Storing Trailing Zeros (Significant Figures) (1 Viewer)

neileg said:

Quite agree. Plus double entries are often not equal and opposite on a line by line basis. You can have several positive values and several negative values. So long as the total balances to zero, it's still a valid transaction.

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So could it be the case that some or all of the positive values don't match individually to the negative ones? (for example, something like: taking £10 from General Fund plus £5 from Project Fund and assigning as £12.50 to Goods Purchased and £2.50 to Services)

If so then, yes, I can see why it would be necessary to store both sides. (I'll bet accountants feel a fairly strong temptation to stray from normal form in terms of the columns though, when designing databases for this)

Atomic Shrimp said:

So could it be the case that some or all of the positive values don't match individually to the negative ones? (for example, something like: taking £10 from General Fund plus £5 from Project Fund and assigning as £12.50 to Goods Purchased and £2.50 to Services)

If so then, yes, I can see why it would be necessary to store both sides. (I'll bet accountants feel a fairly strong temptation to stray from normal form in terms of the columns though, when designing databases for this)

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re the first point - yes - the example you mentioned at the top is exactly what happens - the total balances to zero - thats all that is required

incidentally, that is one reason why batch input works, is that you can enter 100 invoices, and post the plus bits (the debits) separately, and the grand total (the credit) as a single posting - which is easier to review subsequently. And that is also why thnigs can drift out of balance if the batch total bit fails for some reason (hardware/software error) - I think this is pretty standard accounting stuff with a lot of systems actuually.

re the second point - thats why users shouldnt tell designers how to build the system - after all they are/should be only interested in the results.

Just some insight as to why it is important to store significant figures of 0's. Some engineering specs require you to display all decimal places that are called out on a drawing or spec etc. even if they are zeros so that you can show to what precision you were measuring the item. 3.020 is different than 3.0201. If you get 3.0200 you are showing that you measured to the required spec of 4 decimal places as required.

Just some insight.