Re: [GNC] Splitting a Transaction (Newbie Question)

[Adrien Monteleone]

Indeed, §6.4 Multiple Split Transactions, particularly steps 10–15 cover 
this.


https://www.gnucash.org/docs/v4/C/gnucash-help/trans-multi-enter.html

Regards,
Adrien

On 12/18/22 4:04 PM, Adrien Monteleone wrote:
Though I also suspect this is covered in the 
Documentation which gets rare attention from new users. (I'll have to 
drag that up to confirm myself.)


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Re: [GNC] Splitting a Transaction (Newbie Question)

[Adrien Monteleone]

Certainly hitting Enter early is the cause. Before I sent the previous 
reply, I tried playing with Basic View and the Split button to see how I 
could manage it and was having difficulty. I guess that is because I 
already know how to avoid doing so.


After a few more attempts, I'm going to hazard the following guess:

1. Start a new transaction
2. Hit the Split button
3. Avoid taking careful notice that the anchoring split already exists 
though *without an amount*.
4. Re-assign that split's account to some other account (or simply leave 
its amount blank)

5. Add more splits for the other Expenses/accounts.
6. Avoid taking notice that a new un-assigned split is auto-created 
*with a balancing amount*.

7. Hit Enter

The result is the transaction 'disappears' (because it is un-anchored to 
the register in view) and that final balancing split gets assigned to 
the Imbalance-xxx account.


I suspect this workflow because in normal Basic View (un-split) you 
don't need to enter the split anchoring the transaction to the register 
being viewed, you only enter the 'other' split. A new user might not 
realize that when using the Split feature, you now need to enter them 
all explicitly. Though I also suspect this is covered in the 
Documentation which gets rare attention from new uesers. (I'll have to 
drag that up to confirm myself.)


Regards,
Adrien

On 12/18/22 3:37 PM, Liz Dodd wrote:

On Sun, 18 Dec 2022 13:15:41 -0600
Adrien Monteleone  wrote:


I'm not certain of the exact keyboard mechanics you used to cause
this, but the solution is simple.


It is often caused by pressing the Enter key prematurely. Adrien knows
that, I'd just like to suggest it here, so you can watch what happens
in future.


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Re: [GNC] Splitting a Transaction (Newbie Question)

[Liz Dodd]

On Sun, 18 Dec 2022 13:15:41 -0600
Adrien Monteleone  wrote:

> I'm not certain of the exact keyboard mechanics you used to cause
> this, but the solution is simple.

It is often caused by pressing the Enter key prematurely. Adrien knows
that, I'd just like to suggest it here, so you can watch what happens
in future.

Liz
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Re: [GNC] Splitting a Transaction (Newbie Question)

[Adrien Monteleone]

On 12/18/22 5:09 AM, p.f.cuthb...@btinternet.com p.f.cuthbert--- via 
gnucash-user wrote:

Investigation this morning has established:
    * The system is set up in Basic Ledger Mode
    * The test transactions were entered in the Bank Account
    * The Bank Account shows no record of the test transactions
    * The debits have appeared in the named expense accounts as you have 
forecast
    * A new account has appeared called 'Imbalance-GBP' that contains 
the correct (and incorrect credits) that I would have expected in the 
Bank Account.
Ah ha. Indeed, the transactions did not disappear, but are no longer 
anchored to the Bank Account.


The Imbalance-xxx accounts (one for each currency may be created from 
time to time) are created by GnuCash when you leave a transaction entry 
unbalanced.


I'm not certain of the exact keyboard mechanics you used to cause this, 
but the solution is simple.


First, while you're getting started, turn on View > Transaction Journal. 
This will show all splits at all times. Once you get the hang of 
entering transactions, you can switch back to Basic View if preferred.


(You might also consider turning on View > Double Line which will give 
you an extra line for transactions level notes.)


When you are in Basic View, you do not need to enter the split *for the 
account you are in*, you only need to enter the split for the 'other' 
account.


GnuCash auto-creates a split for the opened account, in this case your 
Bank Account.


You can check this by entering a simple transaction in Basic View, and 
then turning on Transaction Journal.


But in Transaction Journal mode, while that 'home' split is 
auto-created, it does not contain an amount yet. You have to enter it.


Just be sure, before you exit a transaction that every split has an 
amount and that there is no hanging amount on a split line without an 
account assigned. (this tells you, you aren't yet balanced) If you 
commit at this point, GnuCash will assign that leftover amount to one of 
the Imbalance accounts. (GBP in your case)


Transactions are anchored to accounts based on their splits. If you 
'lose' a transaction, that is because it somehow became un-anchored to 
the register you are viewing, either by deleting the anchoring split 
(there are warnings for this), by changing the account assignment of the 
anchoring split (no warning) or by erasing or leaving blank the amount 
for the anchoring split. (no warning)


If you need to re-anchor a transaction, simply change the Imbalance-GBP 
account assignment to the proper account.


This leads me to a new question.  Is the 'Bank Account' a reserved name 
which I must use for my bank account to make it work?  It is not called 
that currently.  In Quicken one had to allocate a type to accounts which 
included bank account, savings account, investment, etc.  I had assumed 
that these may have carried across in the QIF file but perhaps not.  I 
have just looked at the bank account settings in 'Edit Account' and see 
that it is labelled as a Bank account. So there must be something else I 
am not doing which makes GNUCash think that a payment in the Bank 
Account is not meant to be there.


Nothing reserved on the name. It can also be just a generic asset 
account. I think with type Bank there are other functions enabled 
though. (online banking?) The Type also affects the 'friendly' column 
names, but if you are using formal labels Debit & Credit, that of course 
doesn't matter.


Regards,
Adrien

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Re: [GNC] Splitting a Transaction (Newbie Question)

[Michael or Penny Novack]

On 12/17/2022 6:27 PM, R Losey wrote:

When you say "bank card", are you talking about something like a debit
card, or a credit card?

Also, was this at one shop where you spent 7.24?

If it is a debit card (money comes directly from the bank account, in
contrast to a credit card, where charges accumulate, and you pay them off
monthly), I'd go to the bank account and enter the transaction:

If it is a "debit card" on YOUR bank account that would not be a 
separate asset account. THAT debit card is just the equivalent of doing 
an electronic check from your bank account (one without a check number)


But if it is a debit card equivalent to a "gift card" (not associated 
with your bank account) then it would have its own asset account to be 
credited for the amount used.


 When entering a ONE SIDED split transaction, always start in the 
account on the unsplit side of the transaction. Then you keep changing 
the amount remaining on the other side as you add accounts till all used 
up. But if it is a TWO SIDED split, much ore complicated, and I suggest 
you not tackle those until experienced entering split transactions << 
there are useful tricks for entering two sided tricks but those will be 
confusing before you have mastered one sided spit >>


Michael D Novack


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Re: [GNC] Splitting a Transaction (Newbie Question)

[p.f.cuthb...@btinternet.com p.f.cuthbert--- via gnucash-user]

Good Morning from a very wet and windy Wales


Thank you all very much for your helpful comments.

Thank you also Michael for reminding me about the 'Journal'.  As a fresh 
faced Articled Clerk in the early 1970s we came across a small number of 
firms that still had hand written leather bound Journals.  Naturally we 
ACs were not at all surprised as that is what was written about in the 
text books we had to read. Of course, many of the smaller clients had no 
books at all and would just give us a big cardboard box full of 
invoices, cheque book stubs, empty fag packets and a few bank statements 
which we were supposed to turn into a set of accounts.  The more 
financially aware small businesses used the analysed cash book system.


As I understand it Quicken. up to and including the Millenium Edition 
(which is what I am finally going to abandon), had the analysed cash 
book (actually bank book) as its conceptual model.  That made a great 
deal of sense given the marketing thrust for the product.  I am very 
happy with that model and am assuming that I can run GNUCash like that 
with the bank account as the central player.


By the term Bank Card payment I meant Debit Card which here in the UK 
seems to be the major form of payment since the Covid Pandemic. I 
certainly have not used Bank of England cash for more than two years. 
The impact on Quicken has been that more transactions have been recorded 
every month as every card slip gets entered.  Previously one would 
withdraw cash (one entry) and then spend that cash on the myriad small 
transactions of life which were not recorded.


Credit card transactions were included by treating the monthly statement 
as 'card slip'.  Thus every listed purchase is a debit in the 
appropriate account and the total bill amount is the credit in the Bank. 
So you can see why I am interested in Split Transactions.


Investigation this morning has established:
   * The system is set up in Basic Ledger Mode
   * The test transactions were entered in the Bank Account
   * The Bank Account shows no record of the test transactions
   * The debits have appeared in the named expense accounts as you have 
forecast
   * A new account has appeared called 'Imbalance-GBP' that contains 
the correct (and incorrect credits) that I would have expected in the 
Bank Account.


This leads me to a new question.  Is the 'Bank Account' a reserved name 
which I must use for my bank account to make it work?  It is not called 
that currently.  In Quicken one had to allocate a type to accounts which 
included bank account, savings account, investment, etc.  I had assumed 
that these may have carried across in the QIF file but perhaps not.  I 
have just looked at the bank account settings in 'Edit Account' and see 
that it is labelled as a Bank account. So there must be something else I 
am not doing which makes GNUCash think that a payment in the Bank 
Account is not meant to be there.


Many thanks for all the help.

Regards

Pete







-- Original Message --
From: "Michael or Penny Novack" 
To: gnucash-user@gnucash.org
Sent: Saturday, 17 Dec, 2022 At 23:04
Subject: Re: [GNC] Splitting a Transaction (Newbie Question)

At this point things look good.  So what does one do next? Press Return 
seems like a safe bet.  However it is far from it.  All that happens is 
that the whole transaction disappears.  The alternative, using another 
Tab is almost as bad.  The £1.99 debit in Groceries is now replaced by a 
£5.25 credit and the £7.24 credit from the bank has disappeared.  Ok, it 
makes the books appear to balance since double entry is maintained but 
the whole process seem astonishingly random.
If any kind reader can advise on the correct way yo handle this simple 
task I would be most grateful as I do simple domestic accounting but 
have lots of split debit analysis.
You might have completed the split (depends on what you meant by "whole 
thing disappeared").
Some background might help. In the old days of double entry (before 
computer apps to shortcut bits) a transaction was FIRST entered into a 
book called a "journal" and later each line of the journal entry was 
ported to the ledger (in the account on that line). Here gnucash is 
letting you skip entering into the journal (has a "virtual journal") for 
simple transactions affecting just two accounts. But when you enter a 
split, you are in "journal mode".
I think what you meant by "disappeared" is that the journal view 
disappeared and you were back in the account view in which you started 
(but something about what you see there indicates the transaction was a 
split). You could go to one of the other accounts affected (or all of 
the other accounts) to see if what appears there is right. If so, all 
done.

Michael D Novack

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Re: [GNC] Splitting a Transaction (Newbie Question)

[Fred Bone]

On 17 December 2022 at 22:19, p.f.cuthb...@btinternet.com p.f.cuthbert@ 
said:

[...]
> So let us have an example:
> 
> Payment by bank card (credit entry to Bank Account) of £7.24 comprising a
> book (debit £5.25 to Entertainment) and some milk (debit £1.99 to
> Groceries).
[...]
> If any kind reader can advise on the correct way yo handle this simple
> task I would be most grateful as I do simple domestic accounting but have
> lots of split debit analysis.

Starting from the bank (or credit card) account, i.e. the one from which 
the payment was made:

1. Go to the "new entry" line (at the bottom)
2. Enter the Description
3. Tab to the Credit column
4. Enter the amount (7.24), replacing what was there before
5. Tab. This commits the txn
6. Return to the "Transfer" field of the new txn
7. Right-click and select "Split"
8. Tab to the Debit column on the debit split
9. Enter the correct value (1.99)
10. Tab twice. A new split is added with the difference (5.25) in Debit.
11. Go to the Transfer column of the new split and complete it.

HTH .. F

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Re: [GNC] Splitting a Transaction (Newbie Question)

[David Cousens]

Peter,

Their are a couple of preference entries which can help make things a bit
clearer. Under the Edit Preferences dialog in the Register defaults there are 3
options basic Ledger, Autosplit Ledger and Transaction Journal. These control
how a transaction is displayed in the register for an account by default. They
can also be set on an account by account basis from the View menu. 

In the Basic ledger mode, the register only displays the split or entry for a
transaction which affects that particular account. 

With the autosplit mode selected when you click on a transaction it will display
multiple lines for a transaction showing the entry for the account that is
displayed in the register as well as the components of the transactions which
affect other accounts. Th

The Transaction Journal mode displays all components affecting other accounts of
any transaction to the register account all of the time. 

Tab generally moves between fields and Enter commits the transaction as you seem
to have discovered.


It is likely that you have the basic ledger mode selected and after you hit
enter it has gone back to only displaying the component of the transaction
affecting the account displayed in the register.

David Cousens

On Sat, 2022-12-17 at 22:19 +, p.f.cuthb...@btinternet.com p.f.cuthbert---
via gnucash-user wrote:
> 
> Hi
> 
> Having today transferred all my data from Quicken to GNUCash I am just 
> trying to understand how it works.  Entering single data items is easy, 
> but the difficulty I have hit is with payments that require multiple 
> debits (ie. a split payment)  The User Guides that I found today uses an 
> income example that I did not find at all helpful despite several 
> readings.
> 
> So let us have an example:
> 
> Payment by bank card (credit entry to Bank Account) of £7.24 comprising 
> a book (debit £5.25 to Entertainment) and some milk (debit £1.99 to 
> Groceries).
> 
> The process in Quicken would be credit bank £7.24, then for the 
> 'Category' choose Split and fill in the details tabbing down to the next 
> line and choosing catergory and amount until the balance unallocated 
> drops to zero.  Finally save transaction by pressing Return.
> 
> The process in GNUCash seems to start the same.  Credit bank £7.24, then 
> choose Split.  The yellow analysis lines come up, but for me the debit 
> (Deposit) column comes up £16.74, which is the last Groceries posting. 
> This is because I put the store name in as the descriptor for the 
> transaction but the last one was not split. I put in the correct account 
> Entertainment and then delete the £16.74 and enter £5.25. Next I tab 
> down to the next line.  I enter some description like Milk, then select 
> the Account Groceries, tab to the next column and enter £1.99.  At this 
> point the total Credit of £7.24 is still in place.
> 
> At this point things look good.  So what does one do next? Press Return 
> seems like a safe bet.  However it is far from it.  All that happens is 
> that the whole transaction disappears.  The alternative, using another 
> Tab is almost as bad.  The £1.99 debit in Groceries is now replaced by a 
> £5.25 credit and the £7.24 credit from the bank has disappeared.  Ok, it 
> makes the books appear to balance since double entry is maintained but 
> the whole process seem astonishingly random.
> 
> If any kind reader can advise on the correct way yo handle this simple 
> task I would be most grateful as I do simple domestic accounting but 
> have lots of split debit analysis.
> 
> Regards
> 
> Pete
> 
> 
> Dr Peter Cuthbert
> Creuddyn
> Coedlan Y Plas
> 
> Llangawsai
> Aberystwyth
> Ceredigion
> SY23 1HJ
> 01970 623 447
> ___
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Re: [GNC] Splitting a Transaction (Newbie Question)

[R Losey]

When you say "bank card", are you talking about something like a debit
card, or a credit card?

Also, was this at one shop where you spent 7.24?

If it is a debit card (money comes directly from the bank account, in
contrast to a credit card, where charges accumulate, and you pay them off
monthly), I'd go to the bank account and enter the transaction:

date, name of shop, skip the category, enter the total as a credit, then
click "split" and enter milk in the first description, and then Groceries
for the account and 1.99 for the debit amount; on the next row (which
appears when I move the cursor off of that row), I enter whatever
description you want for the book, and the account for the book expense and
the 5.25 as the debit amount. When I press enter, I have a "split" entry in
the bank account.

As someone else said, I only see things vanish if I enter them using a
different account from where I spent the money.



On Sat, Dec 17, 2022 at 4:20 PM p.f.cuthb...@btinternet.com p.f.cuthbert---
via gnucash-user  wrote:

>
> Hi
>
> Having today transferred all my data from Quicken to GNUCash I am just
> trying to understand how it works.  Entering single data items is easy,
> but the difficulty I have hit is with payments that require multiple
> debits (ie. a split payment)  The User Guides that I found today uses an
> income example that I did not find at all helpful despite several
> readings.
>
> So let us have an example:
>
> Payment by bank card (credit entry to Bank Account) of £7.24 comprising
> a book (debit £5.25 to Entertainment) and some milk (debit £1.99 to
> Groceries).
>
> The process in Quicken would be credit bank £7.24, then for the
> 'Category' choose Split and fill in the details tabbing down to the next
> line and choosing catergory and amount until the balance unallocated
> drops to zero.  Finally save transaction by pressing Return.
>
> The process in GNUCash seems to start the same.  Credit bank £7.24, then
> choose Split.  The yellow analysis lines come up, but for me the debit
> (Deposit) column comes up £16.74, which is the last Groceries posting.
> This is because I put the store name in as the descriptor for the
> transaction but the last one was not split. I put in the correct account
> Entertainment and then delete the £16.74 and enter £5.25. Next I tab
> down to the next line.  I enter some description like Milk, then select
> the Account Groceries, tab to the next column and enter £1.99.  At this
> point the total Credit of £7.24 is still in place.
>
> At this point things look good.  So what does one do next? Press Return
> seems like a safe bet.  However it is far from it.  All that happens is
> that the whole transaction disappears.  The alternative, using another
> Tab is almost as bad.  The £1.99 debit in Groceries is now replaced by a
> £5.25 credit and the £7.24 credit from the bank has disappeared.  Ok, it
> makes the books appear to balance since double entry is maintained but
> the whole process seem astonishingly random.
>
> If any kind reader can advise on the correct way yo handle this simple
> task I would be most grateful as I do simple domestic accounting but
> have lots of split debit analysis.
>
> Regards
>
> Pete
>
>
> Dr Peter Cuthbert
> Creuddyn
> Coedlan Y Plas
>
> Llangawsai
> Aberystwyth
> Ceredigion
> SY23 1HJ
> 01970 623 447
> ___
> gnucash-user mailing list
> gnucash-user@gnucash.org
> To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe:
> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
> -
> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
>


-- 
_
Richard Losey
rlo...@gmail.com
Micah 6:8
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Re: [GNC] Splitting a Transaction (Newbie Question)

[Michael or Penny Novack]

At this point things look good.  So what does one do next? Press 
Return seems like a safe bet.  However it is far from it.  All that 
happens is that the whole transaction disappears.  The alternative, 
using another Tab is almost as bad.  The £1.99 debit in Groceries is 
now replaced by a £5.25 credit and the £7.24 credit from the bank has 
disappeared.  Ok, it makes the books appear to balance since double 
entry is maintained but the whole process seem astonishingly random.


If any kind reader can advise on the correct way yo handle this simple 
task I would be most grateful as I do simple domestic accounting but 
have lots of split debit analysis. 


You might have completed the split (depends on what you meant by "whole 
thing disappeared").


Some background might help. In the old days of double entry (before 
computer apps to shortcut bits) a transaction was FIRST entered into a 
book called a "journal" and later each line of the journal entry was 
ported to the ledger (in the account on that line). Here gnucash is 
letting you skip entering into the journal (has a "virtual journal") for 
simple transactions affecting just two accounts. But when you enter a 
split, you are in "journal mode".


I think what you meant by "disappeared" is that the journal view 
disappeared and you were back in the account view in which you started 
(but something about what you see there indicates the transaction was a 
split). You could go to one of the other accounts affected (or all of 
the other accounts) to see if what appears there is right. If so, all done.


Michael D Novack


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Re: [GNC] Splitting a Transaction (Newbie Question)

[Vincent Dawans]

Based on your description, I can see that you understand the concept but
run into some peculiarities of the user interface.

One is the transaction autotill or autocomplete (not sure what the official
name is). I assume you start with a new transaction in your checking
account and as you seem to describe when you type the name of the Grocery
store and press tab then it will fill the transfer account and amount with
the previous transaction for that grocery store. When you combine that with
opening the split instead of changing the amount in the main line then it
can arguably get a bit confusing because only half of the split is updated
and the old amount is still partially there.

One way to get a better, less confusing start would be to avoid triggering
the autocomplete. Later when you are used to the interface it will matter
less because you'll know how to update the split. But right now try this:
after entering the Store name, do not TAB but instead click with your mouse
on the transfer column. That way you are not triggering the autocomplete
that copies the previous transaction with that store name. Then don't enter
account and amount yet. Just click on the split button at this point, and
it will open the split lines with only the bank account showing. On that
line with the bank account, go and put the 7.24 in credit. When you tab it
will automatically put 7.24 in debit on the next line. After you pick
entertainment as the account then you will have to change that second 7.24
to 5.25. Tab again a couple times to go to the next line and you'll see it
will fill 1.99 for you to show you that's the amount still unallocated, and
on that line you can pick groceries for the account. Then press enter a
couple times and you should be set.

On Sat, Dec 17, 2022 at 2:20 PM p.f.cuthb...@btinternet.com p.f.cuthbert---
via gnucash-user  wrote:

>
> Hi
>
> Having today transferred all my data from Quicken to GNUCash I am just
> trying to understand how it works.  Entering single data items is easy,
> but the difficulty I have hit is with payments that require multiple
> debits (ie. a split payment)  The User Guides that I found today uses an
> income example that I did not find at all helpful despite several
> readings.
>
> So let us have an example:
>
> Payment by bank card (credit entry to Bank Account) of £7.24 comprising
> a book (debit £5.25 to Entertainment) and some milk (debit £1.99 to
> Groceries).
>
> The process in Quicken would be credit bank £7.24, then for the
> 'Category' choose Split and fill in the details tabbing down to the next
> line and choosing catergory and amount until the balance unallocated
> drops to zero.  Finally save transaction by pressing Return.
>
> The process in GNUCash seems to start the same.  Credit bank £7.24, then
> choose Split.  The yellow analysis lines come up, but for me the debit
> (Deposit) column comes up £16.74, which is the last Groceries posting.
> This is because I put the store name in as the descriptor for the
> transaction but the last one was not split. I put in the correct account
> Entertainment and then delete the £16.74 and enter £5.25. Next I tab
> down to the next line.  I enter some description like Milk, then select
> the Account Groceries, tab to the next column and enter £1.99.  At this
> point the total Credit of £7.24 is still in place.
>
> At this point things look good.  So what does one do next? Press Return
> seems like a safe bet.  However it is far from it.  All that happens is
> that the whole transaction disappears.  The alternative, using another
> Tab is almost as bad.  The £1.99 debit in Groceries is now replaced by a
> £5.25 credit and the £7.24 credit from the bank has disappeared.  Ok, it
> makes the books appear to balance since double entry is maintained but
> the whole process seem astonishingly random.
>
> If any kind reader can advise on the correct way yo handle this simple
> task I would be most grateful as I do simple domestic accounting but
> have lots of split debit analysis.
>
> Regards
>
> Pete
>
>
> Dr Peter Cuthbert
> Creuddyn
> Coedlan Y Plas
>
> Llangawsai
> Aberystwyth
> Ceredigion
> SY23 1HJ
> 01970 623 447
> ___
> gnucash-user mailing list
> gnucash-user@gnucash.org
> To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe:
> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
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Re: [GNC] Splitting a Transaction (Newbie Question)

[Adrien Monteleone]

The transaction didn't disappear entirely when you pressed ENTER. And 
that is the proper way to commit the transaction. There's nothing random 
about how it works.


If you are viewing a register that is not one of those you are entering 
amounts for, it will be gone from view, because it doesn't belong in 
that register. But it still exists. Just view one of the affected accounts.


I find it easier to always enter transactions using the register from 
where the funds are originating. The 'other' accounts are always where 
the funds are going.


In your mentioned case, I'd open the Bank Account register and enter the 
transaction there.


If you view your Groceries or Entertainment accounts, you'll see the 
transaction that you thought 'disappeared'.



Regards,
Adrien

On 12/17/22 4:19 PM, p.f.cuthb...@btinternet.com p.f.cuthbert--- via 
gnucash-user wrote:


Hi

Having today transferred all my data from Quicken to GNUCash I am just 
trying to understand how it works.  Entering single data items is easy, 
but the difficulty I have hit is with payments that require multiple 
debits (ie. a split payment)  The User Guides that I found today uses an 
income example that I did not find at all helpful despite several readings.


So let us have an example:

Payment by bank card (credit entry to Bank Account) of £7.24 comprising 
a book (debit £5.25 to Entertainment) and some milk (debit £1.99 to 
Groceries).


The process in Quicken would be credit bank £7.24, then for the 
'Category' choose Split and fill in the details tabbing down to the next 
line and choosing catergory and amount until the balance unallocated 
drops to zero.  Finally save transaction by pressing Return.


The process in GNUCash seems to start the same.  Credit bank £7.24, then 
choose Split.  The yellow analysis lines come up, but for me the debit 
(Deposit) column comes up £16.74, which is the last Groceries posting. 
This is because I put the store name in as the descriptor for the 
transaction but the last one was not split. I put in the correct account 
Entertainment and then delete the £16.74 and enter £5.25. Next I tab 
down to the next line.  I enter some description like Milk, then select 
the Account Groceries, tab to the next column and enter £1.99.  At this 
point the total Credit of £7.24 is still in place.


At this point things look good.  So what does one do next? Press Return 
seems like a safe bet.  However it is far from it.  All that happens is 
that the whole transaction disappears.  The alternative, using another 
Tab is almost as bad.  The £1.99 debit in Groceries is now replaced by a 
£5.25 credit and the £7.24 credit from the bank has disappeared.  Ok, it 
makes the books appear to balance since double entry is maintained but 
the whole process seem astonishingly random.


If any kind reader can advise on the correct way yo handle this simple 
task I would be most grateful as I do simple domestic accounting but 
have lots of split debit analysis.


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Re: [GNC] Splitting a Transaction (Newbie Question)

[Dr. David Kirkby]

On Sat, 17 Dec 2022 at 22:19, p.f.cuthb...@btinternet.com p.f.cuthbert---
via gnucash-user  wrote:

>
> Hi
>
> Having today transferred all my data from Quicken to GNUCash I am just
> trying to understand how it works.  Entering single data items is easy,
> but the difficulty I have hit is with payments that require multiple
> debits (ie. a split payment)  The User Guides that I found today uses an
> income example that I did not find at all helpful despite several
> readings.


I also find that example confusing.

However, since I have only just about sort of started to use the program
(<30 transactions entered), I don’t want to comment further.


> Regards
>
> Pete


Dave
-- 
Dr. David Kirkby,
Kirkby Microwave Ltd,
drkir...@kirkbymicrowave.co.uk
https://www.kirkbymicrowave.co.uk/
Telephone 01621-680100./ +44 1621 680100

Registered in England & Wales, company number 08914892.
Registered office:
Stokes Hall Lodge, Burnham Rd, Althorne, Chelmsford, Essex, CM3 6DT, United
Kingdom
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Re: [GNC] Splitting a Transaction (Newbie Question)

[David H]

Pete,

You're on the right track.  If the transaction disappears after you press
return to commit it, it sounds like you are not entering this transaction
from any of the registers involved, or if you are in one of the registers
involved the date you entered is out of the range of dates displayed for
the register.  Do you have any filtering or sorting turned on ?  Also
Gnucash remembers the last txn/txns you entered and when you start to enter
another txn it will helpfully pre-fill the details for you which sounds
like what is happening when you attempt to add a further txn?  You can
always run a txn report to display all the txns in the bank account
register.  Also check out the view options - Basic / Txn Journal / Double
line.   Also check out the Concept Guide and Help in  the Gnucash itself
under the Help menu option
- 
file:///Applications/GnuCash/Gnucash.app/Contents/Resources/en.lproj/GnuCash%20Guide/cbook-together1.html#cbook-puttoget-transactions

Cheers David H.




On Sun, 18 Dec 2022 at 08:20, p.f.cuthb...@btinternet.com p.f.cuthbert---
via gnucash-user  wrote:

>
> Hi
>
> Having today transferred all my data from Quicken to GNUCash I am just
> trying to understand how it works.  Entering single data items is easy,
> but the difficulty I have hit is with payments that require multiple
> debits (ie. a split payment)  The User Guides that I found today uses an
> income example that I did not find at all helpful despite several
> readings.
>
> So let us have an example:
>
> Payment by bank card (credit entry to Bank Account) of £7.24 comprising
> a book (debit £5.25 to Entertainment) and some milk (debit £1.99 to
> Groceries).
>
> The process in Quicken would be credit bank £7.24, then for the
> 'Category' choose Split and fill in the details tabbing down to the next
> line and choosing catergory and amount until the balance unallocated
> drops to zero.  Finally save transaction by pressing Return.
>
> The process in GNUCash seems to start the same.  Credit bank £7.24, then
> choose Split.  The yellow analysis lines come up, but for me the debit
> (Deposit) column comes up £16.74, which is the last Groceries posting.
> This is because I put the store name in as the descriptor for the
> transaction but the last one was not split. I put in the correct account
> Entertainment and then delete the £16.74 and enter £5.25. Next I tab
> down to the next line.  I enter some description like Milk, then select
> the Account Groceries, tab to the next column and enter £1.99.  At this
> point the total Credit of £7.24 is still in place.
>
> At this point things look good.  So what does one do next? Press Return
> seems like a safe bet.  However it is far from it.  All that happens is
> that the whole transaction disappears.  The alternative, using another
> Tab is almost as bad.  The £1.99 debit in Groceries is now replaced by a
> £5.25 credit and the £7.24 credit from the bank has disappeared.  Ok, it
> makes the books appear to balance since double entry is maintained but
> the whole process seem astonishingly random.
>
> If any kind reader can advise on the correct way yo handle this simple
> task I would be most grateful as I do simple domestic accounting but
> have lots of split debit analysis.
>
> Regards
>
> Pete
>
>
> Dr Peter Cuthbert
> Creuddyn
> Coedlan Y Plas
>
> Llangawsai
> Aberystwyth
> Ceredigion
> SY23 1HJ
> 01970 623 447
> ___
> gnucash-user mailing list
> gnucash-user@gnucash.org
> To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe:
> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
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[GNC] Splitting a Transaction (Newbie Question)

[p.f.cuthb...@btinternet.com p.f.cuthbert--- via gnucash-user]

Hi

Having today transferred all my data from Quicken to GNUCash I am just 
trying to understand how it works.  Entering single data items is easy, 
but the difficulty I have hit is with payments that require multiple 
debits (ie. a split payment)  The User Guides that I found today uses an 
income example that I did not find at all helpful despite several 
readings.


So let us have an example:

Payment by bank card (credit entry to Bank Account) of £7.24 comprising 
a book (debit £5.25 to Entertainment) and some milk (debit £1.99 to 
Groceries).


The process in Quicken would be credit bank £7.24, then for the 
'Category' choose Split and fill in the details tabbing down to the next 
line and choosing catergory and amount until the balance unallocated 
drops to zero.  Finally save transaction by pressing Return.


The process in GNUCash seems to start the same.  Credit bank £7.24, then 
choose Split.  The yellow analysis lines come up, but for me the debit 
(Deposit) column comes up £16.74, which is the last Groceries posting. 
This is because I put the store name in as the descriptor for the 
transaction but the last one was not split. I put in the correct account 
Entertainment and then delete the £16.74 and enter £5.25. Next I tab 
down to the next line.  I enter some description like Milk, then select 
the Account Groceries, tab to the next column and enter £1.99.  At this 
point the total Credit of £7.24 is still in place.


At this point things look good.  So what does one do next? Press Return 
seems like a safe bet.  However it is far from it.  All that happens is 
that the whole transaction disappears.  The alternative, using another 
Tab is almost as bad.  The £1.99 debit in Groceries is now replaced by a 
£5.25 credit and the £7.24 credit from the bank has disappeared.  Ok, it 
makes the books appear to balance since double entry is maintained but 
the whole process seem astonishingly random.


If any kind reader can advise on the correct way yo handle this simple 
task I would be most grateful as I do simple domestic accounting but 
have lots of split debit analysis.


Regards

Pete


Dr Peter Cuthbert
Creuddyn
Coedlan Y Plas

Llangawsai
Aberystwyth
Ceredigion
SY23 1HJ
01970 623 447
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Re: [GNC] newbie question

[davidcousens49]

Shevach,

I think you need to step back and understand the way in which double entry book
keeping/accounting works. There is a section labellsed basic in the Tutorial and
Concepts Guide which explains the basic concepts. 
https://www.gnucash.org/docs/v4/C/gnucash-guide/chapter_basics.html.
Wikipedias article on Double entry accounting, 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-entry_bookkeeping#:~:text=Double%2Dentry%20bookkeeping%2C%20also%20known,entry%20to%20a%20different%20account
. is also a good point to start.

A transaction in account is called double entry because each transaction has at
a minimum two components which affect two different accounts.

One way to think of a purchase  is that your are exchanging one asset cash for
another asset the object you have bought. If the object is something you keep
and perhaps make more money out of ( aproperty for example) it remains an asset.
It may depreciate in value (e.g. a car) in which case the loss of value through
depreciation is an expense. Any money you make (by renting the property out is
income. When you make such a purchase you take money out of your bank
account(decrease its balance or credit the account) and you assign its value to
an asset account (e.g for a car ) for the purchase (increase the balance of the
account for that asset or debit the account). 

When your asset depreciates  in value you decrease the balance of or credit  the
asset account by the amount of the depreciation and increase the balance of or
debit an expense account for depreciation to reord your expenditure

Alternatively it may be a purchase (e.g food) where you expect to consume it
within a short period after buying it. In this case your asset is essentially
depreciated immediately on purchase by the full amount of the purchase. In this
case to record the purchase  you again decrease the balance of (or credit) your
bank account and increase the balance of (or debit) your expense account for
food.

Each of these is a single transactions but each has two parts one of which is a
debit entry ( called a split in GnuCash parlance) and the other a credit entry
(also a split in GnuCash language).

Debit and Credit are the formal accounting names and for Asset and Expense
accounts they correspond to Increase  and Decrease of the balance of the
account. However when you are dealing with accounts for Liabilities, Equity and
Income accounts, a Debit entry is a decrease in the account balance and a Credit
entry is an increase in teh account balance, i.e. they have the opposite sense
to what they had for Asset and Expense accounts. 

Each transaction must have at least two entries or splits (it can have more (
e.g. if you have to account for a VAT or GST tax) but the sum of all the debit
entries must equal the sum of all the credit entries for a transaction.

Hope this helps to make how GNuCash works a little more transparent.

David Cousens




On Sun, 2022-02-06 at 22:32 +0200, Shevach Pepper wrote:
> Hello there,
> I have two accounts: income (n.ya.) and cash (my pocket)
> I got payed $500 from n. ya. and the money is  now in "my pocket".
> My problem is when I record in n. ya. charge $500 and in the transfer
> column 'my pocket" it records it as a "spent" right hand column.
> I just can't figure out why it is like this: According to my logic if it
> goes out of income then it should be received by "my pocket"
> Can someone help me to figure out my mistake?
> Thanks a lot
> Shevach
> ___
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Re: [GNC] newbie question

[Fred Bone]

On 06 February 2022 at 22:32, Shevach Pepper said:

> Hello there,
> I have two accounts: income (n.ya.) and cash (my pocket)
> I got payed $500 from n. ya. and the money is  now in "my pocket".
> My problem is when I record in n. ya. charge $500 and in the transfer
> column 'my pocket" it records it as a "spent" right hand column. I just
> can't figure out why it is like this: According to my logic if it goes out
> of income then it should be received by "my pocket" Can someone help me to
> figure out my mistake? Thanks a lot Shevach

You seem to have put the amount in the wrong column.

An income account normally has the amount in the "Credit" (right-hand) 
column and the receiving account ("cash in hand" as I would call it) then 
shows the amount in the "Debit" (left-hand) column.

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Re: [GNC] newbie question

[Alan A Holmes]

Hi Shevach,

I'm not an accountant, and I freely admit I struggle to understand
double-entry book keeping. But I mange to get things sorted, by thinking of
things logically.

Start looking at this from the Cash (In my Pocket) account. You've received
some Income, so put that amount in the Income column, then fill in the
Transfer column for where it's come from, and then the Description Column.
Hit return and the Save.

Now go and look at the Income (n.ya) account. It'll show the amount in the
Income column, because that's what it is, you've received some income, which
you've then "transferred" to "In my Pocket".

I'm sure someone will come along talking about Debit and credit in the
various accounts, but if you look at it logically as it is in the real world
I find it much easier.


Alan A Holmes

-Original Message-
From: gnucash-user
 On Behalf Of
Shevach Pepper
Sent: 06 February 2022 20:32
To: gnucash-user@gnucash.org
Subject: [GNC] newbie question

Hello there,
I have two accounts: income (n.ya.) and cash (my pocket) I got payed $500
from n. ya. and the money is  now in "my pocket".
My problem is when I record in n. ya. charge $500 and in the transfer column
'my pocket" it records it as a "spent" right hand column.
I just can't figure out why it is like this: According to my logic if it
goes out of income then it should be received by "my pocket"
Can someone help me to figure out my mistake?
Thanks a lot
Shevach
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[GNC] newbie question

[Shevach Pepper]

Hello there,
I have two accounts: income (n.ya.) and cash (my pocket)
I got payed $500 from n. ya. and the money is  now in "my pocket".
My problem is when I record in n. ya. charge $500 and in the transfer
column 'my pocket" it records it as a "spent" right hand column.
I just can't figure out why it is like this: According to my logic if it
goes out of income then it should be received by "my pocket"
Can someone help me to figure out my mistake?
Thanks a lot
Shevach
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Re: [GNC] Newbie question

[Steve Welch via gnucash-user]

Everyone - just wanted to say thanks to each of you who took time to give me a 
welcome and suggestions.  I hope to have time to experiment further this 
week…and I’ll touch base offline if needed.
Since I was getting the digest version, I saw most of your responses at one 
shot.  Have since switched to non-digest.  Still getting used to the mail 
listserve.  It’s been a minute since I was on one of these :) 

Steve

> 
> --
> 
> Message: 2
> Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2021 21:59:34 -0400
> From: Steve Welch 
> To: gnucash-user@gnucash.org
> Subject: [GNC] Newbie question
> Message-ID: <39c16714-b7e2-47f1-a74f-e772a275f...@icloud.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
> 
> Hi!
> 
> I?m just getting started with GnuCash and have imported my QIF file from 
> Moneydance.  Excited to take it for a spin!
> My question is regarding beginning (opening) account balances.  Moneydance 
> has an opening balance field in the account setup window, but evidently that 
> field isn?t accessible in GnuCash unless setting up a new account.
> The problem I seem to be having is that the beginning balances that had been 
> in Moneydance did not import into Gnu, so my accounts are off.
> I am figuring I can manually enter an opening balance transaction for each 
> account but wanted to make sure I wasn?t missing a more elegant (or obvious) 
> solution.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Steve
> 
> 
> --
> 
> Message: 4
> Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2021 17:16:09 -0500
> From: "Fross, Michael" 
> To: Steve Welch 
> Cc: Gnucash-User 
> Subject: Re: [GNC] Newbie question
> Message-ID:
>   
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
> 
> Hello Steve.  Welcome to GnuCash!
> 
> While I'm not an expert, in my experience, an opening balance is just a
> normal transaction.  There are typically two splits.  (1) is a deposit into
> the account, and (2) is a withdrawal from the Equity:Opening Balances
> account.  Remember GnuCash used double entry accounting so the insert has
> to match with a decrease elsewhere.
> 
> Good luck.
> 
> Michael
> 
> On Sun, Sep 26, 2021 at 4:40 PM Steve Welch via gnucash-user <
> gnucash-user@gnucash.org> wrote:
> 
>> Hi!
>> 
>> I?m just getting started with GnuCash and have imported my QIF file from
>> Moneydance.  Excited to take it for a spin!
>> My question is regarding beginning (opening) account balances.  Moneydance
>> has an opening balance field in the account setup window, but evidently
>> that field isn?t accessible in GnuCash unless setting up a new account.
>> The problem I seem to be having is that the beginning balances that had
>> been in Moneydance did not import into Gnu, so my accounts are off.
>> I am figuring I can manually enter an opening balance transaction for each
>> account but wanted to make sure I wasn?t missing a more elegant (or
>> obvious) solution.
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> 
>> Steve
>> ___
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>> gnucash-user@gnucash.org
>> To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe:
>> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
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>> 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.
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> --
> 
> Message: 7
> Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2021 18:43:21 -0400
> From: Jack Frillman 
> To: gnucash-user@gnucash.org
> Subject: Re: [GNC] Newbie question
> Message-ID: <00750681-ad41-122b-8c42-8e7488e30...@me.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
> 
> Steve,
> 
> I switched from Moneydance as you did about six months ago. The 
> conversion went fine for me except the account balances were off. To 
> correct for that I just went to each account that was off and entered an 
> opening balance, at the very beginning of the ledger, for the amount 
> that was it off by and then everything was fine and has been fine since 
> then.
> 
> Hope that helps.
> 
> If you have any question regarding switchin form Moneydace to GNUCash 
> you ask me directly if you wish since I have doe the same conversion.
> 
> Jack
> 
> On 9/25/21 9:59 PM, Steve Welch via gnucash-user wrote:
>> Hi!
>> 
>> I?m just getting started with GnuCash and have imported my QIF file from 
>> Moneydance.  Excited to take it for a spin!
>> My question is regarding beginning (opening) account balances.  Moneydan

Re: [GNC] Newbie question

[Steve Welch via gnucash-user]

Thanks Michael!  Yep, makes total sense (I do accounting work as part of my day 
job, so I understand double entry).  I played around with making an opening 
balance entry, but things are still way off.  Sigh.  Now I’m gonna have to get 
creative and figure out what didn’t import correctly via QIF…
Such fun!

Steve

> On Sep 26, 2021, at 6:16 PM, Fross, Michael  wrote:
> 
> Hello Steve.  Welcome to GnuCash!  
> 
> While I'm not an expert, in my experience, an opening balance is just a 
> normal transaction.  There are typically two splits.  (1) is a deposit into 
> the account, and (2) is a withdrawal from the Equity:Opening Balances 
> account.  Remember GnuCash used double entry accounting so the insert has to 
> match with a decrease elsewhere.
> 
> Good luck.
> 
> Michael
> 
> On Sun, Sep 26, 2021 at 4:40 PM Steve Welch via gnucash-user 
> mailto:gnucash-user@gnucash.org>> wrote:
> Hi!
> 
> I’m just getting started with GnuCash and have imported my QIF file from 
> Moneydance.  Excited to take it for a spin!
> My question is regarding beginning (opening) account balances.  Moneydance 
> has an opening balance field in the account setup window, but evidently that 
> field isn’t accessible in GnuCash unless setting up a new account.
> The problem I seem to be having is that the beginning balances that had been 
> in Moneydance did not import into Gnu, so my accounts are off.
> I am figuring I can manually enter an opening balance transaction for each 
> account but wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing a more elegant (or obvious) 
> solution.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Steve
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Re: [GNC] Newbie question

[William Prescott]

One quirk I noticed about opening balances is that that account seemed to be 
locked. When setting up a new account you could set the opening balances, but 
you couldn't change them later. I had to go into the account editor and unlock 
the opening balances account.

Will

On 2021 Sep 26, at 09-26 17:43:21, Jack Frillman via gnucash-user 
 wrote:

Steve,

I switched from Moneydance as you did about six months ago. The conversion went 
fine for me except the account balances were off. To correct for that I just 
went to each account that was off and entered an opening balance, at the very 
beginning of the ledger, for the amount that was it off by and then everything 
was fine and has been fine since then.

Hope that helps.

If you have any question regarding switchin form Moneydace to GNUCash you ask 
me directly if you wish since I have doe the same conversion.

Jack

On 9/25/21 9:59 PM, Steve Welch via gnucash-user wrote:
> Hi!
> 
> I’m just getting started with GnuCash and have imported my QIF file from 
> Moneydance.  Excited to take it for a spin!
> My question is regarding beginning (opening) account balances.  Moneydance 
> has an opening balance field in the account setup window, but evidently that 
> field isn’t accessible in GnuCash unless setting up a new account.
> The problem I seem to be having is that the beginning balances that had been 
> in Moneydance did not import into Gnu, so my accounts are off.
> I am figuring I can manually enter an opening balance transaction for each 
> account but wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing a more elegant (or obvious) 
> solution.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Steve
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Re: [GNC] Newbie question

[Jack Frillman via gnucash-user]

Steve,

I switched from Moneydance as you did about six months ago. The 
conversion went fine for me except the account balances were off. To 
correct for that I just went to each account that was off and entered an 
opening balance, at the very beginning of the ledger, for the amount 
that was it off by and then everything was fine and has been fine since 
then.


Hope that helps.

If you have any question regarding switchin form Moneydace to GNUCash 
you ask me directly if you wish since I have doe the same conversion.


Jack

On 9/25/21 9:59 PM, Steve Welch via gnucash-user wrote:

Hi!

I’m just getting started with GnuCash and have imported my QIF file from 
Moneydance.  Excited to take it for a spin!
My question is regarding beginning (opening) account balances.  Moneydance has 
an opening balance field in the account setup window, but evidently that field 
isn’t accessible in GnuCash unless setting up a new account.
The problem I seem to be having is that the beginning balances that had been in 
Moneydance did not import into Gnu, so my accounts are off.
I am figuring I can manually enter an opening balance transaction for each 
account but wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing a more elegant (or obvious) 
solution.

Thanks,

Steve
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Re: [GNC] Newbie question

[Fross, Michael]

Hello Steve.  Welcome to GnuCash!

While I'm not an expert, in my experience, an opening balance is just a
normal transaction.  There are typically two splits.  (1) is a deposit into
the account, and (2) is a withdrawal from the Equity:Opening Balances
account.  Remember GnuCash used double entry accounting so the insert has
to match with a decrease elsewhere.

Good luck.

Michael

On Sun, Sep 26, 2021 at 4:40 PM Steve Welch via gnucash-user <
gnucash-user@gnucash.org> wrote:

> Hi!
>
> I’m just getting started with GnuCash and have imported my QIF file from
> Moneydance.  Excited to take it for a spin!
> My question is regarding beginning (opening) account balances.  Moneydance
> has an opening balance field in the account setup window, but evidently
> that field isn’t accessible in GnuCash unless setting up a new account.
> The problem I seem to be having is that the beginning balances that had
> been in Moneydance did not import into Gnu, so my accounts are off.
> I am figuring I can manually enter an opening balance transaction for each
> account but wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing a more elegant (or
> obvious) solution.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Steve
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[GNC] Newbie question

[Steve Welch via gnucash-user]

Hi!

I’m just getting started with GnuCash and have imported my QIF file from 
Moneydance.  Excited to take it for a spin!
My question is regarding beginning (opening) account balances.  Moneydance has 
an opening balance field in the account setup window, but evidently that field 
isn’t accessible in GnuCash unless setting up a new account.
The problem I seem to be having is that the beginning balances that had been in 
Moneydance did not import into Gnu, so my accounts are off.
I am figuring I can manually enter an opening balance transaction for each 
account but wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing a more elegant (or obvious) 
solution.

Thanks,

Steve
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Re: Newbie Question

[Colin Law]

All the account data is in a single file, whose name depends on what
you called it when you did the first save, something like
myaccounts.gnucash.  If you have moved that file then when you open GC
it will try to reopen the original and will show an error when it
can't find it. Just ignore that error then use File > Open to browse
to the file wherever you have put it. Don't open one of the ones with
numbers in, those are timestamps of the backups made each time you
save.

Colin

On 6 September 2017 at 13:57, Nigel Snow  wrote:
> Thanks,
> That was the answer I was looking for
>
> However I now have a more serious problem; in the process of trying to move 
> all the GnuCash files and application to their own directory, I have lost all 
> the work I have done the last 3 days
> the application has lost links to all the accounts and data
> How do I retrieve that?
>
>
>
>> On 6 Sep 2017, at 15.02, Mike or Penny Novack 
>>  wrote:
>>
>>> On 9/6/2017 6:00 AM, Nigel Snow wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>> I am new to GnuCash.
>>> I have finished setting up my chart of accounts manually, but now I need to 
>>> populate Opening Balances.
>>> I understand that option was only available in the wizard.
>>> The question is how to set up Opening Balances Manually?
>>>
>> Exactly, you enter the transaction manually (just like you will be entering 
>> other transactions). In other words, this is simply the first transaction of 
>> the accounting period.
>>
>> BUT -- because doing a two way split transaction is tricky, I suggest you 
>> use TWO transactions, one for the credit side of equity and one for the 
>> debit side.
>>
>> You want a BALANCE SHEET from your old method of accounting that would be 
>> valid for the first day of your new set of books under gnucash. Look at the 
>> total assets amount. Create a transaction to credit equity for that amount 
>> and hit split. Change the split amount to the first asset account amount and 
>> specify the account. Repeat till there is nothing left in Imbalance. Then 
>> that side of the split is done. OK, now do the same for the total amount of 
>> liabilities except this time you are doing a debit to equity.
>>
>> Michael D Novack
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Re: Newbie Question

[Nigel Snow]

Thanks,
That was the answer I was looking for

However I now have a more serious problem; in the process of trying to move all 
the GnuCash files and application to their own directory, I have lost all the 
work I have done the last 3 days 
the application has lost links to all the accounts and data
How do I retrieve that?



> On 6 Sep 2017, at 15.02, Mike or Penny Novack 
>  wrote:
> 
>> On 9/6/2017 6:00 AM, Nigel Snow wrote:
>> Hi,
>> I am new to GnuCash.
>> I have finished setting up my chart of accounts manually, but now I need to 
>> populate Opening Balances.
>> I understand that option was only available in the wizard.
>> The question is how to set up Opening Balances Manually?
>> 
> Exactly, you enter the transaction manually (just like you will be entering 
> other transactions). In other words, this is simply the first transaction of 
> the accounting period.
> 
> BUT -- because doing a two way split transaction is tricky, I suggest you use 
> TWO transactions, one for the credit side of equity and one for the debit 
> side.
> 
> You want a BALANCE SHEET from your old method of accounting that would be 
> valid for the first day of your new set of books under gnucash. Look at the 
> total assets amount. Create a transaction to credit equity for that amount 
> and hit split. Change the split amount to the first asset account amount and 
> specify the account. Repeat till there is nothing left in Imbalance. Then 
> that side of the split is done. OK, now do the same for the total amount of 
> liabilities except this time you are doing a debit to equity.
> 
> Michael D Novack
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Newbie Question

[Nigel Snow]

Hi,
I am new to GnuCash.
I have finished setting up my chart of accounts manually, but now I need to 
populate Opening Balances.
I understand that option was only available in the wizard.
The question is how to set up Opening Balances Manually?

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Re: Newbie question .

[DaveC49]

Hi George,

How you record these items will depend a great deal on the exact nature of
the item and the nature of the future benefit you receive from them.

In the case of a pension  the future value may be different from simply the
paid in value of the contributions. Depending on the nature of the pension,
there may or may not be employer contributions and/or in the case of some
government pension contributions from the government and/or payment of
interest earned by your contributions. Whether you are able to record this
information will largely depend upon whether it is reported to you by
whoever runs the pension scheme.

One could treat  a pension, particularly if you know what its future value
is, as an asset which you have purchased instead of treating it as simply as
an expense. In this case you could treat the the payments as simply
exchanging one asset for another. A sample transaction in this case might be

Asset : Bank Account  Credit( decrease)$200
Asset: PensionFund:My contributions  Debit ( increase)   $200  

In this case an accountant would say you have capitalized the expenditure on
contributions, rather than

Asset: Bank Account Credit (decrease)  $200
Expense: Pension Contributions Debit  (increase)   $200

where that expenditure is expensed. Capitalising the expenditure is normally
reasonable where the benefit of the expenditure is unlikely to be consumed
during the accounting period, normally annually for personal finances.

You could then also record other contributions (employer , government ,
interest etc) under sub accounts of Asset:PensionFund if and when they are
reported to you. My superannuation fund reported to me annually any
cumulative gais/losses associated with their investment strategies.
Generally such contributions in most jurisdictions would be tax-free (but
not necessarily and may depend on your local laws) and the transacion would
be a debit to the asset account and a credit to a non-taxable income account
for the amount of the increase in such contributions.

If the above is not clear particularly the idea of at least one debit and
one credit entry associated with each transaction, you may need to read up
on the basics concepts  of double entry accounting

Similarly a life insurance is an asset which is purchased by your regular
payments. Some insurance policies are simply term insurance, i.e. they only
apply for the term you are paying the premiums and you are only entitled to
the payout if the insured event occurs during that period (the premiums on
these would most likely be treated as an expense) whereas others are
cumulative products where you may be entitled to a specified amount at a
specific time in your life as well as the insurance payout should you die
earlier than that.  In this case you have  an investment component often as
accumulating bonuses to the policy face value. This can be treated as an
investment. 

It is almost impossible to give general advice in detail as you also have to
know the legal framework in which these asset products are created and how
they are treated in terms of taxation  to record them properly.  If you are
in any doubt,  it may pay to consult a local accountant as any guidance here
is really only about how you might potentially use Gnucash to record a
transaction in general and not specific circumstances.


David Cousens





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Re: Newbie question .

[Aaron Laws]

On Sat, Sep 2, 2017 at 3:24 PM, George Laczko  wrote:

> Hello ,
>
> I have a question .
>
> I'm saving money on various accounts (pension ,  insurance , etc ) that
> will be used years later and which i currently  pay monthly .  Where should
> i put them in my bookkeeping ? Expenses or savings ?
>
> ( sorry i'm a new user and english isn't my native language )
>
> Your help will be appreciated .
>
> Regards
>
> George


These are assets. Savings is a type of asset. Be sure to read the users'
guide; it goes over much of this type of information.
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Newbie question .

[George Laczko]

Hello ,

I have a question .

I'm saving money on various accounts (pension ,  insurance , etc ) that
will be used years later and which i currently  pay monthly .  Where should
i put them in my bookkeeping ? Expenses or savings ?

( sorry i'm a new user and english isn't my native language )

Your help will be appreciated .

Regards

George


Mentes
a vírusoktól. www.avast.com

<#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>
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Re: Newbie Question

[John Ralls]

> On Jul 7, 2017, at 10:54 AM, Paul Leniston  wrote:
> 
> I have just downloaded gnucash and am a little confused.
> 
> 
> I have two bank accounts, one in UK and one in Spain.   Do I need a 
> differrent common account for each one?
> 
> 
> In the UK bank I have three accounts.   There is a current account, a deposit 
> account and a credit card account. Do I need a different common account for 
> each one.
> 
> 
> Finally I have two long term savings accounts at different banks.  Do I need 
> a different common account for each one?
> 

What do you mean by "common account"? The placeholder that groups them?

Most folks group their accounts so that the accounts page summarizes their 
assets in a way that makes sense to them. For personal finances there are very 
few rules. If you want to see the totals by currency and bank you could do:
Assets
  GBP
Bank1
  Current
  Deposit
Bank2
  Savings
Bank3
  Savings
  EUR
Bank4
  Current

Liabilities
  GBP
Bank1
  Credit Card

OTOH if you wanted to emphasize the holding term you might do

Assets
  Current
GBP
  Bank1 Current
EUR
  Bank4 Current
  Deposit
GBP
  Bank1 Deposit
  Savings
GBP
  Bank2 Savings
  Bank3 Savings

Liabilities
  Credit Card
GBP
  Bank1 Credit Card


For pure currency accounts the GBP and EUR placeholders are optional, but for 
non-currency accounts (i.e. STOCK or FUND accounts) there must be a parent 
account in the currency used to price the account.

Regards,
John Ralls
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Re: Newbie Question

[Aaron Laws]

On Fri, Jul 7, 2017 at 1:54 PM, Paul Leniston 
wrote:

> I have just downloaded gnucash and am a little confused.
>
>
> I have two bank accounts, one in UK and one in Spain.   Do I need a
> differrent common account for each one?
>
>
> In the UK bank I have three accounts.   There is a current account, a
> deposit account and a credit card account. Do I need a different common
> account for each one.
>
>
> Finally I have two long term savings accounts at different banks.  Do I
> need a different common account for each one?
>
>
> thanks in advance
>
>
> Paul


The usual way to handle this is to have a root level account, Assets, which
is a parent of these accounts. It may also be helpful to you for reporting
purposes to create a subaccount of Assets named Current where you can put
your "current" assets. The credit card is not as asset since it accumulates
debt (liabilities), so it should not be found under the Assets root level
account. You will likely create another root level account, Liabilities,
and again might consider creating a subaccount thereof, Current, for your
"current" liabilities. So, something like this:

Assets
|
---Current
   |
   --- UK Chequing
   --- UK Saving
   --- Spain Savings
Liabilities
|
---Current
   |
   --- UK Credit Card
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Newbie Question

[Paul Leniston]

I have just downloaded gnucash and am a little confused.


I have two bank accounts, one in UK and one in Spain.   Do I need a differrent 
common account for each one?


In the UK bank I have three accounts.   There is a current account, a deposit 
account and a credit card account. Do I need a different common account for 
each one.


Finally I have two long term savings accounts at different banks.  Do I need a 
different common account for each one?


thanks in advance


Paul
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