconciling. -So, what do *actual* and *effective* mean, exactly ? I always assumed that -the actual date comes first, and is "the date you enacted the -transaction", while the effective date comes second, and is optional, and -is "the date the transaction took effect" (showed up in your bank -balance). +The year may optionally be omitted in the second date. -Unfortunately, this is the reverse of c++ ledger's interpretation (cf -[differences](#other-differences)). However it's not *too* serious; just -remember that hledger requires the first date; allows an optional second -date which the `--effective` flag will select; and the meaning of "actual" -and "effective" is up to you. - -The second date may omit the year if it is the same as the first's. +hledger does not allow separate dates for individual postings, unlike c++ +ledger. ##### Smart dates