Hopefully quick question

[Josh Sled]

Please don't reply to existing messages for a completely different topic.

"Pelton, Brian" <bpelton at jgboswell.com> writes:
> I want to be sure I'm using gnucash properly.  I am new to this
> and would hate to get started on the wrong foot.
>
> In the application, all of my accounts are positive (black numbers).
>
> Assets +
> Equity + 
> Expenses +
> Income +
> Liabilities +
> Suspense +
>
>
> But, when I look at the raw xml data file and bring that into Excel or
> whatever,
> The totals of the accounts look like this:
>
> Assets +
> Equity -
> Expenses +
> Income -
> Liabilities -
> Suspense +
>
>
> How can I be sure that I'm using the debits and credits properly.
> Is it normal that the signs in the file are somewhat different
> than the application (because of the normal balance of the account
> type??)

Credits and Debits and the notions of "positive" and "negative"  in
double-entry accounting can sometimes be counter-intuitive.

I suggest that you read the GnuCash Tutorial and Concepts Guide, which covers
some of the basics of double-entry.  You might find some good information on
Wikipedia's entry on Double-Entry Accounting,
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-entry_bookkeeping_system>.

Note (as per the Tutorial) that GnuCash does do sign reversal for a couple of
different account types — primarily so credit cards and loans have a positive
balance.


As well, I suggest that you use the the register for the relevant Asset,
Liability, Expense accounts rather than the General Ledger … there, the
Credit and Debit column labels are modified to use language relevant to the
account type ... "Deposit/Withdrawl", "Expense/Rebate", &c.  It's much easier
to understand.

-- 
...jsled
http://asynchronous.org/ - a=jsled; b=asynchronous.org; echo ${a}@${b}
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