[GNC] I need basic help

[Michael or Penny Novack]

On 10/19/2023 2:04 AM, Edwin Booth via gnucash-user wrote:
> Steve,
> Thanks for getting back to me!
> It seems that I need to first delete my newly downloaded file from GnuCash and re-import it but first assign all the transactions to various accounts. I have gone through the process (I think) of creating a hierarchy of accounts (though I will surely want to add more expense accounts later).
> Okay, I have deleted the AMEX credit card OFX account that I imported into GnuCash and have gone back to my Mac Downloads file. How do I now assign all those transactions to their proper accounts without first importing this OFX file into GnuCash? Doesn’t it have to be in GnuCash before it can even know what accounts are available?

Edwin ---- trying to run before you can walk is a hard way to learn. You 
are trying to jump right in to the "fully automated" entry of credit 
card transactions without any understanding of the (otherwise) manual 
process you are automating. So for just a moment, forget about the 
download, and pretend you were entering these transactions one at a time 
AS THEY OCCURRED (rather than waiting till the statement).

On day 1, you use your credit card to pay for dinner out. You enter a 
transaction, debit expense "dining out" and credit "credit card". You 
paid for this expense by incurring a liability ON DAY 1 << when you pay 
on the bill from the credit card not relevant >> Now if at the time you 
did not yet have this expense account, you would have created it in 
order to enter the transaction.

On day 2, you use your credit card to pay for a tank full of gas. You 
enter a transaction to debit "vehicle fuel" and credit "credit card".

On day 3, you use your credit card to send a donation to to XYZ. You 
debit "charity donations" and "credit credit card". Understand? You WILL 
have all the expense accounts you need for these transactions because 
you would have created any new ones you needed as you went (and if a 
repeat, say you fill up your tank again on day 17, well "vehicle fuel 
exists because it did on day 2.

At the end of the month you get a credit card statement showing the 
total owed. You can pay that amount in full or some partial payment (at 
least the minimum) but that transaction is NOT an expense. You need to 
get your head around that, because it feels like "expense is when the 
money leaves my hand". No, you incurred those expense earlier. The 
transaction you enter now will be a debit to "credit card" and a credit 
to "checking account" for the amount of your payment.

THAT describes the "manual" process. IMHO, you should do it that way for 
at least one or two months before trying to do it by downloading. Why? 
Because then the majority of expense accounts needed will exist in 
advance of the download. The way you are doing it, almost none of the 
necessary expense accounts exist in advance.

Michael D Novack

Michael D Novack