Hi Bruce! I believe you are missing something foundamental on how double-entry bookkeeping works.
Every time you make a change to one account (in your case FI1 and FI2) there *need* to be another corresponding and opposite change to another. In your case, that's likely means some kind of checking account. If you write nothing there and just press return, GnuCash will automatically match whatever is not matched already to an "Imbalance" account, which collects all kind of splits that weren't properly assigned. More practically, you are using the "basic ledger" that means that you'll have to move on where "Imbalance-USD" is and change it to, say, Assets:Banks:Checking or somesuch, depending on where the money actually went. You should probably have a look at the manual at https://www.gnucash.org/docs/v4/C/gnucash-guide/basics-accounting1.html to have a better idea on how that should work. Reconciling doesn't really help for that, since that really should only be used for things like checking if your account transactions match what your bank think it should be and is not going to re-assign splits to other accounts on its own. Hope to have been of help! On Thu, Oct 21, 2021 at 11:44:00PM +0200, Bruce wrote: > Just setting up GnuCash 3.8b+(2019-12-29) for the first time > on an HP EliteDesk 800 G1 running LinuxMint v20.02 Cinnamon. > And yes, I've had Bookkeeping-101 in College, 40+ yrs ago. > And it was processed by an IBM 360 Mainframe. > > What I'm not understanding is the basics behind the "Imbalance" result. > I have set up all the top level accounts, and then added FI1 and FI2 (Fixed > Income 1&2) as subs below the 'Income' top level account. > > My two FI's come in at different times, one on the first of each month, the > other on the Second Wednesday, which I will eventually want to set up > recurring automatic transactions for those two sources (which I basically > already have figured out). > > After opening the register (ledger) for FI1 and entering a transaction for > that allotment, lets say $1000.00 and saving it, then opening the transaction > register for account FI2, and doing the same, for the same amount and saving > that... The main top level account page shows a total income of $2000.00, > which is correct and I understand, but directly above that is the > "Imbalance-USD" line, and if each transaction is once again opened each shows > an 'Imbalance' for the Transfer field in the amount of the transaction. > > I have reconciled both of these transactions basically meaning that I have > seen proof that the transaction occurred by statement or by funds-in-hand and > ticked the "R" box in the respective line, which changed to a "c", and is now > a "y". But the 'Imbalance' notice remains and the amount does not change. > > Once the transactions are reconciled, should not the imbalance go away ? > > I realize the answer to this is likely a simple one, > but it is alluding me at the moment, input appreciated. > > And lastly... Is it advisable to update to v4.8 under Mint ? > I notice that the doc page says it should be available through the 'Software > Center' on Ubuntu, but I just installed THIS version (3.8) from the Mint > 'Software Manager', and I'm limited to Cellular downloads at the moment, so > I'd rather not do the 800+MB FlatHub (which is v4.8). > > Bruce > (just another old retired Vet trying to keep his funds straight) > > _______________________________________________ > 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. -- regards, Mattia Rizzolo GPG Key: 66AE 2B4A FCCF 3F52 DA18 4D18 4B04 3FCD B944 4540 .''`. More about me: https://mapreri.org : :' : Launchpad user: https://launchpad.net/~mapreri `. `'` Debian QA page: https://qa.debian.org/developer.php?login=mattia `-
signature.asc
Description: PGP signature
_______________________________________________ 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.
