My opinion is that the imbalance *IS* the error and it allows you to easily see and correct which transactions need to be moved. I think this is preferred instead of a hard error or not allowing a transaction to be entered.
On Tue, Jun 1, 2021 at 10:04 AM <men...@fastmail.fm> wrote: > Michael wrote > > " automatically-generated entries for Imbalance-USD would be placed in my > existing Imbalance-USD account, which is located under Special Accounts. " > > First, thank you to the developers of GnuCash. I started using it a > couple of months ago to replace Quicken because it drove me nuts with its > constant nagging to update to a new version, and because I could not get > the Quicken version I owned to work on my Windows 10 computers. It still > works on my Win 7 computer, but that's it. I've been very happy with > GnuCash - you all have done a very nice job. I also use QuickBooks for my > business accounting and may end up switching those over to GnuCash at some > point. > > As I've been reading the discussion about the imbalance account, it > occurred to me to ask why GnuCash allows entries that are out of balance? > In theory and practice, we should not have entries that don't > balance...credits should equal debits...and if they don't, we have an error > in the entry. And not that I would say QuickBooks is a work of art, but it > doesn't allow one to make an entry that doesn't balance. In other words, > it forces the user to at least consciously assign an imbalance to an > account (either an already existing one or a new one. This allows one to > fudge the entry if one doesn't know the answer in that moment and then go > find out the answer and fix the entry later). But, the user is "on notice" > that there was a problem with the entry. > > As the discussion about the Imbalance account highlights, GnuCash does > allow an out of balance entry. This automatic action may easily be missed > if one doesn't quickly the develop the habit of checking the Imbalance > account. > > I'm simply curious, why doesn't GnuCash prevent these entries to begin > with? > > Thank you for your time to answer in advance, Laura > _______________________________________________ > 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.