Hi - I agree with Tom that this is kind of confused, and I think there is some potential fast and loose use of the language of accountancy. :)) I think the vague term "accounts" is just fine for the purpose we are engaged in. I think all we're trying to say is that the ietf community would like to see a periodic summary of the IASA accounts in the form of standard financial statements that reflect the income, expenses, assets, and liabilities of that cost center. I don't think we need to get into general ledgers and all that other technical accounting talk. Regards, Carl > Inline, > Tom Petch > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Harald Tveit Alvestrand" <harald@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > To: <ietf@xxxxxxxx> > Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2005 3:24 PM > Subject: Resolution? #787 terminology - in particular "ISOC Standards > Pillar" > > > > In #787, Margaret raised a couple of terminology questions related to > the > > terms: > > - IASA Accounts > > - IETF accounts > > - ISOC Standards pillar > > In discussion, it seems clear that "IETF accounts" is a mistake, and > should > > be changed to "IASA accounts" wherever it occurs. > > > > "IASA accounts" should probably be changed to "IASA general ledger > > accounts" - to have a recognizable term from bookkeeping instead of > the > > rather vague term "accounts". > > > general ledger is indeed a recognizable term from bookkeeping but it is > not the one I would want to see. Accountancy (as taught to me) divides > up the ledger into accounts, and yes, acccounts is also a recognizable > term. The ledger is typically divided up into (traditionally physical > separate books) > - purchases/creditors ledger > - sales/debtors ledger > - general/impersonal ledger > - private ledger > so seeing only the general ledger gives me an incomplete, perhaps > misleading view of the financial state of an organisation. In fact, I > would want to see the private ledger first since it contains profit and > loss, trading, drawings etc. > > More generally, I would want to see the IASA accounts (an accountancy > technical term) in the ledger (another accountancy technical term). > > Or do these terms change meaning as they go west across the Atlantic? > <snip> > > > _______________________________________________ > Ietf mailing list > Ietf@xxxxxxxx > https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf > _______________________________________________ Ietf@xxxxxxxx https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf