01 - System Overview¶
Purpose¶
The bookkeeping system records all financial activity for the associations in a structured, checkable way. It is designed to answer normal bookkeeping questions:
- How much money is currently available?
- Which income and expenses belong to the association itself?
- Which income and expenses belong to a specific project?
- Are Sparkasse, PayPal, and cash balances correct?
- Which receipts and documents belong to which transactions?
- Which projects are active, finished, or already closed?
Main components¶
| Component | What it does |
|---|---|
| Beancount | The accounting data format. Transactions are written in plain text files. |
| Fava | The browser interface for viewing and filtering the Beancount data. |
| Fava Dashboards | Custom dashboard pages inside Fava for management overview and project views. |
| Obsidian | The note system from which bookkeeping can be opened through buttons. |
| CSV import scripts | Helper scripts that convert Sparkasse CSV exports into Beancount entries. |
How the parts fit together¶
- Bank or PayPal data is exported as CSV.
- The CSV is converted into temporary Beancount entries.
- The new entries are copied into the correct ledger file.
- The user checks, classifies, and corrects the entries.
- Balance checks confirm that the ledger matches the bank or PayPal balance.
- Fava displays reports, account pages, income statements, balance sheets, and dashboards.
Two separate associations¶
| Association | Ledger | Typical account prefix |
|---|---|---|
| NICA e.V. | nica.beancount |
Sparkasse-NICA, NICA |
| Tohuwabohu Halle e.V. | 2023.beancount |
Sparkasse-Tohuwabohu, Tohuwabohu |
There is also an experimental combined file: 1. Vereinsverwaltung/Buchhaltung/all.beancount. Normal day-to-day work should happen in the individual ledger of the relevant association.
Basic workflow¶
- Open the correct Fava instance.
- Find the last completed balance check.
- Export new bank transactions from Sparkasse starting from the last checked date.
- Convert the CSV into Beancount format.
- Paste the generated entries into the
Bank Dumpsection first. - Move or classify entries into the correct association or project sections.
- Add receipts, links, comments, or tags when needed.
- Add a new balance check.
- Reload Fava and verify there are no errors.