Nothing counter-intuitive about it. It’s a matter of perspective. People are used to hearing the bank telling them that putting money in their account is a ‘credit’ to their account. That’s correct for the bank, because your account is their liability. Increasing a liability is done with a credit.
But in your books, that account is an asset, which is increased by a debit. Regards, Adrien > On Jan 5, 2019, at 10:57 AM, Michael Hendry <hendry.mich...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> On 5 Jan 2019, at 16:41, Mike Kerstetter <mkerstette...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> Hello all. I'm brand new to gnucash. I want it to do just the basics of >> keeping a register and reconciliation of a couple bank and credit card >> accounts. I had Money Sunset Deluxe and currently have Quicken (which is now >> charging a yearly subscription). I'm muddling through setting up my accounts >> and I am baffled at the seemingly backward credit and debit columns in the >> register. A deposit to my Checking (or payment to my credit card account) >> shows up under "DEBIT" and a charge to my accounts shows up under "CREDIT". >> The balance is correct. Am I doing something wrong in my set-up? >> >> Thanks, >> >> Mike Kerstetter > > Hi, Mike. > > Welcome to gnucash, and to the mysterious world of double-entry bookkeeping! > > No, you haven’t made a mistake, cash received by an account is regarded as a > debit and cash paid as a credit. > > I’m not an accountant and I frequently have to chant “Debit the Receiver” to > remind myself how it goes. > > No doubt one of the experts in the forum can point you in the direction of an > explanation of this counter-intuitive situation, or you could try Googling. > > Michael > > > > _______________________________________________ > gnucash-user mailing list > gnucash-user@gnucash.org > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see > https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information. > ----- > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information. ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
